Learn the person, event and date together.
Stauffenberg’s name is especially associated with 20 July 1944. As an officer, he participated in an attempted military and political overthrow. The attack at the “Wolf’s Lair” headquarters and the subsequent actions in Berlin were parts of the same plan.
After the attempt failed, Stauffenberg and several fellow conspirators were shot at Berlin’s Bendler Block during the night of 20–21 July. The event therefore marks a failed act of resistance with fatal consequences for participants, not a successful transfer of power.
The other three answers
The other options point to sport, architecture or general military history.
a gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games.
Stauffenberg’s historical significance here is not an Olympic gold medal. The relevant biographical connection is resistance and the attempt in 1944.
the construction of the Reichstag building.
The Reichstag building was constructed to Paul Wallot’s plans from 1884 to 1894. Stauffenberg was not its architect or patron.
the build-up of the Wehrmacht.
Stauffenberg was a career officer. That does not make the general build-up of the Wehrmacht the event sought in his biography. The answer identifies the attempt of 20 July 1944.
Resistance involved different paths and political ideas.
Stauffenberg did not oppose Hitler from the outset. His biography includes earlier support and a later path into resistance. His actions in 1944 matter without turning his life into an unbroken history of democratic commitment.
Resistance to Nazism consisted of more than Stauffenberg or military officers alone. Different groups and individuals acted from different motives. The question links one well-known person to a particular event.
The 20 July 1944 plot · German Resistance Memorial Center ↗Stauffenberg → 20 July 1944 → Hitler survived.
The word “attempt” does not mean the target died. Explicitly add that the assassination attempt and attempted overthrow failed.
Three words for this question
- das Attentatassassination attempt / attack
- A targeted attack on a person; here Hitler survived.
- der Widerstandresistance
- Action opposing a regime’s rule.
- der Umsturzversuchattempted overthrow
- An attempt to remove the existing political leadership.