The Lawspeaker
05-29-2009, 04:21 PM
Remains found in basement could be Rosa Luxemburg, pathologist claims (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/29/german-corpse-possibly-rosa-luxemburg)
Doctor tries to trace living relative of German revolutionary to compare DNA
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Rosa_Luxemburg.jpg
The chief pathologist at Berlin's Charité University Hospital is investigating whether a corpse he found stored in a basement room could be that of the communist heroine Rosa Luxemburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg), according to a report published today.
Luxemburg, one of the founders of the German Communist party, was killed by rightwing militiamen in 1919 during a failed uprising and her body thrown into a Berlin canal.
A body thought to be that of Luxemburg was recovered and buried in a Berlin cemetery. But Charité's chief of forensic medicine, Michael Tsokos, told Der Spiegel magazine he had doubts.
The postmortem results did not indicate two traits Luxemburg was known to have – osteoarthritis in the joints, and legs of different length, he said. A modern forensic examination is not possible because the grave was desecrated under the Nazis and the bones removed.
The corpse Tsokos found in storage two years ago had been preserved by the cold, damp conditions in the basement..
Tsokos said the head, feet and hands were missing, but tests shown that it shared Luxemburg's traits of arthritis and different leg lengths, and it had been dated to the time she lived.
The heads of many corpses were removed at the time so the skulls could be used in collections, while the feet and hands could have been lost because militiamen tied stones to Luxemburg's body, Der Spiegel reported.
Tsokos told the magazine that he was trying to find a living relative of the communist leader so he could compare DNA. He was unable to get a usable sample from a postage stamp used by Luxemburg.
Doctor tries to trace living relative of German revolutionary to compare DNA
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Rosa_Luxemburg.jpg
The chief pathologist at Berlin's Charité University Hospital is investigating whether a corpse he found stored in a basement room could be that of the communist heroine Rosa Luxemburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg), according to a report published today.
Luxemburg, one of the founders of the German Communist party, was killed by rightwing militiamen in 1919 during a failed uprising and her body thrown into a Berlin canal.
A body thought to be that of Luxemburg was recovered and buried in a Berlin cemetery. But Charité's chief of forensic medicine, Michael Tsokos, told Der Spiegel magazine he had doubts.
The postmortem results did not indicate two traits Luxemburg was known to have – osteoarthritis in the joints, and legs of different length, he said. A modern forensic examination is not possible because the grave was desecrated under the Nazis and the bones removed.
The corpse Tsokos found in storage two years ago had been preserved by the cold, damp conditions in the basement..
Tsokos said the head, feet and hands were missing, but tests shown that it shared Luxemburg's traits of arthritis and different leg lengths, and it had been dated to the time she lived.
The heads of many corpses were removed at the time so the skulls could be used in collections, while the feet and hands could have been lost because militiamen tied stones to Luxemburg's body, Der Spiegel reported.
Tsokos told the magazine that he was trying to find a living relative of the communist leader so he could compare DNA. He was unable to get a usable sample from a postage stamp used by Luxemburg.