Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, July 20, 2023
BERLIN – German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius paid tribute to the men and women involved in the failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944 on Thursday, 79 years after the act.
At the time, they followed their conscience and stood up courageously and resolutely against injustice despite little chance of success, he said on Thursday at a memorial service in Berlin.
The sacrifices of the people around the assassin Claus von Stauffenberg were not in vain, said Pistorius.
“Our security and our freedom, our democratic and open society cannot be taken for granted, but are precious assets in which we have to invest again and again, that we have to defend,” he said.
That is why it is important to resolutely oppose the Russian war and to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom and justice – “for as long as it is necessary.”
But it is necessary to be vigilant in Germany, too, he added. “Growing anti-Semitism, hatred, agitation and violence are assuming democracy-threatening proportions,” said Pistorius.
“We must take a clear stand against all forms of extremism and strengthen our defences.”
On July 20, 1944, Wehrmacht officers led by Stauffenberg had unsuccessfully tried to kill Hitler with a bomb and end the war.
Stauffenberg and three co-conspirators were shot dead in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock building complex in Berlin on the evening of the plot.
In the weeks and months that followed, the Nazis executed around 90 more participants and supporters.
In the early evening, a ceremonial pledge of about 400 Bundeswehr recruits was planned in the Bendlerblock, the Berlin headquarters of the Ministry of Defence, to mark the anniversary.
