Rosa Luxemburg Aroa Murcia and Daniel Sardina My name is Rosa Luxemburg. I was born on March 5th 1871 in Zamość, southwestern Poland and died on January 15th 1919 in Berlin, capital of the Weimar Republic. I was born in a Jewish family and early, when I was 5 years old, I was affected by a permanent limp. My female condition, heritage and disability made my life harsh. During my 47 years in the world, society underwent a great transformation and most main powers in the world experienced rivalries due to industrialization and colonialism. The result of all accumulated tensions led to the origin of the Great War in 1914. The situation of common people was not good in Europe at this time, due to social exclusion policies, unemployment and poverty, but this was even more serious in the case of women. Carrying twice as much work (factory and home duties) made our life unbearable. In fact, as working hours in the manufacturing system increased, only single women were able to work. People felt that the role of women in society was being a housewife, wife and mother. Therefore, working in a factory was poorly seen because it was understood as a challenge for man. In the United States, the suffragist movement, a vindication of political and legislative equality for women, was born. Some advance on women’s rights also took place in the UK. Some women joined ’campaigns against vice' to eliminate laws regulating prostitution that they described as degrading and attacking their privacy. In Britain, the National Ladies' Association was founded to vindicate state laws regulating prostitution. As a consequence, things began to change and women never shut up again. Look at me, I managed to raise my voice in politics, to study despite the prejudices that permeated women then and the anti-Semitic discrimination that existed in Europe. I did a PhD and I learned to speak several languages.
31