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Rosa Levine-Meyer, the daughter of a rabbi, was born in Grodek, Poland, in 1890. At the age of twenty she went to Germany to work as a governess. While in Heidelberg, she met the Russian émigré, Eugen Levine, who she married in 1915.
Rosa and Eugen both became involved in revolutionary activity and became friends with other Russians living in exile including Vladimir Lenin, Gregory Zinoviev, Leon Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, Karl Radek and Karl Liebknecht.
After the First World War they joined the German Communist Party (KPD) and took part in the setting up of the Bavarian Socialist Republic. Eugen Levine took over the leadership of the rebellion after Kurt Eisner, was assassinated on 21st February.
Fearing a counter-revolution, supporters of Levine established Soldiers' and Workers' Councils and took over the government from the National Assembly.
Inspired by the events of the October Revolution, Levine ordered the expropriated of luxury flats and gave them to the homeless. Factories were to be run by joint councils of workers and owners and workers' control of industry and plans were made to abolish paper money. Levine, like the Bolsheviks had done in Russia, established Red Guard units to defend the revolution.
With Freikorps units massing on Bavaria's northern borders, the Red Guards began arresting people they considered to be hostile to the new regime. On 29th April, 1919, eight men were executed after being found guilty of being right-wing spies.
Friedrich Ebert, the Chancellor of Germany, now ordered the German Army and the Freikorps into Bavaria. They quickly gained control and over the next few weeks an estimate 700 men and women were captured and executed. Eugen Levine was arrested and after being found guilty of being involved in the execution of the eight spies, was shot by a firing squad.
After Levine's death Rosa married Ernest Meyer, another leading member of the German Communist Party. They were both active in the struggle against the emergence of the right-wing in Germany in the Weimar Republic. Meyer died in 1930 and Rosa remained political active but was forced to flee the country after Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party achieved power in 1933.
After living in France for a year she moved to England in October 1934. In her retirement she wrote two books about her political experiences, Levine: The Life of a Revolutionary (1973) and Inside German Communism (1977).
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