Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, formerly the Bülowplatz, is a square in

Berlin-Mitte Mitte () (German for "middle" or "center") is a central locality () of Berlin in the eponymous district () of Mitte. Until 2001, it was itself an autonomous district. Mitte proper comprises the historic center of Alt-Berlin centered on the ch ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

History

The square is dominated by the

Volksbühne The Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") is a theater in Berlin. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Rosa Luxemburg Square) in what was the GDR's capital. It has been called Berlin's most iconic theatre. About The Vol ...

and by the Karl-Liebknecht-Haus, the headquarters of the German Left Party. The party's predecessor, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), opened its headquarters on the square in 1926. The square was previously named ''Babelsberger Platz'' (1907-1910) and ''Bülowplatz'' (1910-1933), and was the focus of one of the last mass demonstrations in Berlin against the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

on January 25, 1933—five days before

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

was appointed

German Chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

. Later that year, with the rise of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, it was renamed ''Horst-Wessel-Platz'' (1933-1945) after

National Socialist Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

Horst Wessel Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel (9 October 1907 – 23 February 1930) was a Berlin ''Sturmführer'' ("Assault Leader", the lowest commissioned officer rank) of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), the Nazi Party's stormtroopers. After his killing in 1 ...

. Following the fall of Berlin and

Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...

, the square, then part of communist-controlled East Berlin, was renamed ''Liebknechtplatz'' (1945-1947) after German communist

Karl Liebknecht Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist and anti-militarist. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) beginning in 1900, he was one of its deputies in the Reichstag fro ...

. It was then renamed ''Luxemburgplatz'' (1947-1969) after communist leader Rosa Luxemburg, until it was given the name ''Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz'' by the

East German 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 ...

regime in 1969. Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C00678, Berlin, Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Kranzniederlegung

The square is noted as the scene of the

murders of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

, police captains who were the victims of a double homicide in 1931 at the hands of members of the KPD. A monument created by Hans Dammann commemorating Anlauf and Lenck was erected in the square in 1934; although a metal statue of Anlauf and Lenck was melted down during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

as part of a metal recycling campaign (''"Metallspende des deutschen Volkes"''), the rest of the monument was destroyed in 1950 on the orders of

Erich Mielke Erich Fritz Emil Mielke (; 28 December 1907 – 21 May 2000) was a German communist official who served as head of the East German Ministry for State Security (''Ministerium für Staatsicherheit'' – MfS), better known as the Stasi, from 1957 u ...

, one of the murderers, who was by then a member of the Central Committee of the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...

and a State Secretary in the newly formed Ministry of State Security.Michael Stricker: ''Letzter Einsatz. Im Dienst getötete Polizisten in Berlin von 1918 bis 2010'', Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, Frankfurt 2010, , p. 103

Footnotes

External links

Article from Luise-Berlin.de
{{Coord, 52, 31, 37, N, 13, 24, 40, E, region:DE-BE_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Squares in Berlin Buildings and structures in Mitte Rosa Luxemburg