A project for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Geneva Office
On March 5, 2021, the foundation celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Luxemburg, a major figure in the history of socialism. , She lived in Switzerland from 1889 to 1897, mainly in Zurich where she studied. The film “Rosa Luxemburg’s years in Switzerland” relates these years.
Following in the footsteps of Rosa Luxemburg in Zurich
Following in the footsteps of Rosa Luxemburg literally means following the clues that Rosa Luxemburg left during her time in Zurich. With the help of an exhibition that the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation had already dedicated to her, I went in search of different pieces of archives of the time (maps, photographs, diplomas…) testifying to the life that Rosa Luxemburg led at that time. By superimposing the maps of the time on those of today, I was able to find the streets where she lived in order to make the film as close as possible to reality (even if many buildings have changed since then).
Archives
Thanks to the library of the University, the Sozialarchiv, the Staatsarchiv of the canton and the Stadtarchiv of the City of Zürich, we found the original documents that we integrated into the film. The stay in Zürich allowed us to find these documents, to photograph them (for those which were not digitized) as well as to take photographs of the various places in Zürich which served as inspiration for the film.
Two months of realization
The realization of the film was about two months, which is fast for an animated short film. In addition, I had to familiarize myself with the life of Rosa Luxemburg while keeping in mind the desire to make an entertaining film. This part of Rosa Luxemburg’s life in Switzerland is not the one we usually learn in history books, but precedes the revolutionary part of her life.
The movie
The film is available in French, German, English and with Spanish subtitles. It can be accessed on the website of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation of Geneva for whom it was made (project managers: Jeanne Planche and Eva Wuchold) and Berlin as well as in the edition of the Journal Le Courrier.