20th July 1944: Every Form of Resistance was Right and Important
For the 70th time the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler has its anniversary on 20th July. To this party secretary of DIE LINKE, Matthias Höhn, declares:
On 20th July 70 years ago the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler failed. As a consequence many of the conspirators around Colonel Count von Stauffenberg were arrested, tortured, murdered. We honouringly commemorate them.
The often felt tendency to reduce the resistance against Hitler on events around the 20th July 1944 and thus to marginalise communistic, social democratic, or jewish resistance, is however not correct. Every form of resistance aiming at ending the fascist terror and war, deserves respect and appreciation.
For several reasons it took a long time in East and West to recognize the conspirators around Stauffenberg as members of the resistance against Hitler. Here the attempt was considered as having too little working class background, whereas there the assassins were a long time considered as „oath breakers“. It took until 2009 in the reunited Federal Republic to legally rehabilitate deserters of Wehrmacht and victims of NS military justice.
Had the attempted coup of 20th July been successful it presumably had not brought about a democratic republic – yet it would have let to an end of the war, removed the terror system and at least opened opportunities for a new, peaceful Germany. Across all political differences this is reason enough to remember the conspirators. Resistance against dictatorships, inhumanity, and terror are always right.