The Grieving Elderly Couple

The sculpture group "Grieving Parents" was designed by the German sculptor Käthe Kollwitz. Käthe Schmidt, born in 1867 in Königsberg, was married to doctor Karl Kollwitz and together they had 2 sons: Hans and Peter. Käthe Kollwitz would go on to become one of the most important social artists of the 20th century. Her youngest son Peter, who had volunteered at the outbreak of the First World War, had died in the night of 23 to 24 October 1914 near Esen. He was buried by his comrades on the Roggeveld. It was not until a month later that Karl and Käthe learned of their son's death. As early as December 1914, Käthe conceived the plan to create a memorial for her son. It took her many years before she finally designed "Die Eltern". She not only wanted to vent her own grief through her artwork, but she wanted to speak on behalf of all the parents whose sons had died. In July 1932 the statues were placed in the cemetery of the Roggeveld. In 1956, when all the graves of the Roggeveld were transferred to the cemetery of Vladslo, the sculpture group moved with it and the statues were placed at the back of the cemetery. The father and mother not only look at their son, who is buried right in front of them, but at the same time at all the other victims of the war. They have become a universal symbol of deep sadness and a silent indictment of the cruelty of war. Käthe's grandson, son of her son Hans and also named Peter, was killed in 1942 in Russia. Käthe Kollwitz died on 22 April 1945. The sculptures were executed in bluestone after the design of Käthe Kollwitz: the father figure by August Rhades (°1886, wood and stone sculptor, pupil of Erwin Kurz) and the mother figure by Fritz Diederich (°1869, sculptor at the Berlin Academy from 1891 to 1898). By ministerial decree of 18 March 1997, the cemetery, including the statues, was protected as a monument.

Flanders Classics (intern)