(Berlin) From Stauffenbergstraße, an entrance cut into the wall opens onto an austere courtyard in the center of which stands a sculpture of a naked man with his hands tied. Behind it are lined up a few trees bare of leaves on this gray February afternoon.
The building complex of several floors surrounds the courtyard on three sides. Busy soldiers enter or leave it, in the background on the right, walking quickly on the stone pavement. Visitors are rare. Silence reigns. In fact, it is necessary. Because in Berlin, the Bendlerblock is a place of commemoration and contemplation.
PHOTO ANDRÉ DUCHESNE, THE PRESS
The design of the rooms is austere, without being cold. There are a lot of texts and photos, but very few objects.
It is here that the German Resistance Memorial was established, a site dedicated to the memory of individuals who, from 1933 to 1945, fought National Socialism in every way. This political doctrine of the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler resulted in the deaths of millions of people, including 6 million Jews, in Europe.
The place not only houses two permanent exhibitions, but it is also dedicated to research and education.
PHOTO ANDRÉ DUCHESNE, THE PRESS
The main courtyard of the premises was inaugurated in 1953.
It is accessed through a very small door on the left side of the courtyard. The center is spread over three floors above. The first floor has a room intended for temporary exhibitions. The second houses the German Resistance Memorial, while the third hosts another permanent exhibition paying tribute to silent heroes (Silent Heroes), individuals of all backgrounds who helped Jews hide and survive the Holocaust.
Here, the words memorial, center or site define the place better than “museum”. It’s educational, but not at all fun.
The design of the rooms is, like the exterior courtyard, austere, without being cold. There are lots of texts and photos (never unbearable to look at), but very few objects. The visitor is therefore invited to read, a lot if possible, to fully understand the always moving stories of these people who said no to National Socialism.
Like MP Antonie (Toni) Pfülf, elected several times to the Reichstag during the Weimar Republic and who defended women’s rights. Faced with the rise of National Socialism, she killed herself on June 18, 1933. Or that of Georg Elser, a carpenter who tried to assassinate Hitler in the hope of stopping the war. He died at Dachau a month before Germany’s surrender.
PHOTO ANDRÉ DUCHESNE, THE PRESS
A fake ID card from a Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust. Under his card and his yellow star, a fabric bracelet on which were written the names and addresses of reliable people in the event of a leak.
In fact, there were a few assassination attempts against the Führer during the Second World War. The most famous occurred on July 20, 1944 when Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg planted a bomb in the Wolfschanze (wolf’s den) in West Prussia where Hitler was meeting with his staff.
The attempted coup, better known as Operation Valkyrie, failed. However, it was in the memorial building that the action plan was fomented. At the time, this building housed the headquarters of the chief command of the Wehrmacht. The building, a section of which houses offices of the Ministry of Defense (hence the military crusaders), therefore has great historical significance. And the street where it is located was renamed Stauffenberg, in homage to the dissident colonel.
Some 150 people, including von Stauffenberg, paid with their lives in the days and weeks following the failed attempt. And in all, some 2,800 people, including 1,439 Germans, were executed between 1933 and 1945, the majority for resisting the Nazi regime.
The silent heroes
PHOTO ANDRÉ DUCHESNE, THE PRESS
A sculpture by Richard Scheibe is placed in the center of the courtyard and bears witness to the suffering of the victims of Nazism. A written document from the Memorial indicates that Scheibe’s past is questioned by some because he was on Nazism’s “divinely gifted” list. An article published in The Guardian September 7, 2021 indicates that the works of many artists loved by Hitler are still on display in the country.
The Silent Heroes floor recalls the work done across Europe by individuals and groups who hid and saved Jews from certain death. The best known example being that of the industrialist Oskar Schindler, who inspired the film Schindler’s List.
But there are many others, as we learn while browsing this second permanent exhibition. This is the case of Varian Fry, an American journalist who helped between 2,000 and 4,000 Jews flee Europe or move from Vichy France to neutral Spain via trails in the Pyrenees. His story is told in the series Transatlantic (on Netflix).
Among the many stories told here, let us note that of Otto Weidt who saved employees of his company by providing them with false identity papers. Or that of the Danish fishermen who smuggled Jews to Sweden.
We emerge from this visit with a rekindled feeling of faith in humanity.
German Resistance Memorial Center, Stauffenbergstraße 13-14, gate D-1. Free admission. The closest U-Bahn stations are Potsdame Platz and Kurfürstenstraße.
Please note: In Berlin, as elsewhere in Europe, the ground floor is identified as floor 0. Furthermore, the symbol ß is a contraction of the letters ss. So, all streets (strasse) are read straße. Stauffenbergstraße therefore means Stauffenberg Street. Finally, in English, Bendlerblock reads Bendler Block.
Two other museums nearby
PHOTO ANDRÉ DUCHESNE, THE PRESS
The exterior of the Neue Nationalgalerie with a prominent Calder sculpture
The German Resistance Memorial is located near Potsdamer Platz, one of Berlin’s central squares with many museums and shops. We visited two other institutions of great interest there.
Neue Nationalgalerie: focus on contemporary art
PHOTO ANDRÉ DUCHESNE, THE PRESS
The work Deutsches Ballett by Hans Ticha at the Neue Nationalgalerie
On the busy Potsdamer Straße, the clean and graceful lines of the building designed by Mies van der Rohe easily stand out from the urban magma. On the outside square, the silhouette of a Calder stabile leaves no doubt: the Neue Nationalgalerie is a museum devoted to contemporary art. In a few rooms there is a very convincing concentration of German, European and Eastern Bloc pictorial art since the beginning of the 20th century.e century. Lightweight works by Brauner, Calder and Giacometti sit alongside those with more massive volumes by Konrad Klapheck and Hans Ticha. Rooms Wald (Forest) by Günther Uecker or even Spielgel (Mirror) by Adolf Luther in which the visitor is the subject enchants young and old.
Potsdamer Straße 50, 10 785 Berlin
Visit the Neue Nationalgalerie website (in English)
Deutsche Kinemathek: diving into the 7e german art
PHOTO ANDRÉ DUCHESNE, THE PRESS
Wander through an astonishing hall of mirrors at the Deutsche Kinemathek
Visiting this museum dedicated to German cinema and television is a contagious joy. The introductory segment takes place in a hall of mirrors where images and film extracts from all eras of German cinema are projected. The arrangement of mirrors allows the eras to dialogue… and visitors to take unforgettable selfies! The history of German cinema dates back to the day in 1895 when the Lumière brothers presented their works in Berlin. It is therefore very rich and the places convincingly bear witness to this. Of Metropolis from Fritz Lang to the career of Marlene Dietrich via cinema under the Third Reich and contemporary cinema of which Wim Wenders is one of the leading figures, everything is shown in a fragmented and dynamic layout. The museum shop will delight souvenir lovers. But be careful: the vast majority of DVDs for sale can only be played with a zone 2 (PAL) device.
Potsdamer Straße 2, 10 785 Berlin
Visit the Deutsche Kinemathek website (in English)