A cordial invitation to the opening of the exhibition on April 16, 2026 at 5:00 PM in Center for Persecuted Arts, Wuppertaler Strasse 160
We speak on Aenne Wagner's 122nd birthday with her daughter Regine Weiss. 9th grade students of Humboldtgymnasium Solingen Then present artistic collages, sketches for graphic novels and creative texts that were created as a result of dealing with the biography of Änne Wagner.
“[S] they saw that it was completely wrong that they had not resisted it. They realized that, but it was too late by then. ” — Aenne Wagner on the intimidation of the Solingen population through Nazi propaganda on May 1, 1933
Änne Wagner's story exemplifies the effects of child poverty, her struggle for social improvements for families, her efforts to educate and engage politically, the emancipation of a young woman in her quest for autonomy and maturity. Aenne Wagner not only came into conflict with the KPD leadership, but from 1933 also experienced the harmonization, suppression and persecution of her personal environment by the National Socialists. Their history and attitude also offer identification potential for young people from today's social perspective. She is one of the most important eyewitnesses of the new educational and memorial center Max Leven-Zentrum Solingen, which opened in November 2025 at the former location of the “Bergische Arbeiterstimme”.
that Center for Persecuted Artse, as a long-standing cooperation partner of the Humboldt Gymnasium, showed 2025 in the exhibition “The Holocaust in comics and graphic novels. The graphic narrative as a medium of remembrance” a selection of artistic eyewitness reports, biographical graphic novels and fictional stories that deal with historical events in artistic form. The aim of the school project “Living Memorial” was to implement the personal engagement with the story of Änne Wagner in a graphic or other artistic narrative form under the guidance of artist Till-Martin Köster. Young people should be encouraged to courageously and courageously find forms of expression for their own standpoint/their own voice.
The commitment to a defensive democracy that rebels against prejudices, resentment and hatred is currently more important than ever. The project highlights the person of Änne Wagner, a woman who identified herself as part of the whole and took on responsibility. “Fit for the future together — here and elsewhere” is the mission statement of the Humboldtgymnasium Solingen. It stands for a sense of community and holistic education in the sense of learning democracy. Project work — supported by cooperation partners within the school and cooperation with Center for Persecuted Arts and the Max Leven Center at the extracurricular learning location — enabled young people to expand their perspective and the freedom to express themselves artistically on the topics of “emancipation, solidarity and commitment 100 years ago and today” using the example of Aenne Wagner.
The project was created during the “Culture of Remembrance and Democracy Education” project week of the 9th grades of the Humboldt Gymnasium Solingen in October 2025. The collaboration of artist Till-Martin Köster was supported by the State program “Culture and Schools” promoted.
The exhibition is from April 16-26, 2026 in the Council Chamber of Center for Persecuted Arts to see.
