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3d ago

Hamburg-Nord Renames Hindenburgstraße After White Rose Activist and SPD Leader

A ceremony at Martin-Luther-Kirche finalized the replacement of Hindenburg’s name with those of anti-Nazi resistance figures.

Der nördliche Teil der Hindenburgstraße in Alsterdorf heißt nun Traute-Lafrenz-Straße, zum Gedenken an die junge Hamburgerin, die Teil der Widerstandsgruppe „Weiße Rose“ war.

Overview

  • On August 1, officials unveiled new street signs at a Martin-Luther-Kirche ceremony designating the northern stretch of the former Hindenburgstraße as Traute-Lafrenz-Straße and the southern portion as Otto-Wels-Straße.
  • The adjacent Hindenburgbrücke has been rechristened Traute-Lafrenz-Brücke, accompanied by plaques and an exhibition in the Bezirksamt Nord foyer through the end of August.
  • The renaming was first approved by the Bezirksversammlung Hamburg-Nord in 2024 and ratified by the Senatskommission für Straßennamen in May 2025 to confront Paul von Hindenburg’s contested legacy.
  • Traute Lafrenz was a Hamburg-born member of the White Rose resistance who survived Nazi imprisonment and later led a U.S. school for children with disabilities; Otto Wels was an SPD leader famed for opposing Hitler’s Enabling Act in 1933.
  • The project underscores how local governance and public ceremonies are being used to reshape urban memory and foreground democratic resistance to authoritarianism.