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Rosa Luxemburg Still Popular 90 Years after Assassination

Visitors to Berlin who stroll away from Alexander Platz to take a look at the imposing Volksbühne theater and the Hans Poelzig designed Babylon Cinema nearby may be puzzled to notice a series of metal words embedded at zigzag angles into the pavement. A closer look, though, reveals that the installation is yet another monument to history in a city full of them.

This one is to Rosa Luxemburg, or Red Rosa as she was known, and is made up of quotations from the early 20th century socialist leader. The Polish-born Jewish academic was assassinated 90 years ago this week. But far from having faded into the history books, Luxemburg, one of the founders of the German Communist Party, remains a heroine to many in Germany -- from both the east and west -- as well as to fans across the world.

While some may claim her as a political forebear, for many it is her tragic death rather than her political convictions that continue to evoke the most sympathies. She was murdered in January 1919 by right-wing paramilitaries after her Spartacist group had launched an ill-fated revolution against the nascent Weimar Republic.
Read entire article at Spiegel Online