Bourgeois society stands at a crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into

barbarism. Those words echo down the ages as a prophecy and as a challenge. They were

written over a hundred years ago by a middle-aged woman in a freezing German jail cell, a woman

who would go on to leave an indelible mark on history.

Rosenluck's Semberg was a radical, a rabble rouser and a revolutionary. She was one of the

most important thinkers of the 20th century, and her calls for freedom, socialism and democracy

scandalise people at the time, both from the left and the right. So who was this woman

who's passion for revolution and justice sent shockwaves throughout German society,

whose thought continues to influence millions around the world today? I'm here in Berlin

a hundred years after her death to find out.

All accounts of her both praising and damning agree on one thing. The fact that she lived

a truly extraordinary life, especially for a woman of her time. She was Polish, she was

Jewish, she was an immigrant, she was a political refugee, she was disabled, she was a socialist.

There were so many strikes against her name that should have kept her on the margins,

that should have shut her up, but she never shied away from speaking her mind, especially

to people who were considered her social superiors.

The Rosaluczenberg Foundation is the home to archives charting her life, work and legacy.

She was born in 1871 into a low middle class family in Poland, then part of the vast Russian

empire. This was a time of pogroms, violent union busting and socialists being hung in

the street. As a teenager her left wing loyalty is caught the attention of the police, and

she was forced to flee the country. She earned a doctorate in economics and eventually found

her way to Germany. There she joined the SPD, the Social Democratic Party of Germany,

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