Rosa Luxemburg. The Murder That Shocked Europe

Written by Rory Thornfield

A political crime committed in Berlin in January 1919 put an end to the revolutionary left’s hopes in Germany. Rosa Luxemburg, an outstanding Marxist thinker and leader of the Spartacist movement, fell victim to a brutal murder carried out by members of right-wing paramilitary units. Her assassination, along with Karl Liebknecht’s execution, closed a turbulent chapter of Germany’s postwar revolution.

The Defeat of the Spartacist Revolution

The Communist Party of Germany organized an armed uprising in January 1919 aimed at seizing control of the capital. The revolt began on January fifth and encompassed Berlin’s working-class districts, but was definitively crushed between the eleventh and twelfth of January. Republican authorities under Chancellor Friedrich Ebert and Defense Minister Gustav Noske decided to use all available means to suppress the uprising.

The Social Democratic government reached for both regular military units and ultra-right-wing volunteer formations called Freikorps. These paramilitary detachments consisted mainly of former frontline soldiers and were characterized by extreme brutality in action. Luxemburg and Liebknecht, co-founders of the Spartacist League later transformed into the KPD, stood at the head of this failed uprising.

After the insurrection’s defeat, both leaders decided to remain in Berlin despite urgings from colleagues to leave the city. They hid in conspiratorial apartments, hoping to survive the wave of repression. On the evening of January fifteenth, their hideout in the affluent Wilmersdorf district was discovered by soldiers from the volunteer cavalry guard division.

Arrest and Brutal Interrogation

Both arrestees were transported to the Hotel Eden, where this volunteer formation had organized its temporary headquarters. The luxury hotel located near the zoological garden became the scene of that night’s dramatic events. The communist leaders were separated and subjected to individual interrogations conducted by Captain Waldemar Pabst, the division’s chief staff officer.

After the interrogations concluded, Pabst decided on the immediate elimination of both prisoners without any judicial procedure. In later years he repeatedly claimed that his action received informal consent from the highest state authorities. According to his 1962 account, he conducted a telephone conversation with Gustav Noske, who when asked about the arrestees’ further fate responded evasively, leaving the captain freedom of action.

Such a response could be interpreted as tacit agreement to eliminate the communist leaders and provide political cover for the executioners. Pabst took these words as confirmation that the SPD government would not oppose resolving the matter through extrajudicial methods. This conviction strengthened his intention to carry out a swift execution of both prisoners.

Execution of Liebknecht and Luxemburg

Liebknecht was led out of the hotel first around half past ten in the evening. He was informed that he would be transported to Moabit prison, but in reality the vehicle headed toward nearby Tiergarten park. There a group of officers shot him, and authorities officially announced that he died during an escape attempt.

Several minutes later came Rosa Luxemburg’s turn. As she was exiting through the hotel’s revolving doors, rifleman Otto Runge was already waiting for her with a direct order from Pabst. Runge struck her in the head with a rifle butt, causing a skull fracture and loss of consciousness.

The unconscious woman was thrown into the back seat of an open car driven by Lieutenant Kurt Vogel. As soon as the vehicle started moving, naval lieutenant Hermann Souchon jumped onto the running board and fired a shot into Luxemburg’s head with a pistol, delivering a fatal wound. The soldiers then transported the body to a bridge over the Landwehr Canal and threw it into the icy water.

Discovery of the Body and Sham Trial

Luxemburg’s body drifted in the canal for over four months of winter. It was not found until late May 1919 near the Tiergarten lock. The funeral took place on June thirteenth at Berlin’s Friedrichsfelde cemetery, where she was laid to rest beside Liebknecht.

The trial conducted in May by the division’s military court proved to be a political farce without real consequences for the perpetrators. Waldemar Pabst, who issued the murder order, was not indicted at all. Hermann Souchon, Luxemburg’s direct killer, managed to flee and never answered for his crime.

Kurt Vogel received a sentence of two years and four months imprisonment only for concealing the body and false testimony, and was soon allowed to escape from custody. Otto Runge was the only one to suffer actual punishment – he was sentenced to two years imprisonment for attempted murder through striking with the rifle butt.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Rory Thornfield

+ posts

Rory's grandfather left behind a wartime diary filled with accounts of a minor Burma skirmish that history books never mentioned. Reading it, Rory realized: behind every famous battle are dozens of forgotten struggles, each with its own human drama.

His preferred topics: The overlooked corners of military history – secondary campaigns, shadow battalions, local conflicts that never made headlines. From medieval sieges to twentieth-century expeditions, he focuses on the soldiers, not the generals. The people who faced impossible choices and carried those experiences forever.

Rory strips away the romanticism without losing respect for those who served. He combines tactical analysis with personal stories, examining human endurance and moral complexity rather than celebrating warfare. His writing is balanced, thoughtful, and deeply researched.

Outside work, Rory visits forgotten battlefields (now quiet farmland), photographs war memorials nobody tends anymore, and interviews veterans' families.