The First World War became a great trauma for Käthe Kollwitz, whose younger son Peter had already died as a war volunteer in Flanders in October 1914. Her first impulse to create a monument for the young war volunteers did not lead to a convincing result. Kollwitz then turned back to graphic art and, after many attempts, created a series of woodcuts that addressed the consequences of war for parents, wives and mothers. Kollwitz completed the fallen painting for her son Peter in a new conception in 1932; it was placed in the Belgian military cemetery Roggevelde, where Peter’s grave was located.
Directly next to the cycle War you will find the showcase with photos of the fallen memorial as well as cards and photos of the Kollwitz family from the autumn of the war in 1914. You can also read the transcribed correspondence of Käthe Kollwitz with her sons.
