Berlin [Germany], July 21: 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.
On July 20, 1944, at 12:42, a bomb went off in the conference room of the Wolf's Lair military headquarters in East Prussia, the easternmost province of the German Reich until the end of World War II. It was supposed to kill Adolf Hitler, and had been planted by von Stauffenberg. The former ardent National Socialist now no longer saw any other option apart from murdering the dictator. "There is nothing left but to kill him," he had told his closest confidants a few days earlier.
Stauffenberg was not only the assassin, but also the most important organizer of a large-scale coup attempt by people from conservative circles, which included high-ranking military, diplomatic and administrative officials.
But Hitler suffered only minor injuries. The heavy oak table and the fact the barracks' windows were opened wide due to the hot weather had dampened the force of the explosion.
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.
Source: Qatar Tribune