„The German alibi. The myth of the ‚Stauffenberg assassination'“

20 July 2024 marks the 80th anniversary of the so-called „Stauffenberg assassination“. Time to deconstruct one of the central founding legends of the Federal Republic of Germany. Because everything seems to have been said about 20 July 1944. We know how Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg planted the bomb, why the attempt failed and that it is nevertheless worthy of all honour. However, few people realise that in reality around 200 people, a broad alliance of people from all social classes and of the most diverse political persuasions, were involved in the so-called „Stauffenberg assassination attempt“. Even today, 20 July 1944 is still regarded as an „uprising of conscience“ by a small group of conservative military officers, and this legendary exaggeration still obscures our view of the events and the social diversity of the conspiracy. Journalist Ruth Hoffmann undertakes a comprehensive and long overdue deconstruction of the myth of the „Stauffenberg assassination“ and traces how the 20th of July has been politically instrumental since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany: sometimes in order to distance oneself from the GDR and defame communist resisters; sometimes to accuse politicians who collaborated with the Nazi regime of being close to the resistance; or, as the AfD has recently done, to conceal its own hostility to democracy with an alleged spirit of resistance in the tradition of Stauffenberg.

Reading with the author of the book, Ruth Hoffmann, followed by a discussion with Irmtrud Wojak (founder and director of the Fritz Bauer Forum)

Ruth Hoffmann, born in Hamburg in 1973, studied ethnology, modern history and politics and is a graduate of the Henri Nannen School of Journalism. From 2004 to 2006 she was an editor at Stern, since then she has worked as a freelance journalist for various media, including Geo, Stern, P.M. History, and Spiegel Geschichte. She is a co-founder of the journalists‘ association Plan 17 and :Freischreiber, the professional association of freelance journalists. In 2012, her book Stasi Children. Aufwachsen im Überwachungsstaat about the children of full-time employees of the GDR Ministry for State Security. She lives with her family in Hamburg. The book „Das deutsche Alibi. Mythos „Stauffenberg-Attentat“ – wie der 20. Juli 1944 verklärt und politisch instrumentalisiert wird“ was voted „Non-fiction book of the year“ by the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS at the end of 2024.

The book was published by Goldmann in April 2024 and can be purchased here and at the event.

An event organised by the Fritz Bauer Forum