A Differentiated Instruction (DI) homework in Contemporary History Class (Grade 12). Εργασία για το σπίτι στο πλαίσιο της Διαφοροποιημένης Διδασκαλίας για το μάθημα Σύγχρονης Ιστορίας (γενικής παιδείας) στην Γ΄Λυκείου

1. Persistent artist anti-war voices in a warring Europe
Homework for next week
Use your notes of our last lesson on
pro- and anti-war voices in Europe
before, during and after World War
I,
• Explore works by Käthe
Kollwitz at the MOMA and
beyond,
• Look intensively at her
woodcut,
• Select a piece of homework,
and
• Prepare a 2 minutes
presentation for next week’s
class.
• You have an option to work
on your own or in pairs,
except for those of you who
select no 2 who have to work
in pairs.
Käthe Kollwitz. Die Witwe I. (1923, prints executed 1921-22)
Woodcut cover from a portfolio of seven woodcuts and one woodcut cover, titled
Krieg.
Dimensions: composition (irreg.): 37.8 x 24.5 cm; sheet (folded): 67.2 x 48.3 cm.
Publisher: Emil Richter, Dresden. Printer: probably Fritz Voigt, Berlin. Edition: 400
(including 100 hand-printed, numbered and signed on imperial Japan paper; 100
hand-printed, numbered and signed on wove paper; 200 printed from an electrotype
plate on imitation japan paper, published in 1924); plus 100 on portfolio cover [this
ex.] of edition on imperial Japan paper; plus 8 known state proofs and 5 known proofs
before the edition.
Credit Line: Gift of the Arnhold Family in memory of Sigrid Edwards
MoMA Number: 470.1992.8 Copyright: © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
/ VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

2. SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING SUGGESTED HOMEWORK PIECES:
1) Would you give this woman a voice?
Use creatively the empty space around the figure to express in write her feelings, her
thoughts, her understanding of the past, and her vision of the future. You will select
carefully your words, won’t you?
2) Would you be the widow?
Use creatively your mind, your imagination, your body and your voice, if you like, or
even music; form a pair with a peer; alternate in the roles of director and actor; film
your work, and then select 1 minute maximum. Your video should make clear the
stance of Käthe Kollwitz towards the war.
3) What happened before? What is to happen next?
Complete the right and left panels, so as to have a narrative connected to Kollwitz’s
idea about the consequences of war. Imitate the wood-cut technique. If needed, copy
the structure of the table on a greater scale. Don’t be afraid – showing art mastery isn’t
the point, understanding Käthe Kollwitz’s perspective of the war is! 
(Alternatively, search more on the artist’s work and views, and select two more of her
works to paste in the empty panels. Remember that the point is to visualize her
perspective of the war.)

3. 4) How Käthe Kollwitz tried to influence people?
Use the following sources, do some research in the school library and/or the internet;
develop clear positions, support them with details from the artwork, and state your
sources. Your text should be no less than 250 words.
b.
I have repeatedly attempted to
give form to the war. I could never
grasp it. Now finally I have finished
a series of woodcuts, which in
some measure say what I wanted
to say. There are seven sheets,
entitled: the Sacrifice—the
Volunteers—the Parents—the
Mothers—the Widows—the
People. These sheets should travel
throughout the entire world and
should tell all human beings
comprehensively: that is how it
was—we have all endured that
throughout these unspeak-ably
difficult years.
Käthe Kollwitz: Käthe Kollwitz to Romain Rolland,
October 23, 1922. In Prelinger, 57.
a.
[August 27, 1914]
“A piece by Gabriele Reuter in the
Tag on the tasks of women today.
She spoke of the joy of
sacrificing—a phrase that struck
me hard. Where do all the women
who have watched so carefully
over the lives of their beloved
ones get the heroism to send them
to face the cannon? I am afraid
that this soaring of the spirit will
be followed by the blackest
despair and dejection.”30
Hans Kollwitz (ed.): The Diary and Letters of Käethe
Kollwitz Translated by Richard and Clara Winston
(Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern UP, 1988) 62..

4. c.
[Her] sons volunteered to serve in WWI and Peter died in
Flanders on October 22, 1914.31 (See Figure 4) Käthe never
recovered from the loss of her son. Two years later, on
October 11, 1916, the artist and mother made an heart-
wrenching entry in her Diary:
Everything remains as obscure as ever for
me. . . It’s not only our youth who go willingly and
joyfully into the war; it’s the same in all nations.
People who would be friends under other conditions
now hurl themselves at one another as enemies. Are
the young really without judgment? . . . Do the
young want war?. . .
This frightful insanity—the youth
of Europe hurling themselves at one
another.
. . . . It will always be true that life
must be subordinated to the service of an
ideal. . . . where has that principle led us?
Peter, Erich. Richard, all have subordinated
their lives to the idea of patriotism. The
English, Russian and French young men
have done the same. The consequence has
been this terrible killing, and the
impoverishment of Europe. . . Has their
capacity for sacrifice been exploited in
order to bring on the war? Where are the
guilty? Are there any? . . . Has it been a case
of mass madness?. . .
I shall never fully understand it all. But it is
clear that our boys, our Peter, went into the war two
years ago with pure hearts, and that they were ready
to die for Germany. They died—almost all of them.
Died . . . by the millions. . . .
It is a breach of faith with you, Peter, if I can now see
only madness in the war? Peter, you died believing.
Was that also true of Erich, Walter, Meier, Gottfried,
Richard, Noll? Or had they come to their senses and
were they nevertheless forced to leap into the
abyss? Was force involved? . . .32
Kollwitz wrote this two years after her son died in the
Great War, while no end to the conflict was in sight. She
recognized the connection between individuals that creates
a larger collective.
Leona Catherine Sargent:
Visions of World War I: Through the Eyes of Käthe Kollwitz and Otto Dix .Thesis
B.A. Georgetown College, 1986. Wright State University 2012, 9-10.
d.
Artists were not immune from the
crushing inflation during the early
part of the decade after the Great
War. Paint and canvas were too
expensive so paper and ink became
the dominant medium. It was less
expensive to make graphics and
simpler to market them. Some artists,
like Otto Dix, exclusively sold his
works for United States currency.13
Käthe Kollwitz, whose preferred
method was printmaking, made
concessions for the rising cost of
supplies. She recorded her thoughts
about changing from lithography to
the less expensive woodcut
technique of printmaking: “. . . .
Nowadays lithographic stones can
only be got to the studio by begging
and pleading, and cost a lot of money
. . . Ought I . . . make a fresh start
with woodcuts? When I considered
that up to now, I always told myself
that lithography was the right
method for me . . . . Will woodcutting
do it?”14
Leona Catherine Sargent:
Visions of World War I: Through the Eyes of
Käthe Kollwitz and Otto Dix . Thesis
B.A. Georgetown College, 1986. Wright State
University 2012, 5-6.