Footsteps of WWII · Berlin & eastern Germany
German Resistance Memorial (Bendlerblock)
Memorial · 20–21 Jul 1944
The story
The Bendlerblock housed the headquarters of the Replacement Army, where officers planned Operation Valkyrie. On 20 July 1944 Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg planted a bomb at Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia and flew back here to launch the coup. Hitler survived, and by evening loyal troops had regained control. General Friedrich Fromm had the leaders arrested; Stauffenberg, General Friedrich Olbricht, Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim and Lieutenant Werner von Haeften were shot in the courtyard that night, and Ludwig Beck was allowed to shoot himself. The memorial centre documents the whole breadth of German resistance.
What to look for
In the courtyard a bronze figure of a bound young man and a plaque mark the place of the executions. Upstairs, in the rooms used by the plotters, the permanent exhibition covers resistance from churches, workers, students, Jews and the military.
Plan your visit
Free. Mon–Fri 9:00–18:00, weekends and holidays 10:00–18:00. Entrance at Stauffenbergstraße 13–14; no booking needed for individuals. Special exhibition on Ravensbrück resistance runs until 4 April 2027.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Soviet War Memorial, Tiergarten · 1 km
- Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe · 1 km
- Site of the Führerbunker · 1 km
- Topography of Terror, Berlin · 2 km
- Reichstag, Berlin · 2 km
- Soviet War Memorial, Treptower Park · 8 km
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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