In front of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation building stands a statue of the renowned revolutionary socialist Rosa Luxemburg. Rozalia Luksenburg (1871-1919) was born into an assimilated Jewish family in Poland. In high school, she became a member of left-wing socialist organizations and led several workers’ strikes in Warsaw. When the tsarist police came after her, Luxemburg fled to Switzerland, where she studied at the University of Zurich and became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in Economy in 1897. That same year, Luxemburg moved to Berlin and continued promoting socialist agendas, writing articles and pamphlets, and advocating for workers’ rights. Luxemburg was a founding member of various political organizations, including the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL), the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and the anti-war Spartakusbund (Spartacus League), which later became part of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Luxemburg also founded the newspapers of several of these organizations, where she published articles encouraging people to join the fight against the bourgeoisie. She was arrested several times for her actions. On 15 January 1919, following the Spartacus Revolt – a power struggle between the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Communist Party of Germany, Luxemburg and her fellow revolutionary Karl Liebknecht were abducted by a German Cavalry unit, tortured, and murdered. Her body was thrown into the Landwehr Canal, found four months later, and brought to burial. In 1990, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation was established, affiliated with the democratic socialist Left Party. The foundation’s two main tracks are general political education activities and academic/scientific work. In 1999, they commissioned the sculptor Rolf Biebl to sculpt the Rosa Luxemburg statue that would stand at the entrance to the building. At first, it stood in front of the foundation’s office building at Franz-Mehring-Platz 1, and it moved when the foundation moved to its new location at Straße der Pariser Kommun. The statue was rededicated on 28 April 2021 – Worker’s Memorial Day, which honors the workers who died, were injured or became ill while and because of their labor. Unlike most statues, the life-size bronze statue of Luxemburg does not stand on a pedestal, but on the ground, at eye level with the people. She is depicted live and in movement, ready for the upcoming socialist revolution. Other places in Berlin commemorating her are Rosa Luxemburg Strasse and Rosa Luxemburg Platz in the Mitte district, the Rosa Luxemburg memorial at the Lichtenstein Bridge, where her corpse was thrown into the Landwehr Canal, the monument ‘From Fat Berta to Red Rosa’ at Bundesallee, and the November Revolution Monument at the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery that the Nazis demolished in 1935. Read more...

Rozalia Luksenburg (1871-1919) was born in Poland during the Russian Empire’s rule. While in high school, she became associated with socialist organizations and was involved in several workers’ strikes. Her action put her on the tsarist authorities’ radar, and Luxemburg fled Switzerland, where she studied politics, economics, history, philosophy, and mathematics at the University of Zurich. In 1897, at 26, she became the first woman in the world to receive a Ph.D. in Economy. Luxemburg moved to Berlin and married a son of family friends to receive German citizenship. There, she became a prominent figure in the socialist movement and began to publish articles and brochures promoting Marxist theories and advocating a socialist revolution. In 1905, after the Russian revolution broke out, Luxemburg returned to Poland to join the fight against the Tsar. Within two years, she published more than 100 articles, pamphlets, and speeches in socialist papers, arguing that the revolution could only be successful through mass strikes. Once again, the tsarist authorities went after her and arrested her for three months. Upon her release, Luxemburg returned to Germany and worked for workers’ rights. In 1914, she and fellow revolutionist Karl Liebknecht founded the socialist and anti-war Spartakusbund (Spartacus League), spreading these ideas via the movement’s newspaper, The Red Flag. In 1916, she was arrested and incarcerated for two and a half years, though she never stopped writing, and her articles were smuggled out of prison and published. Luxemburg and Liebknecht were released only three days before the outbreak of the German Revolution of November 1918, in which the Spartacus League was actively involved. On 1 January 1919, the Spartacus League conjoined with other movements to establish the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Two weeks later, on 15 January 1919, Luxemburg and Liebknecht were abducted by a German Cavalry unit that tortured, murdered, and then threw their bodies into the Landwehr Canal. Today, on that spot on the Lichtenstein Bridge over the canal stands the Rosa Luxemburg Memorial. The architects Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte designed and installed it in 1987. It comprises two parts – the name ROSA LUXEMBURG made of bronze block letters that point diagonally out of the canal, and a plaque on the opposite wall, detailing Luxemburg’s story. Other sites in Berlin commemorating Luxemburg are the Rosa Luxemburg Strasse and Rosa Luxemburg Platz in the Mitte district, the Rosa Luxemburg Statue in Straße der Pariser Kommune, the monument to the November Revolution Monument at the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery that the Nazis destroyed, and the ‘From Fat Berta to Red Rosa’ monument at Bundesallee. Read more...