Tsarist autocracy
With the threat of conscription into the Tsar's army looming — possibly a penal battalion — Jogiches escaped to Zurich, Switzerland. He brought with him during his furtive departure a considerable sum of money, including both personal and donated funds earmarked for the publication and distribution of socialist literature. A few months after his arrival in Zurich, the 23-year old Jogiches met a fellow 20-year old ethnic Jewish political émigré from Tsarist autocracy, Rosa Luxemburg. The pair fell in love and became both close political allies and personal companions.