Editing 20 July plot (section)

== Commemoration and collective memory ==
A 1951 survey by the [[Allensbach Institute]] revealed that "Only a third of respondents had a positive opinion about the men and women who had tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the Nazi regime."<ref name = "dwelle2014">{{Cite web| last = Dittrich| first = Monika| title = How traitors became heroes| work = [[Deutsche Welle]]| access-date = 2014-07-20| date = 2014-07-20| url = http://www.dw.de/how-traitors-became-heroes/a-17796469| archive-date = 7 June 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150607001219/http://www.dw.de/how-traitors-became-heroes/a-17796469| url-status = live}}</ref>

The "first official memorial service for the resistance fighters of 20 July" was held on the tenth anniversary in 1954. In his speech at the event, [[Theodor Heuss]], the first [[President of Germany|President of the Federal Republic of Germany]], said that "harsh words" were necessary, and that "There have been cases of refusal to carry out orders that have achieved historic greatness."<ref name = "dwelle2014" /> After this speech, public opinion in Germany began to shift.

Nonetheless, a 1956 proposal to name a school after Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was opposed by a majority of citizens, and, according to [[Deutsche Welle]] (in 2014):

{{blockquote|East Germany's communist leadership had ignored the assassination attempt for decades, mainly because the conservative and aristocratic conspirators around Stauffenberg did not match the socialist ideal.<ref name = "dwelle2014" />}}

The first all-German commemoration of the event did not take place until 1990. In 2013, the last surviving member of the plot, Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin, died in [[Munich]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/julyplot.html|title=Operation Valkyrie – The "July Plot" to Assassinate Hitler {{!}} Jewish Virtual Library|website=jewishvirtuallibrary.org|access-date=2016-11-18|archive-date=22 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122070025/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/julyplot.html|url-status=live}}</ref> {{As of|2014}}, the resistance fighters are generally considered heroes in Germany, according to Deutsche Welle.<ref name = "dwelle2014" />

<gallery>
File:Bendler Block Memorial Crop.jpg|Memorial at the [[Bendlerblock]]: "Here died for Germany on 20 July 1944" (followed by the names of the principal conspirators)
File:Stauffenberg-tomb.JPG|Memorial at the cemetery ([[Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof]], Berlin) where the corpses were buried but afterwards removed to an unknown place
File:Bendlerblock gdw1.jpg|Memorial statue at the Bendlerblock by [[Richard Scheibe]]
</gallery>