Aktives Museum Faschismus und Widerstand in Berlin e.V.

Description

The Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, based in the east wing of the Bendlerblock on Stauffenbergstraße in Berlin, carries out commemorative and educational work on the German resistance to National Socialism. Since 1993 a second official seat of the Bundesministerium der Verteidigung has been located directly adjacent to the site; the Hinrichtungsstätte Berlin-Plötzensee belongs to the Gedenkstätte's remit as another place of commemoration. The programme is complemented by a museum in Otto Weidt's former workshop for the blind in Berlin-Mitte; the exhibition of the former memorial "Stille Helden" has been presented in the building since 2018. A specialist library is open to the public by appointment.

The origin and early development of the memorial focused on the victims of the assassination attempt of 20 July 1944. In the historic rooms of the Bendlerblock, among others, Colonel General Ludwig Beck, General of the Infantry Friedrich Olbricht, Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, Colonel Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim and First Lieutenant Werner von Haeften died; an early memorial and a bronze figure in the inner courtyard recall these events. In the following decades the site was repeatedly expanded and developed as a memorial and educational centre; an inscription on the courtyard's enclosing wall refers to the attempt to overthrow National Socialist rule on 20 July 1944.

From the 1980s onwards the Gedenkstätte evolved into a comprehensive institution presenting the entire German resistance. The permanent exhibition was installed in the historic rooms where the events took place and opened in 1989; projects commemorating rescuers of Jews ("Stille Helden") and work addressing Georg Elser's failed assassination attempt broadened the concept of resistance both in terms of the individuals represented and in substance. A redesigned permanent exhibition opened in 2014.