On the evening of January 15, 1919, in Tiergarten, a shot was fired that started more than just a murder. It triggered 14 years of political violence between socialists and a rising right-wing movement in the new democratic Weimar Republic.

The founder of the Communist Party of Germany (KDP), Karl Liebknecht, died from a shot in the back.

A few months earlier, Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg had been involved in the revolution that forced the emperor to abdicate.

However, the two had not succeeded in creating a socialist state based on the Soviet model. And the new year began with the founding of the Communist Party of Germany.

Now, there was another try to create a socialist state. On January 8, Liebknecht and other KDP members joined the Spartacist uprising. This was an armed insurrection aimed at overthrowing the government.

But four days later, the military was deployed against the rebels. Both Liebknecht and Luxemburg fled and hid at various addresses in Berlin until they were found and arrested by a right-wing militia on January 15.

They were held captive separately and brutally beaten. Luxemburg was either fatally wounded or thrown dead into the Landwehr Canal in Tiergarten, while Liebknecht was taken to Neuer See in Tiergarten.

Here, he was shot and murdered.

Today, there is a memorial stone at the site of Karl Liebknecht’s murder. Behind it is a column with his name on it.

The column was created by artist couple Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte in 1987 and is one of two parts. The other part is located at Lichtensteinbrücke, where Rosa Luxemburg was thrown into the Landwehr Canal.

The inscription on the memorial stone tells the story of the murder of Liebknecht and Luxemburg and reminds us that disrespect for life and brutality towards people must never be used as a solution to conflicts.