German Passion

in 1946, Karl Goetz was working on his last medal, the great K-633, "The German Passion. On the reverse side is inscribed a passage taken from the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. On the other side, the figure of a man praying to Jesus Christ on the cross is reminiscent of Goetz himself. This medal appears to have great symbolic significance. It is recalled that Goetz and his fatherland at the end of World War II in 1945 were confronted with the question of what atrocities had been committed during the fateful twelve years of Hitler's regime.

This last Goetz medal deserves recognition as the culmination of his life's work. It is fitting that his son Guido, who received this medal because of his father's illness, changed the date from 1946 to 1950. It was appropriate to date this medal to the year of Carl Goetz's death. Goetz was a brilliant man who lived for his work. In his final years before his death, he suffered from paralysis of his right arm, but continued his work as long as he could. By the time he died, the right side of his body was completely paralyzed. Carl Goetz died at the age of seventy-five on September 8, 1950.

He was an artist to the end.