Karl Liebknecht
Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German Marxist, originally in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and later a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacus League and subsequently the Communist Party of Germany. He participated in the Spartacist uprising of January 1919 that aimed to implement a Communist dictatorship.
Death
Luxemburg and Liebknecht were captured in Berlin on January 15th by the Rifle Division of the Cavalry Guards of the Freikorps (Garde-Kavallerie-Schützendivision).[1] Luxemburg was captured, interrogated, and shot. Her body was then flung into Berlin's Landwehr Canal.[2] Liebknecht was shot in Berlin's Tiergarten and his body, without a name, deposited in a city morgue.
After their deaths, Liebknecht and Luxemburg became martyrs for Leftists. Despite the mass killings under Communist regimes an annual Liebknecht-Luxemburg Demonstration is held in Berlin, claimed to be the world's largest funerary parade and the biggest meeting of the German Left.