The aim of this review article is to analyze two historical narratives – individual and collective memory – that have shaped German memory culture around the construct of the uprising of conscience (Ger. Aufstand des Gewisssens) over the past five decades. Situated within the field of memory studies, the article focuses on three texts by Marion Dönhoff dedicated to the July 20 plot: In Memoriam 20. Juli 1944 (1945), The Names No One Mentions Anymore (1962), and In the Name of Honor (1994). The analysis of these texts highlights Dönhoff’s individual perspective on the German resistance movement and its reinterpretation as an act of moral awakening, referred to as the uprising of conscience. Dönhoff’s reflections are embedded in a broader political discourse, which is juxtaposed with Ruth Hoffmann’s critical perspective in her book Das deutsche Alibi (2024). Hoffmann deconstructs the myth of July 20, analyzing its mechanisms and arguing that it serves as a tool for German society to absolve itself from guilt over its passivity toward Nazism. The article limits its discourse analysis to Hoffmann’s approach, as it represents the most recent and comprehensive study of German collective memory in this context. Furthermore, it reflects on the limits of the heroization of the German resistance movement, the mythologization of historical memory, and the international reception of German memory politics.
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