I February 13, 2026 Does the author read Reiner Engelmann I'm Coastal Museum Wilhelmshaven from his book „The Auschwitz Photographer“. He will be accompanied musically by Bernadette Boos.

We are pleased to honor Mr. Engelmann as the association's new ambassador as part of the event. The social pedagogue and author was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon in 2023 for his long-standing commitment to human rights and memorial and remembrance work.

Press Release from the Coastal Museum: The starting point of the reading is the life story of Wilhelm Brasse (1917–2012). Brasse was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp at the age of 22, where, due to his photographic training, he became the camp's documentarian. His job was to photograph inmates – people who were murdered shortly thereafter or who became victims of pseudomedical experiments. The photographs show faces caught between fear, resistance, and helplessness. In 1945, Brasse refused to destroy the recordings, in order to preserve the testimony of the systematically organized murder. Today, the photographs are among the most important visual sources about Auschwitz.

Reiner Engelmann met Wilhelm Brasse in person and developed the book „The Photographer of Auschwitz“ from their conversations. The concert reading combines text and music into a powerful space of remembrance: a reading against forgetting.

The event is part of the supporting program for the exhibition „Draw What You See. Children's Drawings from Theresienstadt“ by artist Helga Weissová, whose drawings document everyday life in the Theresienstadt Ghetto from a child's perspective. Both testimonies make visible how important individual voices are for collective memory.

Registration is requested at:

Phone: (04421) 40 09 40

Email: kuestenmuseum@wilhelmshaven-touristik.de

Admission5 Euros

VenueKüstenmuseum Wilhelmshaven, Weserstraße 58, 26382 Wilhelmshaven

Start6:00 PM to 8:00 PM