Memorial to the German Resistance

The Memorial to the German Resistance (German: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand), is a memorial and museum in Berlin, capital of Germany. It was opened in 1980 in part of the Bendlerblock, a complex of offices in Stauffenbergstrasse (formerly Bendlerstrasse), south of the Tiergarten in Western Berlin. It was here that Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and other members of the July 20 plot of 1944 that attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler were executed.

Particular attention is given to military resistance figures such as Stauffenberg, Ludwig Beck, Erwin von Witzleben, Günther von Kluge, Erich Hoepner, Hans Oster and Friedrich Olbricht. This underlines the modern German military doctrine, officially accepted by the "Bundeswehr", the German Army, that military officers have a moral duty which goes beyond the blind obedience of orders, and that those officers who plotted to kill Hitler were not traitors but heroes. The same point is made about other Germans who went into exile and assisted the Allied war effort against Germany, such as Marlene Dietrich.

The Plaque Inscription

German
Ihr trugt die Schande nicht.
Ihr wehrtet euch.
Ihr gabt das große ewig wache Zeichen der Umkehr,
opfernd Euer heißes Leben für Freiheit, Recht, und Ehre.

Unofficial Translation - English
You did not bear the shame.
You resisted.
You bestowed an eternally vigilant symbol of change
by sacrificing your impassioned lives for freedom, justice and honor.