Resistance in secret: Weimer remembers the heroes of 1944

Resistance in secret: Weimer remembers the heroes of 1944

On July 20, 2025, we remember the momentous coup attempt of 1944, when a group of courageous Wehrmacht officers attempted to kill Adolf Hitler and end Nazi rule. Today, Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer pays tribute to the role of the relatives of the resistance fighters, whose quiet civil courage often remains in the shadow of what is happening. “There’s something there,” Weimer says, highlighting how family members showed extraordinary courage during this time, such as hiding letters, enduring prison time, and enduring interrogation to support their husbands. He describes this as a “whisper against the noise of totalitarianism,” which underlines the special significance of these secret heroic deeds reported Boyens Media.

The attempted coup, a central event in the resistance against National Socialism, was largely initiated by Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg. After Stauffenberg decided to carry out the attack despite being seriously wounded, he managed to smuggle a bomb into the Wolf's Lair headquarters and detonate it during a briefing. But the plan failed, which led to dramatic consequences. The night after the failed attack, Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were shot in the courtyard of the Army High Command on the orders of Colonel General Friedrich Fromm. This brought about a violent end, which not only cost the lives of Stauffenberg and his direct accomplices, but also over 200 other participants who were subsequently persecuted notes the Plötzensee Memorial.

Remembrance and warnings

At today's commemoration in Berlin, where representatives of the Federal Government and Bundestag will lay wreaths, the memory of these passionate people will be kept alive. In his speech, Weimer warns against misunderstandings, because free spirit is often confused with heroism. Silent adherence to one's own values, rooted in hidden actions, is just as important as loud protest. This attitude thrives in secret when people are willing to look and stand up for what they believe is right.

July 20, 1944 remains not only a memorial to the courage of individuals in a devastating regime, but also a call to all of us to raise our voices where injustice occurs. The shootings and the subsequent trials of those involved in the attempted coup illustrate how far the National Socialist regime was willing to go to suppress any resistance. The judgment of the conspirators by the People's Court and the almost hysterical persecution show that moral courage is often associated with risking one's own life.

With this in mind, on this day we should honor the memory of July 20, 1944 and integrate the lessons from it into our everyday lives. Because it is the quiet courage that often makes the decisive difference - and that is required anew in every generation.