2-377-924 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

Damage to the offices of the socialist newspaper 'Vorwarts', Berlin, Germany, 1919. Scene during the Spartacist uprising of January 1919. The newspaper, the organ of the German Socialist Party (SPD) had been critical of the more extreme left wing Spartacists. After the uprising, Spartacist demonstrators occupied the newspaper's offices. The government depoyed paramilitary Freikorps militias to take back the areas of Berlin occupied by the Spartacists. In the violence that ensued, hundreds were killed, including the leaders of the Spartacists, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.