Luxemburg, Rosa

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) was born on March 5, 1871, to a Jewish family in Zamość, the Russian-occupied part of Poland. Her father was a well-to-do merchant who gave his children a good education. Rosa was the youngest of the five children. She and her sister had one leg shorter and were subjected to different useless treatments. Anti-Semitism and economic necessity forced her family to move to Warsaw in 1873, where they did not have strong ties to the Jewish community. The languages spoken at home were Polish, German, and Yiddish. Rosa also learned Russian. After being tutored at home, she was accepted to the Russian Second Gymnasium for Girls when she turned 10. She was already involved in radical politics when she was in high ...