Why the destruction of the "great communists" Luxembourg and Liebknecht 100 years ago remained unpunished

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

This year is incredibly rich in various anniversaries. In 1871, exactly 150 years ago, Rosa Luxemburg (March 5) and Karl Liebknecht (August 13) were born, who became the leaders of the German Communist Party. They brought workers to the streets of Berlin because of the economic crisis, demanding the establishment of Soviet power in Germany. Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were killed by right-wing soldiers. In Germany, representatives of left-wing parties and anti-fascist organizations still honor their memory.

Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg - two leaders, whose names are forever included in the great book of the proletarian revolution

Karl Liebknecht is a German politician, leftist social democrat. His father, Wilhelm Liebknecht, was one of the founders of German Social Democracy. The Reichstag deputy gave harsh criticism to the militarist policy, and as Lenin urged the soldiers to "turn their weapons against their class enemies." In 1916, Karl was sentenced to imprisonment on charges of high treason. After Germany's defeat in World War I, Liebknecht was liberated by the Social Democratic government.

And already in January 1919, with his colleague Rosa Luxemburg, he led an uprising against his former party members, trying to achieve the establishment of the power of the Soviets in Germany. Karl Liebknecht was the epitome of a die-hard revolutionary. In the last months of his life, endless legends were created around his name, terrifying in the bourgeois press, heroic in the rumor of the working people.

Rosa Luxemburg is a native of Poland, the part of it that belonged to Russia in those years. Since her youth, the girl was carried away by socialist ideas. In 1898 she moved to Germany, where she became one of the best publicists and orators of the Social Democratic Party. From 1915 she was imprisoned for three years. She supported the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, but over time she began to criticize the policies of Lenin and Trotsky: "Without free elections, without unlimited freedom of the press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinions, life dies out, becomes only a semblance of life."

These two leaders were opposite in character: the inflexible Karl was characterized by a certain feminine softness, and the fragile woman Rose was characterized by masculine power of thought. This is probably why they complemented each other so harmoniously.

Uprising and the beginning of street fighting

After the November Revolution of 1918, as well as the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm, Germany was proclaimed a parliamentary republic. But a kind of dual power nevertheless developed in the country. The moderate left adhered to the principles of parliamentary democracy, but the radical forces (especially the Spartak Union) were eager to continue along the lines of the Bolsheviks who seized power in Russia.

"Union of Spartacus" was created back in 1916 by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg - a Marxist organization that later became part of the "Communist Party of Germany". The name itself takes its origins from ancient history, where its heroes became an important part of German and Bolshevik propaganda. At the suggestion of Lenin, the figure of Spartacus was equated with a righteous martyr who died in the course of a just war "to protect the enslaved working class."

The leaders of the "Union of Spartacus" and the even more radical communist party of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, which broke away from it, put forward the well-known slogan: "All power to the Soviets!" The reason for the uprising was the removal of the head of the metropolitan police, appointed by the Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies after the November revolution. Thus, on January 5, 1919, a real street carnage began in Berlin.

The social democratic government decided that it was necessary to suppress the uprising as soon as possible. This was entrusted to the Minister of War, Gustav Noske, a member of the Reichstag, as well as the editor of the party newspaper. The only military force that could withstand the insurgents is the "freikors" - volunteer corps adhering to the right ideology. And although the communists were more hated by the social democrats for the nationalist-minded officers, the "freikor" nevertheless entered Berlin.

The fighting between the rebels and the "freikors", who defended the hated but legitimate government, escalated into a real civil war that affected the entire country. More than five thousand people died in these horrific historical events. Only seven days later, the military managed to suppress the rebellion. The leaders of the uprising, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg disappeared and were put on the wanted list.

Arrest and murder of two leaders of the German Communist Party

On the morning of January 15, 1919, when nothing boded trouble, Rosa and Karl in high spirits were going about their business, they were found in one of the safe houses and arrested. In addition to them, in this apartment was Wilhelm Pieck - another of the activists of the Communist Party, who brought them fake documents. In the future, Wilhelm became a loyal "Stalinist", made a successful career in the Comintern, and was later appointed to the post of President of the GDR.

Unlike Rosa and Karl, who were killed immediately the next day, Wilhelm was released. According to him, during the first interrogation, he managed to dismiss suspicions from himself, and on the way to prison, he escaped. But in 1962 Waldemar Pabst, the Hauptmann and chief of staff of the Freikor, who interrogated the arrested in 1919, told a magazine in an interview that Peak did not run away, he was released. They took mercy on him for giving out all the appearances and passwords of the Communist Party, as well as the phones of the underground, weapons depots, gathering places and other important information.

Pabst, after interrogating Rosa and Karl in front of everyone, ordered them to be escorted to prison. However, even before all this, he ordered the chief of the convoy to eliminate them on the way to the place of detention. Liebknecht was shot, allegedly while trying to escape, and a soldier suddenly rushed to Rosa, even before leaving for prison, in the corridor, inflicting a couple of heavy blows on the head. The fallen woman was taken to a car, where they continued to beat her half-dead body. And already on the way to prison they shot her in the temple, after which her body was thrown into the canal.

For months, people thought Rosa was lynched by the crowd thanks to the headlines. No one even knew about the real demise of Luxembourg. And only at the beginning of summer, her remains were fished out of the water and identified. Two weeks later, poor Rosa was buried in the Berlin cemetery.

The murders of Liebknecht and Luxembourg caused a wide public outcry, including from the leaders of the Soviet Union. For example, Trotsky made speeches more than once at various meetings, elevating the fallen revolutionaries of Germany into the pantheon of communist martyrs.

Nobody was convicted of murder

Even before Rosa's body was found, a military tribunal was held, where the officers and soldiers of the Freikor were tried, who had arrested and killed Liebknecht and Luxemburg. But no one was really convicted for their murder. Pabst was not on the list of the accused at all. He was only summoned to court only as a witness. All the other defendants denied that it was they who fired. Only one lieutenant confessed, who claimed that he was forced to kill Liebknecht, as he tried to escape during a trip to the prison.

Since there was no one to refute all this, the lieutenant was assigned only six weeks of a guardhouse, according to the wording "for hazing behavior." Also, a senior lieutenant and a private were sentenced to two years in prison, who mocked the arrested, inflicting bodily harm on them. Who exactly did this, they found out with the help of one of the employees of the hotel, where at first the arrested leaders were kept. But only a private served them. The senior lieutenant was helped to flee abroad by his fellow soldiers and the future Admiral Canaris, the head of military intelligence during the "Third Reich".

The memory of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht is still honored in Germany

This year marks 102 years since the deaths of the leaders of the German Communist Party Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. Every year on January 15, German politicians lay fresh flowers on their graves. Dozens of books have been written about the fate and tragic death of Rosa and Karl, several films have been shot. Their memory is honored even by those who do not particularly share communist ideas. The traditional silent commemoration of the communists takes place near the memorial in the central cemetery. On this day, the grave of Luxembourg is invariably covered with red carnations.

Even in 2021, despite the pandemic, the annual events dedicated to the Memorial Day of the leaders of the German Communist Party were held as expected. But this year the date was slightly shifted, paying tribute to the memory of only March 14, observing the mask mode and a safe distance. Many government politicians participated in this event. According to one of the left-wing parties in Germany, a couple of thousand people came to honor the memory of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.