22
PA.RTISA.N REVIEW
car to the prison, presented a forged warrant and released the prisoner.
The
Freiheit,
the organ of the Independent Socialists, is alone in
denouncing the proceedings. The other newspapers think that in a case
of this kind, "where political feelings are involved," perhaps the whole
story has not
been
sifted, but they are satisfied that substantial justice
has been done.
From a statement, signed "Hussar Otto Runge," printed in
FREIHEIT, January 9, 1921.
On January 15, 1919, between seven and nine o'clock in the evening,
I was stationed as sentry before the chief entrance of the Eden Hotel.
Cavalryman Drager was with
me~
About nine o'clock there was a great
to-do and excitement : it was rumored that Liebknecht and Luxemburg
had been brought in. Several orders were at once given me by
offic~rs
and sergeants, and the remark was dropped that these creatures must not
be allowed to leave the hotel alive.
Concerning Liebknecht, I received strict orders from officers to
knock the fellow down with the butt of my rifle... As for Frau Luxem–
burg, officers came to me and said: "I order you to see that Luxemburg
does not-leave the hotel alive. Mind you swallow that!" Lieutenant von
Pflugk-Hartung made a note of my name and said to me: "First
Lieutenant Vogel will send her straight to you; all you'll have to do is
to strike hard." When Frau Luxemburg was being dragged into the
motor, somebody jumped up behind just as it was driving off and sent
a bullet into her head. I could see that very clearly, as I was only a short
distance away. He then jumped down and re-entered the Eden Hotel
from the Nurnberger Strasse.... Meanwhile the others had returned
and were boasting: "We've done for Liebknecht nicely. A trick was
played on him. We got him to try to escape." ... Of Luxemburg it was
said: "The old sow is already afloat."
Editorial from the New York
TIMES, January 18, 1919.
LYNCH LAW IN BERLIN
Regrettable as is the manner of death, the work of private violence,
not the law, that came to Dr. Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, it was
to be expected, and does a summary, if irregular, justice to the fomenters
of robbery, murder and anarchy.... These two leaders, the man violent
but weak, the woman a termagant of the familiar revolutionary type,
have perished miserably by the sword they drew. The defeat of the
imitation Bolsheviks, the victory everywhere where elections have been
held of the parties of order-Conservatives, Centrists, Democrats, Major–
ity Social Democrats-are of the best omen for a representative moderate
National Assembly, for a responsible and stable government. The Allies
and the United States have hardly less interest than Germany itself
in
such an outcome.
