The 'Heinrich- Heine- Gymnasium Bitterfeld- Wolfen' is a type of grammar school  which is currently attended by approximately 800 students. During the later 50s, the area around Bitterfeld and Wolfen was continuously growing  by reason of the chemical industry in the whole region. That's why it was necessary to establish a middle school and also a secondary school because of the higher number of students. In 1953 the first secondary school was set up in a building in the "Windmühlenstraße", where students could attend the middle school section as well as the secondary school section ("EOS" which means "Erweiterte Polytechnische Oberschule"), thereby students had the possibility to do the final secondary-school examinations. After the German reunification, three grammar schools were established in Wolfen in 1991, when the three-staged school system was introduced in the regions of the former German Democratic Republic, too. Due to a certain lack of students, the former three schools were merged into only one which moved into the building in Reudener Straße 74, where it became the "Heinrich-Heine-Gymnasium". Today, students come to our school after leaving primary school and after eight years, they usually do the final examinations, in Germany known as "Abitur".
The eponym was chosen because the poet Heinrich Heine was one of the most important representatives of German romanticism and plays a key role of identification with our education standards. A memorial was built in the large school yard in front of the school building, where each year teachers and students think of his life and works during a commemoration ceremony.
Due to the fact that nowadays chemical industry is still a very important business sector for the town of Wolfen just as for the whole region, students get a well-founded education in natural sciences, during the lessons just as during extra-curricular activities like practical trainings or visits of the universities nearby, such as the Martin- Luther University in Halle (Saale).
Wolfen is a provincial town with approximate 17.000 habitants. Important to know is, that during the period of the GDR, nature was totally destroyed in the whole region around because of inconsiderate surface mining and the chemical industry, but today, after 25 years of reunification and after the physical landscape has changed, a large and spacious nature reserve with big lakes and woods has developed in Bitterfeld, which together with the town of Wolfen builds the town complex Bitterfeld- Wolfen.
The 'Heinrich- Heine- Gymnasium' is currenty attended by approximately 800 students. Nearly 60 teachers who are educating and instructing them in several subjects constitute the personal staff. 

Concerning the subjects inclusion and tolerance, diverse projects have taken place in recent years, for example the project "Schule mit Courage, Schule ohne Rassismus" ("School with courage and without any racism") sensitizing students to a regardful contact with persons related to any other religious background or ethnic group, so they stand up to any attempt of discrimination. Furthermore, the project "Stolpersteine" (tripping stones in pedestrian paths of each village or town, where Jewish people had lived before deportation, reminding people of their cruel fate) was organized, in which students could retrace discrimination and outlawing of Jewish people during the dark period of National Socialism in Germany.
In addition, there is a cooperation with the "Sonnenlandschule", which is a school for mentally disabled students. Lots of projects such as common festivals, handicraft workshops or similar activities have been organized. Also joint sport activities are introduced, like sports meetings where disabled and non-disabled students are taking part. Besides, the cooperation with the welfare group "Diakonie" (a charity organisation of the German Protestant Churches) must be mentioned. Since the school building was inaugurated, inclusion has been a permanent component in school work. In November 2015, the musical project "Zwei Tage im Hinterhof" ("Two days in the backyard") was performed by students, who could show their talents in dancing, acting, singing and performing as well. The main topic here was also inclusion and fighting against racism: Two teenagers, belonging to two different ethnic groups, fall in love with each other and have to fight against all odds. Every year, the campaign "One billion rising" is realized, reminding people of fighting against Female discrimination such as sexual harassment and abuse of girls and women all over the world. Visits of the "Industrie- und Film- Museum" in Wolfen enable the students to learn about how the regional film industry produced films in the past, in particular films produced in the period of GDR. Such visits include also watching films that focus on socially critical aspects. In 2016 and 2017, an exchange programme has taken place with a school from Poland centering an history and an arts project: Students reflected on the "Solidarnosc" movement in recent history and on the reformation processes of the Protestant Church in the 16th century that Martin Luther has established, for there will be his anniversary in 2017.
Moreover, in 2017 some more interesting projects with students are planned. Against the background of the integration of refugees and the consequential debate in German public, the students must be better explained about the refugees' reasons for leaving their home countries and about world wide political crisises as well. In particular in the Eastern German areas has grown violence against refugees and refugee asylums. Also the tendencies to elect populist parties is a huge problem. Reflecting those issues there had been arised the idea of the project "Radio Courage - Beispiele mutigen Handelns" ("Radio Courage - Examples for courageous action"): The students are going to make some interviews with people who tell them about civil courage. Than the students make some audioslide- shows and present them on their own Youtube-channel. To produce such short films can help students to explore people's experiences with unjustice, racism and discrimination and it can also encourage them to stand up against the dissemination of prejudices, insults, threats and 'fake news' in social media platforms as well as in real life every day. Also democracy will be an issue to focuse on during the project. The results of "Radio Courage" will be involved in the instant KA2- project.
Another peace-focusing project is "Friedenslauf von Rom 2017 E.V. - Für Frieden, Demokratie und Toleranz, gegen Fremdenfeindlichkeit" ("Peace Run to Rome 2017 - for Peace, Democracy and Tolerance, against Xenophobia"). Mr. Thomas Meixner is supporting the "Heinrich- Heine- Gymnasium" since a several period of time. He enriches the school life with presentations and discussions about his travel experiences and about basic values like democracy, openness, solidarity and human rights. A group of sportsmen and sportswomen will run from Rome to Wittenberg in Saxonia- Anhalt collecting money for a Kenyan school.
Regarding the key persons involved in this project, must be mentioned Mrs. Susan Neubert. She studied Latin and Italian linguistics, philology and history for becoming a teacher, French and Spanish as additional subjects within the scope of Roman philology studies. Emphasizing multilingualism, intercultural learning, historical and cultural awareness and social competence in her educational work, she is willing to amplify her professional horizon with this project. Mrs. Sophie Schuchert is teaching French and Italian at our school and is responsable for a school exchange project with a school in France (Villefontaine). She organizes travel processes and leads an extracurricular working group ("In giro per l'Italia") to support the project work. Mrs. Katja Künzel is teaching arts and history and is responsible for students' art projects. Mr. Martin Hartmann is responsible for statistics and evaluation analysis.