06 January 2020 Published in Events

"I Wanted to Prevent War" – Georg Elser and the November 8, 1939 Bürgerbräukeller Bombing

"I Wanted to Prevent War" – Georg Elser and the November 8, 1939 Bürgerbräukeller Bombing
Type: exhibition
Date: January 26 to April 19, 2020
Time: Saturdays and Sundays, 2 pm to 5 pm
Venue: Jewisher Prayer Room Museum Horb

On November 8, 1938, carpenter Georg Elser attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller. He knew that Hitler would give a speech there on the anniversary of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. Elser was able to get access to the event venue. For nights on end, he installed an explosive device there. As Hitler, contrary to expectations, left the hall shortly before the explosion, he survived the assassination attempt.

The same evening, Georg Elser was arrested in Konstanz. He confessed after long hours of interrogation. For five years, Elser was kept in total isolation in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. On April 9, 1945, only weeks before Nazi Germany‘s surrender, Elser was shot dead in Dachau concentration camp. After 1945, legends and lies distorted the view on Georg Elser. His image only started to change when his Gestapo interrogation minutes were released in 1970.

The exhibition "'Ich habe den Krieg verhindern wollen' – Georg Elser und das Attentat vom 8. November 1939" (“I Wanted to Prevent War – Georg Elser and the November 8, 1939 Bürgerbräukeller Bombing”) was created by the Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (German Resistance Memorial Center https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/home/) in Berlin and the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Baden Württemberg (Baden-Württemberg State Agency for Political Education https://www.gedenkstaetten-bw.de/ausstellung_elser.html). It has been traveling all over Germany for the past years.

The exhibition opening is on Sunday, January 26, 2020, at 4 pm on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Mr. Josef Seibold from the Georg Elser Gedenkstätte Königsbronn (Königsbronn Georg Elser Memorial Site https://www.georg-elser-gedenkstaette.de/) will give an introduction to the exhibition.

 Organizers: Former Rexingen Synagogue Association and Kreisvolkshochschule Freudenstadt (Freudenstadt District Adult Education Center https://www.vhs-kreisfds.de/)

Admission: free
Address: Fürstabt-Gerbert-Straße 2, 72160 Horb am Neckar, Germany