Bendlerblock

The Bendlerblock (German pronunciation: [ˈbɛndlɐˌblɔk] ⓘ) is a building complex in the Tiergarten district of Berlin, Germany, located on Stauffenbergstraße (formerly named Bendlerstraße).

Bendler, a chief mason and member of the Berlin city council, had acquired large estates south of the Großer Tiergarten park in order to develop the later mansion district on Tiergartenstraße.

[1] The main building on the Landwehr Canal was erected between 1911 and 1914 in a Neoclassical style as the seat of the Imperial Naval Office, until 1916 led by Grand admiral Alfred von Tirpitz.

[1] After World War I, the German Weimar government had to face the regulations of the 1919 Versailles treaty, whereafter the remaining Reichswehr and Reichsmarine forces had to be greatly reduced and from that time on used the complex jointly.

Despite the support by new Reichswehr Minister Werner von Blomberg, Hitler's appearance resulted in a grave crisis with the army command and Hammerstein-Equord's resignation in December.

[2] Already in 1938, the head of the Abwehr intelligence agency under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and Lieutenant Colonel Hans Oster evolved plans for a coup d'état in the course of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia.

[1] It was at the Bendlerblock that Stauffenberg and Major General Henning von Tresckow secretly modified the Wehrmacht "Operation Valkyrie" plan for the suppression of a possible revolt into a scheme for a coup attempt upon an assassination on Hitler.

[7] The Ministry of Defence as proprietor tends to restrict access to the Bendlerblock, due to its historical significance and lingering sensitivities about Germany's role in World War II.

[8] The Ministry hesitated to grant permission for filming scenes of the Tom Cruise-starred movie Valkyrie about the 20 July Plot, especially a re-enactment of the execution on the original location.