Berlin’s annual demonstration in memory of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, co-founders of the Communist Party of Germany, took place recently. However, the memorial site has been targeted by thieves, with several metal plaques missing from the central area.
The theft was discovered and reported early in the week and the plaques, which honored not only Luxemburg and Liebknecht but also Otto Grotewohl, a former East German prime minister and Franz Mehring, a historian and journalist, were removed.
According to the Berlin Police, an investigation is underway for the theft. In recent times, several bronze sculptures have been stolen from Berlin cemeteries, including some without political significance, such as a sculpture in Wannsee and one in Tempelhof.
Not all the stolen sculptures are apolitical, as a sculpture of Ernst Thälmann, a former East German leader, also went missing in Berlin-Niederschönhausen.
None of the stolen sculptures have been recovered so far and the police have reached out to art and metal dealers.
In the context of the current Bundestag debate on war credits and the prevailing propaganda, it would be premature to rule out political vandalism. Karl Liebknecht, in fact, was the only Reichstag member to vote against war credits in 1914 and Luxemburg and Liebknecht spent a significant part of World War I in prison due to their antimilitarist stance.