Shortly after Käthe Kollwitz learned of the death of her 18-year-old son Peter, she planned a grave monument. It was initially intended to be a lying image of Peter with his parents. It was only when father Karl Kollwitz and mother Käthe Kollwitz-Schmidt visited their son's grave for the first time in 1926 at the Roggeveld cemetery that Käthe created "The Grieving Parents", which was placed in 1932.
A maturing process of 18 years after Peter's death was necessary to process the mourning in a work of art.
This memorial stone for her fallen son Peter became a monument for all the dead, of all nationalities, who fell victim to the war. But even more so, it shows the universal sorrow of all parents who lost a child in the violence of war.
The images are very moving due to their simplicity and therefore testify to a high level of art.
The father figure, Peter's own father, kneeling and with his head raised from his shoulders, looks down at the thousands of graves, including the grave of his son. His features, sunken cheeks and a grim expression on his mouth, betray his helplessness and horror of the war. He holds his arms tightly around his body. Peter is buried in front of the father figure.
The mother figure, Käthe Kollwitz herself, kneeling and bent over, casts her eyes down. Her right hand presses her wide cloak close to her cheek. She crosses her arms over her chest, as if to suppress her sobs.
The plaster design by Käthe Kollwitz was executed in granite by the German sculptors August Rhades (the father) and Fritz Diederich (the mother).
Source: information board on site