Why was Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s memorial to Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg demolished?

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Expressionist memorial to the communist leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, which was dedicated in 1926, was demolished by the Nazis.1

The destruction of the monument was part of the Nazi Party's systematic suppression of modern art and political opposition. Following their rise to power in 1933, the Nazis labeled contemporary art that did not align with their ideology as "degenerate art." Because the memorial honored prominent communist figures and represented a modernist aesthetic that the regime sought to eradicate, it was targeted for removal as part of the broader effort to eliminate cultural and political expressions they deemed decadent or subversive.12