The Neoclassical Neue Wache, (New Guardhouse) was originally built as a guardhouse for the troops of the crown prince of Prussia. Following the reunification of Germany, at the suggestion of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the building was rededicated as the “Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Dictatorship.” An enlarged version of Käthe Kollwitz’s sculpture Mother with her Dead Son was placed under the oculus, where it is exposed to the rain, snow, and cold, symbolizing the suffering of the victims of war and tyranny during World War II.
