In August 1924, around the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of the war, mass demonstrations took place throughout Germany, called for—as they had been every year since 1920—by the Action Committee of the »Never Again War« Movement.
With her poster for the »Socialist Workers’ Youth« in Leipzig, Käthe Kollwitz created what is probably still the best-known German anti-war poster to this day, one that was also used time and again in the peace movement of the 1970s and 1980s. The reason for its enormous impact surely lies not only in its formal and aesthetic qualities, but even more so in the way the artist tackled the subject.
A young man raises his hand in a passionate gesture to take an oath; his arm is stretched upward, filling the entire height of the image; he has placed his left hand on his heart to affirm the oath, and his mouth is wide open in the cry: »Never again war!«
This compelling, evocative appeal—through which Käthe Kollwitz invites the viewer to identify with the subject—has taken shape in the figure of the boy. He stands facing a biting wind, his hair blowing, his facial expression betraying extreme tension. The depiction—executed with graphic perfection—is complemented by Kollwitz’s dynamic, expressive style. The outstretched arm, which dominates the image, partially overlaps the word »War«—which Kollwitz has vigorously underlined twice—and thus serves simultaneously as an exclamation mark.
Just as she does not tone down her individual artistic style for a poster, she also remains true to herself in the oath she wrote by hand. It is precisely this that may account for the impact of the subjective and emotional appearance of this anti-war poster, »Never Again War.«
