Marx as a Migrant – A digital narrative

Karl Marx lived a long life as a migrant. Fleeing from the Prussian state, censorship and possible arrest, important stops on his journey were Paris, Brussels and London. These cities shaped his political activities, his engagement with political fellow-travellers, as well as his intellectual development and thus his entire work.

At the click of a mouse, you can follow Marx as a migrant from city to city. You can not only immerse yourself in his time, but also discover that even today, traces of his life and work continue to be seen in Paris, Brussels and London.

Each station takes about 45 minutes.

Contact: info@marx200.org

Marx as a Migrant

  • Brussels
  • Neighbourhood with Hess and Engels

A “little German colony”

Jenny and Karl Marx live in the rue de l‘Alliance together with their daughter Jenny and Helene Demuth, who already worked as a maid in the Westphalen house at the age of eleven and was sent by Jenny‘s mother to Brussels to support the young married couple as domestic help.

Moses Hess lives with Sibylle Pesch, Friedrich Engels with Mary Burns in rue de l’Alliance – both simple workers with little formal education, neither woman is married to their partners. Jenny Marx makes no secret of her dislike of the women and their way of life. However, as she later recalled, “the little German colony lived here together comfortably.”