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Berlin Corpse May Be Slain Leftist Hero

Doc thinks body in Berlin hospital cellar is 'Red Rosa' Luxemburg

By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff

Posted May 29, 2009 2:55 PM CDT
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(Newser) – For nearly a century, left-wingers have mourned at the tomb of Rosa Luxemburg, a murdered academic who fought to make Germany communist. But one pathologist insists Luxemburg’s body isn’t there, rather abandoned in a hospital cellar, Der Spiegel reports. The corpse Michael Tsokos found had no head, feet, or hands, and legs of different lengths—attributes Luxemburg bore.

After World War I, right-wing militants shot Luxemburg, who co-founded the Social Democratic Party. She was supposedly buried in Berlin, but Tsokos says her autopsy report doesn’t fit the circumstances of her death. Searching the grave won’t help because anti-communist Nazis raided it in 1935. Tsokos is now looking for other possible DNA samples, particularly from Luxemburg’s missing, mentally handicapped niece.

File picture shows carnations laying on the grave of former German socialist leader Rosa Luxemburg at a cemetery in Berlin.
File picture shows carnations laying on the grave of former German socialist leader Rosa Luxemburg at a cemetery in Berlin.   (AP Photo)
Undated file picture shows German communist politician Rosa Luxemburg, who was murdered 1919.
Undated file picture shows German communist politician Rosa Luxemburg, who was murdered 1919.   (AP Photo)
Demonstrators puts down flowers to commemorate former German socialist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, who were killed 1919.
Demonstrators puts down flowers to commemorate former German socialist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, who were killed 1919.   (AP Photo)
The writing on the stone says: The dead remind us.
The writing on the stone says: "The dead remind us."   (AP Photo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
kokuaguy
May 29, 2009 11:17 AM CDT
We'll all be on pins and needles to see how this one turns out... NOT !!! In the meantime, how about more on those alien crystals in Siberia? WTF?
Fondue
May 29, 2009 10:34 AM CDT
LOL no shit. Bet she stood out in a crowd.
RobN
May 29, 2009 8:44 AM CDT
"The corpse Michael Tsokos found had no head, feet, or hands, and legs of different lengths—attributes Luxemburg bore." What a poorly worded sentence, unless of course, she really had no head, feet, hands and legs of different lengths, in which case she was a truly amazing woman.

 
Germany • autopsy • Communists • Rosa Luxemburg • Social Democratic Party

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