I had another idea for the representation of Death – seizing a group of children. He has already got hold of two of them. The one who has been torn by his hair is now lying silently on his back, staring at Death as if petrified. On the left sits a woman with a mournful expression on her face. She is not the child’s mother. She represents the woman who only looks on, but is full of compassion.«
Käthe Kollwitz, Diaries, 12 January 1920