Kathe Kollwitz War Quotations

Recently I began reading my old diaries. Back to before the war. Gradually I became very depressed. The reason for that is probably that I wrote only when there were obstacles and halts to the flow of life, seldom when everything was smooth and even. ... As I read I distinctly felt what a half-truth a diary presents.

I have received a commission to make a poster against war. That is a task that makes me happy. Some may say a thousand times that this is not pure art.... but as long as I can work, I want to be effective with my art.

One day, a new ideal will arise, and there will be an end to all wars. I die convinced of this. It will need much hard work, but it will be achieved… The important thing, until that happens, is to hold one's banner high and to struggle… Without struggle there is no life.

Where do all the women who have watched so carefully over the lives of their beloved ones get the heroism to send them to face the cannon?

If all the people who have been hurt by the war were to exclude joy from their lives, it would almost be as if they had died.

Every war carries within it the war which will answer it. Every war is answered by a new war, until everything, everything is smashed.