Agnes Wendland lived in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg with her family. Her husband Walter Wendland was the Gethsemane parish pastor. They had three children: Ruth, Angelika, and Arndt. As a pastor’s wife, she was particularly active in helping women. She was a member of the Confessional Church and part of a private network aiding Jews.
In the summer of 1943, Agnes Wendland took in Rita Neumann, who was persecuted as a Jew, and also her brother Ralph several weeks later. She did not tell her husband about the siblings’ true identity, so as not to burden him as a pastor.
In the fall of 1944, Agnes Wendland gave refuge to two men living in hiding, Georg Remak and Wolfgang Hammerschmidt. Her daughters supported her. When Ralph Neumann was arrested in February 1945, his sister gave herself up voluntarily. Accompanying Rita Neumann to the Gestapo, Agnes Wendland was also arrested. Her health suffered and she was released after three weeks, whereupon Ruth Wendland had to go to prison in her place. Agnes Wendland never fully recovered from her imprisonment, and died in August 1946.
Agnes Wendland was honored as Righteous Among the Nations in 1975.
Agnes Wendland with her daughters Ruth (left) and Angelika, Berlin, 1920. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Agnes and Walter Wendland, Berlin, 1935. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Certificate issued by the Gestapo’s Berlin head office for Agnes Wendland on her “discharge from communal catering,” Berlin, March 14, 1945. Source: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, Sammlung Wendland
Gethsemane parish building at Gethsemanestraße 9, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, 1980. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
