Bendlerblock

Ehrenhof on Stauffenbergstraße

The Bendlerblock is located at Stauffenbergstraße 13 to 14, on the edge of the Tiergarten, between the Landwehrkanal and the Kulturforum. Bus M29 stops directly at the German Resistance Memorial Center, M48 and M85 at the Kulturforum, 200 at Tiergartenstraße, and 300 at Philharmonie Süd, each about five minutes away. It’s about a ten-minute walk from Potsdamer Platz, and similarly from Kurfürstenstraße. Access is via the Ehrenhof. Here, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators planned the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, and here they were shot the same night after the failed coup attempt. Admission to the memorial is free, as are the public tours, for which no one needs to register, and the audio guide, which is available in several languages and as a video tour in sign language. The building complex dates from before the First World War, served the Navy from 1914, and later the Army High Command. Today, it also houses the second seat of the Ministry of Defense, which is why parts of the area remain closed.

Operation Valkyrie and the Question of the Right Location

For the film Operation Valkyrie, The Stauffenberg Assassination, scenes were filmed at the original location in 2007, additionally on Wilhelmstraße in front of the Ministry of Finance. The fact that a Hollywood production starring Tom Cruise was allowed to work at a German memorial site was controversial at the time and shaped the debate about where history may serve as a film set and where it may not. This is precisely why this entry is different from the others on the list: the courtyard cannot be arbitrarily reinterpreted; it always remains the place where the executions took place. The permanent exhibition tells the story of resistance against National Socialism in its full breadth, from working-class environments to churches and the military, to individual determined people. Those looking for a film set will primarily find a place here that resists that background. Groups of twelve or more people should book in advance, which is also free. In the courtyard, a memorial plaque and a bronze figure commemorate those who were shot, and every year a memorial event takes place here where recruits are sworn in. Those who have seen the film will immediately recognize the courtyard.