Peter Kollwitz

Personal

Vocation

Family

German soldier in the First World War, notable as the youngest son of internationally renowned artist Käthe Kollwitz, and by his contact with personalities such as Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Bernfeld and Gustav Wyneken. Kollwitz is mentioned in his mother's journal, encyclopedias, the press and historical documentary films. He was also portrayed in various works by the his mother. To commemorate his life, his mother created her sculptural masterpiece, a group of figures, which was built on his grave and remains there today. Peter Kollwitz had an older brother, Hans Kollwitz (1892-1971) who became a physician. As youngsters, the brothers were members of the Wandervogel, a left-wing bourgeois youth movement, along with Walter Benjamin, Hans Blüher, Ernst Joëll, Fritz Klatt, the brothers Hans and Walter Koch, Erich Krems, Alfred Kurella and Alexander Rüstow. In 1911, his brother Hans published the first issue of the youth magazine Der Anfang (The Beginning) featuring his writing and Peter's drawings; two cousins ​​also contributed drawings. During the summer holidays of 1914 Hans Koch, Peter Kollwitz, Erich Krems and Richard Noll went by boat to Norway, where they learned about the declaration of war. They immediately planned to volunteer in the First World War, and ended their holiday immediately. After his almost four-year-older brother, the medical student Hans, had already volunteered for medical service, on 10 August 1914 Peter asked his father to allow him to also volunteer for war service. His parents agreed and after several weeks of training, Peter said goodbye on 12 October 1914. He was now a musketeer in the Reserve Infantry Regiment. On 23 October 1914, only ten days after his departure to the Western Front, Peter Kollwitz died, aged 18, during combat in Flanders. Link to Wikipedia biography (German)