Rosa Luxemburg
Letters to Sophie Liebknecht


Leipzig, July 7, 1916
(A postcard)

Rosa Luxemburg was arrested on July 10th. This postcard is the only one written while Rosa Luxemburg was still at liberty.


My dear little Sonya,[1]

The heat is steamy and oppressive, as it so often is in Leipzig – I find the weather here very trying. This morning I sat for two hours beside the pond in the park, reading The Man of Property.[2]

It’s brilliant. A little old woman sat down beside me, glanced at the title page, and smiled, saying: “That must be a fine book. I am fond of reading myself”. Before I settled down to read, of course I had a good look at the trees and shrubs in the park, and was glad to see that they were all old friends. It is quite different with human beings, for I find that contact with them grows continually more unsatisfying: I think I shall retire into a hermitage, like St. Antony – minus the temptations! Try not to worry.

With much love,
Rosa

Love to the children.


Footnotes

[1] Pet name for Sophie Liebknecht, wife of Karl Liebknecht. R.L. sometimes uses the diminutive form Sonichka. Occasionally it is Sonyusha. Karl Liebknecht, son of Wilhelm Liebknecht, was born in 1871, and was murdered, like R.L., on the night of January 15th, 1919.

[2] John Galsworthy’s novel.


Last updated on: 16.12.2008