Was Clara Zetkin Jewish?

Clara Zetkin – sometimes called the ‘Grand Old Woman’ of German Communism – is a well-known figure in the political history of the left given that she was one of the leaders of the German communist party (the KPD) from its inception in 1919 – having previously been one of the co-founders of the Spartacist League (and was part of the jewish-led Spartacist uprising in Berlin in 1919) (1) and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) in 1916 – and an major figure within the feminist movement in continental Europe.

She is sometimes claimed to be jewish by jewish sources (2) probably based on her adoption of the name of her lover and fellow revolutionary – and father of her two sons – Ossip Zetkin; (3) who was a jew from Odessa and the son of a merchant. (4)

However, Clara Zetkin was actually born Clara Eissner in the village of Wiederau in Saxony to Gottried Eissner – a schoolmaster and church organist – and Josephine Vitale from Leipzig. (5) Both of her parents were middle to upper-middle class devoutly Protestant Germans, social radicals and highly ambitious. (6)

There is no evidence whatsoever that Clara Zetkin was jewish and while she was closely associated with jewish revolutionaries her whole life – from her lover Ossip Zetkin to her friend Rosa Luxembourg – she wasn’t herself jewish.

References

(1) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/the-jews-behind-the-1919-spartacist

(2) For example: https://slavaguide.com/en/blog/jewish-inventors-and-jewish-inventions

(3) https://www.marx-memorial-library.org.uk/project/russian-revolution/through-dictatorship-democracy-clara-zetkin

(4) https://www.rebelnews.ie/2020/07/27/clara-zetkin-revolutionary/

(5) James Young, 1988, ‘Socialism since 1889: A Biographical History’, 1st Edition, Barnes & Noble: Totowa, p. 169

(6) Ibid.