UNITED IN GRIEF even after all this time...
The Grieving Parents by Käthe Kollwitz at the WAR cemetery of Vladslo in Belgium.
Many of the German dead in Vladslo cemetery died between 16 and 31 October 1914 during those fearsome attacks on nearby Belgian positions during the ‘Battle of the Yser’. The dozens of flat marker stones, each containing a number of names and dates of death, give proof of that. However, Vladslo is perhaps the place on the Western Front where the everlasting impact of death in war on those at home is driven home to the visitor. At the other end of the cemetery from the entrance lodge stands Käthe Kollwitz’s tribute to her dead son of 1914, the statue known as ‘Die Eltern’ (‘The Parents’).
Käthe Kollwitz, a famous German artist, devised the statues as a tribute to her lost son. After his death she admitted to a friend: ‘There is in our lives a wound which will never heal. Nor should it’. The stone parents are shown kneeling facing the cemetery. The father clasps himself tightly while the mother hangs her head in grief. Käthe and her husband, Dr Karl Kollwitz, personally brought the statues to Belgium. Of their last visit to Peter Kollwitz’s grave and the statues, she wrote:
We went from the figures to Peter's grave, and everything was alive and wholly felt. I stood before the woman, looked at her – my own face – and I wept and stroked her cheeks. Karl stood close behind me – I did not even realize it. I heard him whisper, ‘Yes, yes’. How close we were to one another then!
Käthe Kollwitz, quoted at www.rogallery.com/Kollwitz/Kollwitz-bio.htm
Allied Soldiers Killed:
* Belgium: 13,700
* British Empire: 908,000
o Australia: 60,000
o Canada: 55,000
o India: 25,000
o New Zealand: 16,000
o South Africa: 7,000
o United Kingdom: 715,000
* France: 1,240,000
* French Colonies: 114,000
* Greece: 5,000
* Italy: 650,000
* Japan: 300
* Montenegro: 3,000
* Romania: 336,000
* Russia: 1,700,000
* Serbia: 45,000
* United States: 50,600
Central Powers Soldiers Killed:
* Austria-Hungary: 1,200,000
* Bulgaria: 87,500
* Germany: 1,770,000
* Turkey: 325,000
Civilians Killed:
* Austria-Hungary: 300,000
* Belgium: 30,000
* Britain: 31,000
* Bulgaria: 275,000
* France: 40,000
* Germany: 760,000
* Greece: 132,000
* Romania: 275,000
* Russia: 3,000,000
* Serbia: 650,000
* Turkey: 1,000,000
NO MORE WORDS....
Magda, M, (*_*)
magdaindigo.blogspot.com/2007/06/in-shadow-of-flanders-po...
UNITED IN GRIEF even after all this time...
The Grieving Parents by Käthe Kollwitz at the WAR cemetery of Vladslo in Belgium.
Many of the German dead in Vladslo cemetery died between 16 and 31 October 1914 during those fearsome attacks on nearby Belgian positions during the ‘Battle of the Yser’. The dozens of flat marker stones, each containing a number of names and dates of death, give proof of that. However, Vladslo is perhaps the place on the Western Front where the everlasting impact of death in war on those at home is driven home to the visitor. At the other end of the cemetery from the entrance lodge stands Käthe Kollwitz’s tribute to her dead son of 1914, the statue known as ‘Die Eltern’ (‘The Parents’).
Käthe Kollwitz, a famous German artist, devised the statues as a tribute to her lost son. After his death she admitted to a friend: ‘There is in our lives a wound which will never heal. Nor should it’. The stone parents are shown kneeling facing the cemetery. The father clasps himself tightly while the mother hangs her head in grief. Käthe and her husband, Dr Karl Kollwitz, personally brought the statues to Belgium. Of their last visit to Peter Kollwitz’s grave and the statues, she wrote:
We went from the figures to Peter's grave, and everything was alive and wholly felt. I stood before the woman, looked at her – my own face – and I wept and stroked her cheeks. Karl stood close behind me – I did not even realize it. I heard him whisper, ‘Yes, yes’. How close we were to one another then!
Käthe Kollwitz, quoted at www.rogallery.com/Kollwitz/Kollwitz-bio.htm
Allied Soldiers Killed:
* Belgium: 13,700
* British Empire: 908,000
o Australia: 60,000
o Canada: 55,000
o India: 25,000
o New Zealand: 16,000
o South Africa: 7,000
o United Kingdom: 715,000
* France: 1,240,000
* French Colonies: 114,000
* Greece: 5,000
* Italy: 650,000
* Japan: 300
* Montenegro: 3,000
* Romania: 336,000
* Russia: 1,700,000
* Serbia: 45,000
* United States: 50,600
Central Powers Soldiers Killed:
* Austria-Hungary: 1,200,000
* Bulgaria: 87,500
* Germany: 1,770,000
* Turkey: 325,000
Civilians Killed:
* Austria-Hungary: 300,000
* Belgium: 30,000
* Britain: 31,000
* Bulgaria: 275,000
* France: 40,000
* Germany: 760,000
* Greece: 132,000
* Romania: 275,000
* Russia: 3,000,000
* Serbia: 650,000
* Turkey: 1,000,000
NO MORE WORDS....
Magda, M, (*_*)
magdaindigo.blogspot.com/2007/06/in-shadow-of-flanders-po...