Rosa Luxemburg's grave has been a shrine for years, but does it really contain her body? Photograph: AP/Markus SchreiberGermany is in the grip of a mystery. Does a body, discovered in the basement of a Berlin hospital, belong to the murdered firebrand communist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg? Luxemburg was long believed to have been buried in an eastern Berlin graveyard, after being shot and thrown into a canal on government orders in 1919, two weeks after she and Karl Liebknecht founded Germany's Communist party.
That was until forensic scientist Michael Tsokos stumbled across the headless torso of a woman in a glass case in the basement of the forensics department of Berlin's Charité hospital several weeks ago. Pathologists say the likelihood is that the remains are those of Luxemburg - the torso is similar to her in body size and shape and, like her, has a dislocated hip. But they need DNA evidence to make a definitive claim. The search has been on. They had hoped to find Luxemburg's DNA in saliva traces on postage stamps on letters she sent, until it was discovered she sponged them with water... Guardian UK>>
