The cooperation project "Resistance – Democracy – Internationality"
In memory of the Göttingen alumnus and resistance fighter Adam von Trott zu Solz (1909-1944), the University, together with the Stiftung Adam von Trott, Imshausen e.V., supports various projects in research and teaching as well as public formats on the topics of resistance and responsibility, democracy and peace, Europe and internationality with federal funding. Within the framework of the cooperation, we organise various event formats which, based on the life, work and thinking of Adam von Trott, are intended to contribute to a critical examination of historical topics and current socio-political debates.Who was Adam von Trott?
Adam von Trott zu Solz (1909-1944), who studied law at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and obtained his doctorate in international law before going to the University of Oxford as a Rhodes scholar from 1931 to 1933, was an early opponent of the National Socialist regime and one of the most active and determined resistance fighters. He belonged to the resistance group "Kreisauer Kreis", in which personalities of different social origins and different political attitudes developed concepts for the period after the end of the dictatorship. Adam von Trott had been employed in the Federal Foreign Office since 1940. He used this role and his extensive international contacts to build up a comprehensive resistance network. He campaigned for international support on numerous trips at great personal risk. He advocated the elimination of Hitler as a prerequisite for the overthrow of the regime and supported the assassination attempt of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, who was a close friend and with whom he worked closely. After July 20 1944 Adam von Trott was arrested, sentenced to death by the People's Court and executed on August 26 1944 in Berlin-Plötzensee at the age of 35.