Berlin, May 5 (DP.net).– Germany marked the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth on Saturday, but celebrations risked being marred by protests as the revolutionary philosopher remains a divisive figure almost three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Marx’s birth city of Trier led commemorations of the man officials describe as a “great son of the city,” with 600 events planned around the 19th-century scholar hailed for foretelling the ills of capitalism.
The centerpiece of the festivities included the unveiling of a controversial 5.5-meter tall statue of the political philosopher — a gift from China.
The deputy head of the German branch of the PEN writers' association requested that the unveiling of the statue be postponed until Chinese poet Liu Xia has been released from house arrest and allowed to leave China (see REPORT), but the statue was unvailed today in Trier.
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