Poster against Paragraph 218, 1923

Crayon lithograph (transfer of a drawing on transparent paper), Kn 198 II

This poster in a rare edition with text was commissioned by the women’s office of the KPD (German Communist Party) for a campaign against Paragraph 218.

Käthe Kollwitz depicted an overworked working-class woman who is barely able to feed her two children and has become pregnant again. The right to have abortions is linked to the proletariat’s economic hardship.

A diary entry from 1909 already highlighted the problem that the numerous unwanted pregnancies contributed significantly to the plight of working-class families:

At the Becker’s. The husband leaves, the woman laments. It’s always the same story. Illness, unemployment, alcoholism – it is a vicious circle. She had eleven children, five are still alive. ›The big ones die and the small ones keep coming‹.«
Käthe Kollwitz, Diaries, 30 August 1909

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Poster against Paragraph 218, 1923