Karl Marx Year (german: Karl-Marx-Jahr) was a series of

anniversaries An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

commemorated by

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

in 1953, 1968, and 1983. The most prominent was in 1953, for the 70th anniversary of Marx's death, and included the renaming of

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

as Karl-Marx Stadt and of

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

as Karl Marx University, the founding of the

Order of Karl Marx The Order of Karl Marx () was the most important order in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The award of the order also included a prize of 20,000 East German marks. The order was founded on May 5, 1953 on the occasion of Karl Marx's 135th ...

, and the initiation of the project of Marx and Engels' works. The 1968 commemoration marked the 150th anniversary of his birth, and 1983 the 100th anniversary of his death.

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

also commemorated Marx in anniversary years, with prominent renovations/reopenings of the

Karl Marx House The Karl Marx House museum (german: Karl-Marx-Haus) is a writer's house museum in Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany). In 1818, Karl Marx, the father of Marxism, which influenced both modern socialism and communism, was born in the house. It ...

in 1968 and 1983. In 2018,

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

launched its own Karl Marx Year for the 200th anniversary of his birth.

References

{{reflist 1953 in East Germany 1968 in East Germany 1983 in East Germany Anniversaries Karl Marx