Never Again War: The Sacrifice of Käthe Kollwitz

• Website: https://beta.prx.org/stories/161371

Never Again War: The Sacrifice of Käthe Kollwitz is an audio drama that explores the life of renowned German artist and sculptor Käthe Kollwitz, from the beginning of WWI in 1914 through her death in 1945. The audio drama was produced by Midsummer Sound Company¹⁾ and SueMedia Productions²⁾ to commemorate the centennial of World War I.

Never Again War: The Sacrifice of Käthe Kollwitz takes us into the mind and life of the renowned German graphic artist and sculptor. Our play begins in Berlin in February 1914, at a party in the Kollwitz home, celebrating the 18th birthday of her younger son Peter. A few months later, as soon as war begins on August 1, Peter implores his parents for permission to join his older brother Hans who has already volunteered to become a soldier in the army.

To support the idealism of her sons to offer themselves for sacrifice on behalf of The Fatherland, the socialist Käthe finds herself supporting her sons in a war she deeply disapproved of. By the time our play concludes in the town of Moritzburg, two weeks before Germany's defeat at the end of World War II in April 1945, Kollwitz has learned that every war is answered by a new war until everything is smashed because every war already carries within it the war that will answer it, as World War II answered World War I.