Of all the museums in Berlin - and that's a whole lot of museums - my friend had this one on her list. It's a small, private museum that I'd heard nothing about. My guidebook also didn't play it up as a must-see so I went with tempered expectations and what I discovered was a perfect bookend to the experience of touring Berlin.
Set in West Berlin, on a charming Paris-esque street, the intimate (though multi-story) Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum features works by this Berlin artist so closely associated with the Berlin-during-wartime experience. After you've seen all of the war-related memorials, toured the nearby concentration camp (Sachsenhausen), and drank in the whole divided city thing come here.
Kathe Kollwitz was a politically radical artist in Prenzlauer Berg who tragically lost her son to war and later her grandson, to more war. In the process, she became a Pacifist, something she described as the most difficult thing one can ever do.
Through her art, Kollwitz continually questioned the senselessness of mothers offering their sons to the war machine and their unspeakable grief at the consequences. She found no comfort - only tragedy - in the corruptness of the then popular message that it is honorable to sacrifice your life for your country.
Frequent themes of Kollwitz' work include mothers trying to protect their children and parents grieving over the loss of their children. One of her most powerful works is a self-portrait of she and her husband crushed with grief at the loss of their son. Her work profoundly captures the trauma, senselessness, and evils of war.
Come to the Kathe Kollwitz Museum, on this peaceful, graffiti-free street, for a bit of reflection on the tragedy of war. Kollwitz' iconic works might move you towards Pacifism or tears or both.
Kollwitz' work is also the sole feature of Berlin's WWII Neue Wache Memorial featuring a mother cradling her dead son in her arms. If this sculpture moves you in any way, a visit to the Kathe-Kollwitz Museum should be high on your list.
Kathe Kollwitz was an incredible artist with a powerful message that I can get behind: Never Again War.
While in Berlin, make time for this special, powerful, under-the-radar museum. read more