Theodor Wagemann spent his adolescence smuggling food in the small village near Aachen where he grew up. One day, customs officers caught him and shot at him to intimidate him. The incident left such a mark that he gradually withdrew into himself. Although he escaped the Nazi program of exterminating the mentally ill thanks to his family doctor, Wagemann was forcibly sterilized. He gradually began hoarding waste in his room, leading his family to have him institutionalized at age 61. In the hospital, he began drawing intensively, often on wax paper salvaged from kitchens.
Wagemann created portraits of Nazi dignitaries, including nearly eight hundred of Adolf Hitler. His drawings are accompanied by text on the reverse and xenophobic slogans mixed with sequences of numbers indicating dates, all associated with the Third Reich. His iconography also includes biblical scenes and contemporary figures he cut from magazines.
THEO (Theodor WAGEMANN, known as)
