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History

The German Resistance Memorial Center is located in the Bendler Block in Berlin’s Mitte district, at the historic site of the attempted coup of July 20, 1944. On July 20, 1952, on the initiative of relatives of the resistance fighters of July 20, 1944, Eva Olbricht, widow of General Friedrich Olbricht, laid the cornerstone for a memorial in the courtyard of the Bendler Block. July 20, 1953, Berlin's mayor Ernst Reuter unveiled the monument created by Professor Richard Scheibe, the bronze figure of a young man with his hands bound. On July 20, 1955, the former Bendlerstrasse was ceremoniously renamed “Stauffenbergstrasse.” On July 20, 1962, Berlin's mayor Franz Amrehn unveiled a plaque in the commemorative courtyard bearing the names of the officers executed there by a firing squad on July 20, 1944.

On the initiative of the circle of resistance fighters of July 20, 1944, the Berlin Senate in 1967 resolved to establish a memorial and educational center intended to inform the public about resistance to National Socialism. The permanent exhibition developed under the direction of historian Friedrich Zipfel was then opened on July 20, 1968. In 1979, the parties in Berlin's state parliament reached agreement on the proposal to expand the memorial and educational center. In 1980, the commemorative courtyard was remodeled according to a design by Professor Erich Reusch. The following inscription was engraved in the wall of the entrance to the commemorative courtyard:

“Here in the former Army High Command, Germans organized the attempt to overthrow the lawless National Socialist regime on July 20, 1944. For this they sacrificed their lives.”

Since 1989, the German Resistance Memorial Center's permanent exhibition has been a central site of remembrance in Germany, providing extensive documentation of the motives, aims, and forms of the fight against the National Socialist dictatorship.