BERLIN — A specter is haunting Germany — the specter of Karl Marx.

A curious debate has erupted just as the hometown of communism’s founding father is about to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth in the German town of Trier.

Is it appropriate for a country split by the Cold War, which pitted communism against capitalism, to honor the 19th century critic of free markets? Is it tasteless to capitalize on Marx’s name for the sake of tourist income? Is nostalgia for communist East Germany clouding peoples’ memories? Or might Marx be a modern-day antidote to an era of unbridled capitalism?

Those are among the questions riling Germans — and people across Europe — this week as his hometown prepares to pay tribute to Marx’s memory by unveiling an 18-foot-high statue of its native son. The inauguration of the colossal statue will kick off a year featuring 600 events in the Trier area celebrating Marx, who was born on May 5, 1818. That the 2.3-ton bronze memorial of the bearded philosopher in a pensive pose and frock coat was a gift from the People’s Republic of China has only added to the controversy.

“It just wouldn’t have been possible to do this 30 years ago,” Trier mayor Wolfram Leibe told reporters last month as workers bolted the still-concealed monument on its pedestal on a square just around the corner from the house where Marx lived with his family until he was 17. “Karl Marx is one of Trier’s greatest citizens and we shouldn’t have to hide that.”

Leibe did not have to mention the 150,000 Chinese tourists who make the pilgrimage to Trier each year and his city’s hopes that even more will make the journey after the wrapping is removed Saturday.

In a nod to the debate that has raged since the Trier City Council agreed last year to accept the gift made in China, Leibe did acknowledge that it took time after German reunification for “a more distanced and differentiated” view of the town’s most famous son to evolve. “The monument should inspire people to think about Marx and his literary works,” Leibe said.

Marx’s signature work, the book “Das Kapital,” and the Communist Manifesto, written with fellow German Friedrich Engels, shaped 20th century history. They provided the philosophical underpinnings of the Russian Revolution, which gave birth to the Soviet Union, and the Chinese Revolution, which created the People’s Republic. Together, the events divided the world for decades into sharply defined blocs of East and West, capitalist and communist.

Marx’s theories on economics and politics came to be known collectively as Marxism. His works had a major impact on his native country, which was divided into capitalist West Germany and communist East Germany for more than four decades after World War II.

There were statues, streets, squares and schools named after Karl Marx throughout East Germany and even in parts of West Germany, but his name lost its luster as communism collapsed across Eastern Europe and the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. An East German city of 240,000 known as Karl-Marx-Stadt changed its name back to Chemnitz in 1990.