Käthe Kollwitz lived a life against all conventions - self-assured, passionate, and fearless. She was an exceptional artist and political fighter, led an unconventional marriage, and was deeply devoted to her sons. Yvonne Schymura narrates the thrilling life of a woman between the German Empire and the Second World War, who became a German icon after her death. When Käthe Kollwitz (1867 - 1945) was born, horses pulled the brick carts from her parents' building yard. When she died, the German Empire lay in ruins. As a girl, she fought for her education, and once she finally succeeded, she defied societal expectations again by marrying and having children. The key event of her life, the death of her younger son in the early weeks of the First World War, led her to become a pacifist and dominated her work for years.