Statue of Peace Permanently Installed at German Women's Museum

Statue of Peace Relocated to Bonn Women's Museum
"It Will Remain Permanently Without Further Relocation"

A Statue of Peace commemorating victims of the Japanese military's wartime sexual slavery has been permanently installed in Bonn, Germany.

The Korea Verband, a civic group of Koreans residing in Germany, announced on June 17 that the statue, which had been temporarily displayed in front of the Cologne Nazi Documentation Center, was relocated to the front of the Bonn Women's Museum on June 4 (local time).

The Statue of Peace permanently installed in front of the Cologne Women's Museum. Photo by Yonhap News.

The Bonn Women's Museum is an exhibition space founded in 1981 by Marianne Pitzen, who is also active as an artist. It is the world's first women's museum and houses works by artists such as K?the Kollwitz and Yoko Ono.

Since March, the Korea Verband had installed the statue in front of the Cologne museum as part of the exhibition "The Third World during World War II," which ran for three months. This particular statue was previously displayed at the Dresden Museum of Ethnology in 2021 and had since been kept in storage.

The Korea Verband stated that the location where the statue has been erected at the Bonn Women's Museum is private property, so it will be able to remain there permanently without being relocated.

Another Statue of Peace, installed on public land in central Berlin in September 2020, is facing a removal order from the Mitte District Office. In April of this year, the Berlin Administrative Court accepted the Korea Verband's request for an injunction to nullify the removal order, allowing the statue to remain until September 28, 2025. The Korea Verband plans to soon hold discussions with the Mitte District Office, which has proposed relocating the statue to private property.

Statues of Peace have also been erected in other German cities, including Frankfurt and Kassel. The civic group "Machangjin Citizens' Solidarity with the Japanese Military Comfort Women Grandmothers," along with artists Han Daesu, Jang Sunhyang, and Bae Dallae, plan to hold performances titled "Her Name is Peace" in support of the statues at four locations, including Bonn and Berlin, from June 27 to July 3.