Sophie Liebknecht

Who was Sophie Liebknecht?

Sophie Liebknecht was a Russian-born German socialist and feminist. She was the second wife of Karl Liebknecht, who had three children from his first marriage to Julia Liebknecht.

Born in Rostov-on-Don, Sophie was educated in Imperial Germany, where she married the Marxist thinker and soon-to-be revolutionary leader Karl Liebknecht in 1912. Originally a member of the German Social Democratic Party, she followed her husband when he founded the Communist Party of Germany in 1918. Karl Liebknecht was murdered January 15, 1919, after the failed Spartacist uprising. Sophie moved to London before again coming to Germany during the Weimar period. The members of the Liebknecht family were alarmed by the rise of the Nazi Party in the 1930s, and, fearing for their lives under the regime established by Adolf Hitler, chose to live in emigration during this era. The Russian-born Sophie left for the Soviet Union in 1934 and settled in Moscow, where she lived for the remaining decades of her life.

Her 1964 funeral was attended by Robert and Wilhelm, Sophie Liebknecht's stepsons from Karl's first marriage. The Soviet government arranged a public ceremony and an honor guard.