The first time I encountered Der Rufer (The Crier in English) was in the sculpture garden of the Käthe Kollwitz Museum in Berlin. I was in Berlin for the first time in years to meet with lawyers about my family’s building and seeking restitution. I was drawn to it because it seemed to embody a cry for help, resonating strongly with me.

Later I would learn that it was also a favorite piece of my good friend, Christina. There are casts of Der Rufer in Bremen, Perth and Berlin. The one in Berlin, placed by the Brandenburg Gate just months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, now remains as a memorial and landmark of the reunification of Berlin. Recently, while organizing my office, I came across a magazine Christina sent me: A Bridge of Friendship. It speaks of a group of Berlin citizens who obtained a cast of Der Rufer and wanted to gift it to the US. I’ll share with you a paragraph from the piece:

Because of its great symbolism, a civic-minded group of Berlin citizens obtained the final available cast of “The Crier” with the intention of presenting it in gratitude to the people of the United States in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Their hope is to secure a permanent site in Washington for the statue, which will be both symbolic of its message and accessible to future generations as a reminder of the need to protect freedom wherever it is threatened.

It would have been nice to have Der Rufer in DC.

(The images of Berlin and Washington D.C. are from the magazine – A Bridge of Friendship: Eine Brücke Der Freundschaft)