Conclusion

Figure 22. Alice Lex-Nerlinger, Paragraph 218, 1931

In this capstone project, I have shown that in her anti-Paragraph 218 poster, Kollwitz made a series of visual and ideological choices. She simultaneously met the brief of the KPD’s legislative demands, made a subtle yet powerful critique of KPD party culture, and made an intervention in the representation of women in popular German media. What resulted was an image that forever changed the KPD’s visual vocabulary and participated in the shift towards more autonomous representations of women in popular media, political images, and fine art.

Kollwitz’s Down with the Abortion Paragraphs remained influential on the anti-Paragraph 218 campaign throughout the rest of the Weimar Republic. In 1931, Kollwitz contributed the poster to a traveling exhibition initiated by the women’s magazine Der Weg der Frau (The Way of the Woman) entitled Frauen in Not (Women in Need).[1] Other politically engaged artists, like Alice Lex-Nerlinger, also participated in this event. Lex-Nerlinger’s 1931 painting Paragraph 218 (Figure 22) depicts a group of women pushing down a black cross inscribed with § 218, signifying the combined religious and political forces that had kept abortion illegal. Superimposed over the women is a stylistically simplified pregnant woman who wears simple working-class dress, with a kerchief tied around her head. This image is significant as it shows women taking action into their own hands, dismantling the abortion paragraphs that restrict their bodily autonomy, while reminding the viewer of the first image that urged for political action: the working-class mother depicted by Kollwitz. Lex-Nerlinger’s Paragraph 218 did more than just urge women to take their destiny into their own hands; it illustrated the effect Kollwitz’s proletarian maternal imagery had on the abortion debate.

Figure 23. Käthe Kollwitz, Solidarity, 1931-1932, lithographic crayon, Cologne Kollwitz Collection © Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln.

From a broader perspective, by introducing the maternal proletarian to the KPD’s visual vocabulary in 1923, Kollwitz opened the door to more nuanced depictions of communist women in the future. In the subsequent days of the Weimar era, German communists incorporated more images of heroic female laborers and outspoken activists in their art and media campaigns.[2] Even in her later work, Kollwitz continued to incorporate women into the communist visual vocabulary. Her 1932 lithograph Solidarity (Figure 23), which commemorates the 15th anniversary of the 1917 revolution in Russia, portrays a group of determined working-class people standing shoulder to shoulder, steadfast in camaraderie with their arms linked together. At first glance, the print appears to be an image of male strength due to the figure’s emphasized large hands. However, at the end of the row on the right, holding hands with the man next to her, is a working-class woman. While her hair is pulled back and she wears a simple dress, just like the mother in Down with the Abortion Paragraphs, this woman’s more determined expression, and the fact that she is depicted as a part of the working-class struggle, indicates an evolution in her status within German communism. By 1932, then, Kollwitz was celebrating the rise of communism of her own accord.

Kollwitz’s poster is not just a relic of the past. With this image, she highlighted the intersection between abortion, class, and economic hardship by presenting the abused working-class mother as the face of the abortion rights debate. Around the world, the struggle for reproductive rights continues, as nationalistic governments and religious conservative groups continue to deny women access to reproductive healthcare. Because the same hardships still exist, Kollwitz’s poster remains relevant to the struggle. Kollwitz’s poster has been used as recently as 2019, during International Women’s Day demonstrations in Berlin in support of abortion rights. This demonstrates to us the visual power of the poster she created: the simple composition, direct political message, and emotional subject matter resonates through the decades.