20
PARTISAN REVIEW
From the New York
TIMES, January 19, 1919.
Berlin, Jan. 16 (via Copenhagen)-Dr. Karl Liebknecht and Rosa
Luxemburg were arrested last night and while being transported to the
Moabit Prison were thrashed by infuriated
p~ople
and shot like mad
dogs, the latter by an unknown man whose pistol may have saved her
from a worse fate.... Their end, however cruel, will certainly do much
for the restoration of peace and order. ... Military Governor Noske is
conducting a sharp investigation for the Social-Democratic government,
but it seems that the soldiers' conduct was faultless in both cases.
From the New York
WORLD,
January 18, 1919.
Berlin, Jan. 17-1 went to Gustav 'Noske, military governor of Berlin,
and asked him how it was possible, with 40,000 troops in the city, that
a crowd could get a prisoner away from the soldiers and kill her. Herr
Noske replied: "Only a few soldiers were with each automobile, as such
an attack was unexpected; the crowd, roused to intense anger by weeks
of agitation by both the victims, were too much for the soldiers to
handle." "Unfortunately," I said, "the incident is going to make a bad
impression abroad ... " "It is regrettable," Herr Noske replied, "but
they are dead and we can now only make an inquiry." ... "Do you
expect it will lead to agitation again here?"
"If
it does," Gov. Noske
replied, "we must put it down."
From the New York
TiMES, January 25, 1919.
Amsterdam, Jan. 24-The body of Rosa Luxemburg, the Spartacist
leader who was killed by a mob ,recently, was found yesterday in the
Landwehr Canal, according to a
r~port
from Berlin. The body was ter–
ribly mutilated. The news is being kept secret for fear of anarchistic
reprisals.
From The London
TIMES, May 22, 1919.
Berlin, May 21-The leading facts leaked out only gradually, and
there was little inclination among those in power to make a fuss over
the end of a pair of rebels. But these rebels were the idols of the people,
and their passionate sincerity had commended them to many prominent
radicals whose support the Government required. And so after months
of waiting, the Government decided that some sort of trial was necessary.
Herr Scheidemann remembered that the accused were soldiers and
that the Peace had not been signed. The form of trial he selected was a
court-martial, the court being appointed by the
Garde-Schut;::en
Divi-
