Remembering

The first World War ended one hundred years ago and my mum died six months ago.  Rememberance services remind me of my dad, who would play the last post in the High Street and my grandad who was a soldier between the two wars.  This year, though, I was thinking about my mum and the artist that inspired her.

When I was fourteen I went on an exchange trip to Germany. During my stay we went to an exhibition about the war.  They told me that this was the first of it's kind and were shocked at my descriptions of huge British war museums.  Neither of the wars were something that was talked about they said the German people felt huge shame and would prefer that it just hadn't happened. When I told them about Poppy Day they were equally shocked. They thought it sounded like a celebration. I told them about the money it raised to look after people that were hurt in the wars and wondered what the Germans did. 

It has always upset me when people use this day of remembering in a very partisan way.  People on all sides were hurt.  Discussion, cooperation and peace should always be the aim in future. 

Kathe Kollwitz was a German artist and printmaker, who documented human suffering.  She was born in 1867 and became noticed for her work with a series about the weaver's revolt.  Kathe made many portraits of women, which I love but Mum was particularly taken with her work that featured mothers.  Many of them are very sad.  Mothers whose children have died, or are starving feature alongside pictures of her own children.  In 1914 Kathe's younger son, Peter, volunteered for the war and shortly after was killed in Belgium. That was when she became a pacifist.  She made posters, a series on war and ventured into sculpture to create amazing tributes. Her final works were concerned with death and seemed to be a farewell.