Foundation July 20, 1944

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The 20 July 1944 Foundation emerged from the “Aid Organization 20 July 1944 ” foundation , which was established in 1949 on the initiative of survivors and bereaved families of the German resistance and the then Federal President Theodor Heuss . Its most important purpose at that time was to support members of the resistance movement against the National Socialist regime and their survivors, especially those who died on July 20, 1944.

tasks

Today the “Foundation July 20, 1944” has its office at the German Resistance Memorial Center in Berlin . The foundation fulfills the following tasks:

  • Advice and support for all still living resistance fighters, their families, but also other victims of the Nazi regime
  • Accompanying meetings and symposia on topics relevant to resistance
  • Scientific research into the history of the resistance movement as well as competent support for research work on resistance in universities, colleges and institutes
  • Active placement of speakers on resistance-related topics for schools, conferences, colloquia and discussions
  • Support for work on and in memorials of former Nazi concentration camps (e.g. Sachsenhausen) and other places (e.g. Kreisau)
  • Cooperation with related institutions (e.g. Research Association July 20, 1944 e.V., Freya von Moltke Foundation, Kreisau Foundation for European Understanding, White Rose Foundation e.V. )
  • Preparation and implementation of the annual commemorations in Berlin on July 20 in Stauffenbergstrasse and in Plötzensee , together with the federal government and the associations of the persecuted.
  • Conception and rental of exhibitions such as B. “What could you do? Resistance to National Socialism 1939–1945 ”or“ Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and the attempted coup of July 20, 1944 ”

The foundation is financed through grants from the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media as well as donations.

The organs of the foundation are the board of directors and the board of trustees, consisting of family members of the resistance, members of the persecuted associations, representatives of public life, representatives of religious communities and a representative of the federal government. The board of directors and the board of trustees work on a voluntary basis.

history

Survivors and family members of those involved in the attempted coup on July 20, 1944 founded the "Aid Agency July 20, 1944" soon after the end of the war. The founding members included u. a. Carl-Hans Graf von Hardenberg and his wife Renate Countess von Hardenberg, Walter Bauer, Gustav Dahrendorf , Otto Lenz , Hermann Freiherr von Lüninck, Gerhard Ritter , Alexander Graf von Stauffenberg and Elisabeth Strünck . The next generation was Emil Henk , Eberhard Bethge , Ludwig von Hammerstein , Reinhard Goerdeler and Dieter Thomas .

The most important goal of the foundation at the time was to provide material support to the victims of National Socialism, especially the widows and orphans of the resistance fighters who participated in the attempted coup of July 20, 1944, whose claims were not expressly regulated by the German reparation policy . Hellmuth Stieff's widow did not receive a statutory survivor's pension until 1960 after a long litigation. The foundation also campaigned for the rehabilitation of the resistance. This only succeeded in 1998, when all the judgments of the People's Court were overturned with the law to repeal unjust judgments in the criminal justice system .

To this day, the care of all surviving resistance fighters and their families as well as other victims of the Nazi regime - if they wish - remains the central task of the foundation.

Cooperation with the German Resistance Memorial Center , where the Foundation's office has been based since 2005 , has also been strengthened .

The Foundation and the German Resistance Memorial Center jointly document "July 20, 1944. Memories of a historic day."

In 2009 the lawyer Rüdiger von Voss became honorary chairman of the foundation.

literature

  • Christiane Toyka-Seid: Guardian of the grail, emergency community or social “pressure group”? The foundation “Hilfswerk July 20, 1944” in the first post-war decade , in: Gerd R. Ueberschär (Ed.): July 20, 1944. Evaluation and reception of the German resistance against the Nazi regime. Cologne, 1998, p. 159 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rieke C. Harmsen: Research Association July 20, 1944 | Sunday paper - 360 degrees evangelical. Retrieved on July 19, 2018 (German).
  2. ^ Exhibitions - Foundation July 20, 1944. Retrieved July 19, 2018 .
  3. ↑ cf. Words of welcome by the chairman of the board of trustees of the "Aid Agency July 20, 1944" foundation, Professor Dr. Eberhard Bethge DD, on July 20, 1984 at the Plötzensee Memorial, Berlin
  4. ↑ Johannes Tuchel : Between Defamation and Recognition: On dealing with July 20, 1944 in the early Federal Republic of June 20, 2014
  5. ^ Commemorations and speeches on the anniversaries of July 20, 1944 2016–2018