Communist
14th January 2010, 04:10
Thousands join Memorial Service for Communist Leader
Rosa Luxemburg (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/302966,thousands-join-memorial-service-for-communist-leader-rosa-luxemburg.html)
EarthTimes January 10, 2010
Berlin - Thousands attended a memorial service in
Berlin on Sunday to recall Rosa (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/352345/Rosa-Luxemburg) Luxemburg (http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/) and Karl (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERliebknecht.htm)
Liebknecht (http://www.marxists.org/archive/liebknecht-k/index.htm), two revolutionaries who were murdered in
1919. Luxemburg (http://democom.neuf.fr/communistdemocracy.htm) and Liebknecht (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Liebknecht), founders of the German
Communist Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Germany), were killed by rightist soldiers in
the early days of the Weimar Republic and are seen by
the left as martyrs.
The memorial service was arranged by the Left Party,
which has its roots in the former communist East
German state party. It was led by Lothar Bisky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothar_Bisky), the head
of the Left Party, and parliamentary leader Gregor Gysi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Gysi).
Those present laid wreaths and red
carnations at the Socialist Monument (http://www.berlin.de/imperia/md/images/balichtenberghohenschoenhausen/fotogalerie/zentralfriedhof_friedrichsfelde.jpg) in Berlin's
Friedrichsfelde Cemetery (http://www.nndb.com/cemetery/837/000208213/). Left Party secretary Dietmar
Bartsch said Luxemburg and Liebknecht were "very
important personalities," who "wanted a peaceful and
fair world.
"The Left Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Left_%28Germany%29) said that 40,000 people were
present, although police put the number at less than
half that. A further 3,000 leftists and trade unionists
took part in a demonstration leading up to the
cemetery, police said.
Over the years there have been
several attempts to locate Luxemburg's remains, since
the body buried in 1919 is thought not to have been
hers. Another corpse, found in a Berlin hospital in
2007, was released for burial earlier this year after
investigators found no conclusive evidence that it
belonged to the murdered revolutionary.
The memorial service, traditionally held on the second Sunday in
January, was an important state-led ceremony in former
East Germany and was upheld by tens of thousands of
people after reunification.
In recent years numbers have declined.
Nevertheless, 80,000 people attended
last year's 90th anniversary of Luxemburg and
Liebknecht's murder (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/6840393/Rosa-Luxemburg-murder-case-reopened.html), on January 15, 1919.
Rosa Luxemburg (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/302966,thousands-join-memorial-service-for-communist-leader-rosa-luxemburg.html)
EarthTimes January 10, 2010
Berlin - Thousands attended a memorial service in
Berlin on Sunday to recall Rosa (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/352345/Rosa-Luxemburg) Luxemburg (http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/) and Karl (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERliebknecht.htm)
Liebknecht (http://www.marxists.org/archive/liebknecht-k/index.htm), two revolutionaries who were murdered in
1919. Luxemburg (http://democom.neuf.fr/communistdemocracy.htm) and Liebknecht (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Liebknecht), founders of the German
Communist Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Germany), were killed by rightist soldiers in
the early days of the Weimar Republic and are seen by
the left as martyrs.
The memorial service was arranged by the Left Party,
which has its roots in the former communist East
German state party. It was led by Lothar Bisky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothar_Bisky), the head
of the Left Party, and parliamentary leader Gregor Gysi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Gysi).
Those present laid wreaths and red
carnations at the Socialist Monument (http://www.berlin.de/imperia/md/images/balichtenberghohenschoenhausen/fotogalerie/zentralfriedhof_friedrichsfelde.jpg) in Berlin's
Friedrichsfelde Cemetery (http://www.nndb.com/cemetery/837/000208213/). Left Party secretary Dietmar
Bartsch said Luxemburg and Liebknecht were "very
important personalities," who "wanted a peaceful and
fair world.
"The Left Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Left_%28Germany%29) said that 40,000 people were
present, although police put the number at less than
half that. A further 3,000 leftists and trade unionists
took part in a demonstration leading up to the
cemetery, police said.
Over the years there have been
several attempts to locate Luxemburg's remains, since
the body buried in 1919 is thought not to have been
hers. Another corpse, found in a Berlin hospital in
2007, was released for burial earlier this year after
investigators found no conclusive evidence that it
belonged to the murdered revolutionary.
The memorial service, traditionally held on the second Sunday in
January, was an important state-led ceremony in former
East Germany and was upheld by tens of thousands of
people after reunification.
In recent years numbers have declined.
Nevertheless, 80,000 people attended
last year's 90th anniversary of Luxemburg and
Liebknecht's murder (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/6840393/Rosa-Luxemburg-murder-case-reopened.html), on January 15, 1919.