A look at the resistance: Exhibition “In Memoriam 20 July 1944”

July 20th marked the 80th anniversary of the failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler by the group around Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg. Even beyond this date, the topic of resistance continues to inspire reflection.

For example, in the social goods store Soproro (the name stands for “Social Project Reinickendorf-Ost”) at Roedernallee 88/90. During business hours, the exhibition “We must not forget… Remembrance – Commemoration – Legacy. In Memoriam July 20, 1944” can be viewed there. The special thing about this show: It was developed by employees, the management and members of the association.

This also happened with unconventional means, for example in the form of an artistic confrontation. Pictures deal concretely or abstractly with events or people of the resistance against National Socialism. The commemoration does not only refer to Stauffenberg and July 20th. It also concerns groups such as the so-called Red Orchestra and its members, the Kreisau Circle, the White Rose around the Scholl siblings, the Confessing Church and the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer or the Catholic priest Alfred Delp. These and other detailed descriptions can also be read in a nearly 70-page brochure, which is also part of the project.

The aim was to provide low-threshold access to this topic, explained the association’s deputy chairman Frank Zwiener. The same goes for the question of what the events of that time still mean to us today. An answer to this can also be found on the Soproro website. The social department store experiences every day how more and more people feel excluded from our society, it says. “In order to avoid political undesirable developments, we must learn from the past.” The project and the brochure are intended to give the horror of that time a shape and the resistance fighters a contemporary voice. “Education is the basis for success and humanity. It enables historical reflection and progress.” The exhibition is therefore “also an invitation to dialogue.”

The exhibition and accompanying text were created with the support of the BVV Reinickendorf. The patron is Mayor Emine Demirbüken-Wegner (CDU). Opening hours are Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The brochure and further information can also be found at www.soproro.de/erinnern-gedenken-vermaechtnis/.