1 life in occupied luxembourg
1.1 germanification
1.2 catholic church
1.3 resistance
1.3.1 passive resistance
1.4 collaboration
1.5 repression
life in occupied luxembourg
the general public slow react @ first, still feeling shock invasion of 1914–1918. furthermore, royal family , government had silently fled exile. majority of population kept heads low avoid conflict authorities; others participated in acts of passive resistance.
germanification
the administration of simon arrived in luxembourg persuaded german-ness of luxembourgers merely lay under thin external layer of french influence. in turn meant that, bit of determined unraveling administration, german character of population reveal itself.
simon had 2 clear goals:
the nazification , germanisation of luxembourg, i.e., extinction of not of german source, french names , words of french origin or french way of life
the destruction , dismemberment of luxembourgish state institutions, , country s incorporation third reich
his first series of decrees made policy clear:
6 august 1940: german became official language, , usage of french language banned. ban applied official , administrative usage everyday life. french expressions of courtesy such bonjour , merci , monsieur , madame , etc. included: people greeting each other had heil hitler .
autumn 1940. political parties , independent labour unions, parliament , conseil d etat dissolved. civil society organisations , press subjected nazi control.
till end 1940. german law introduced including sondergerichte , nuremberg laws.
31 january 1941: french-sounding family names, first names, , names of streets, towns, shops , companies germanised, is, translated german counterpart or replaced more germanic. henri became heinrich, dupont became brückner.
18 february 1941: wearing beret (a traditional cap northern basque country) forbidden.
from may 1941 many luxembourgish youth ordered participate in reichsarbeitsdienst.
a massive propaganda campaign launched influence population, while not dissidents , critics teachers, officials , leading business figures threatened losing jobs unless joined nazi organisations, led increased recruitment professions. central registry documented personal opinion regarding nazi regime of every citizen. people openly opposed regime lost jobs or deported, eastern germany , in worst cases sent death camps many of them died.
the occupation authorities attempted cover luxembourg net of political, social , cultural organisations, such existed in germany, including hitlerjugend, bund deutscher mädel, winterhilfswerk, ns-frauenschaft, , deutsche arbeitsfront.
catholic church
the catholic church in luxembourg relatively silent during war, , took no public stance regarding fate of jews or nazi regime. on 1 hand, bishop, joseph laurent philippe, bedridden due illness, , therefore in no state provide active opposition. on other hand, bishop did not want further antagonise occupiers , endanger fragile religious life of church, heavily restricted during wartime. bishop philippe did, however, refuse meet nazi leadership, , made preparations in case post should fall vacant.
the church saw existence threatened pushed out of public life anti-religious policies of nazis: public religious events such octave celebration or dancing procession banned, christian organisations dissolved, religious education in schools abolished, , ban on religious orders put in place.
at same time, diocese administration remained 1 of few luxembourgish institutions stayed intact during war, although in doubt while, , deportation of bishop considered occupation authorities.
resistance
the luxembourgish resistance carried out small fraction of population. formation spontaneous , slow @ first. first groups formed autumn 1940 summer 1941. in beginning worked without coordination , different motivations, instance liberals opposed anti-jewish policies , in favour of democracy conservative roman catholics more or less anti-national socialist tendencies. of latter category @ same time opposed soviet union , bolshevism , hoping generals of wehrmacht defeat joseph stalin , red army, while @ same time hiding jews , anti-nazi clergy mixed in farms. luxembourg resistance joined communist party of luxembourg after invasion of ussr in june 1941.
the activities of resistance largely directed towards undermining german monopoly on information, , providing moral support population, spreading counter-propaganda word-of-mouth, leaflets, posters , later whole newspapers. additionally, resistance helped allied pows , shot-down pilots, deserters wehrmacht , other endangered luxembourgers cross borders belgium or france. introduction of forced labour , conscription wehrmacht added resistance s tasks: large number of youths refused serve in german armed forces had hidden around country , kept safe , fed, or helped escape abroad. collections of food , money made families of arrested, deported, or fired jobs. increasingly important part of resistance s activities provide military, political , economic intelligence allies. while acts of sabotage did take place, rare , seen risky in small country no remote areas withdraw. similar reasons, armed combat resistance against occupiers rare. finally, many of movements made contact government-in-exile, allies, , french , belgian resistance movements, many young men joining armed resistance in france , belgium.
several well-known catholic , communist households, , many parishes , priories, kept number of jewish luxembourgish civilians , foreign jews hidden , safe.
passive resistance
luxembourgers serving in german army luftwaffenhelfer
non-violent passive resistance widespread in luxembourg during period. august 1940, spéngelskrich (the war of pins ) took place luxembourgers wore patriotic pin-badges (depicting national colours or grand duchess), precipitating attacks vdb.
in october 1941, german occupiers took survey of luxembourgish civilians asked state nationality, mother tongue , racial group, contrary german expectations, 95% answered luxembourgish each question. refusal declare german citizens led mass arrests.
conscription particularly unpopular. on 31 august 1942, shortly after announcement conscription extended men born between 1920 , 1927, strike began in northern town of wiltz. strike spread rapidly, paralyzing factories , industries of luxembourg. strike repressed , leaders arrested. 20 summarily tried before special tribunal (in german, standgericht ) , executed firing squad @ nearby hinzert concentration camp. nevertheless, protests against conscription continued , 3,500 luxembourgers desert german army after being conscripted.
collaboration
collaboration nazi occupation aspect less talked in luxembourg. studies have shown collaboration phenomenon in layers of society. there was, however, over-representation of civil servants among collaborators. on average, collaborators younger general population. in september 1944, approximately 10,000 people left luxembourg german civil administration: assumed consisted of 3,500 collaborators , families. in 1945, 5,101 luxembourgers, including 2,857 men , 2,244 women in prison political activities, constituting 1.79% of population. 12 collaborators sentenced death , shot in reckenthal in luxembourg city. 249 sentenced forced labour, 1366 sentenced prison , 645 sent workhouses.
repression
faced opposition general public regime took brutal measures against form of resistance. after general strike of 1942, gustav simon proclaimed state of emergency , introduced german standgerichte. thousands arrested , tortured. hundreds died in concentration camps. whole families deported eastern germany , replaced german families, south-tyrol , eastern europe. headquarters of gestapo, villa pauly, became symbol of terror.
in august 1940, gestapo had established headquarters in villa pauly in luxembourg city, field offices in villa seligmann in esch , villa conter in diekirch.
on 9 september 1942, gauleiter announced resettlement operation luxembourg. until 1944, more 1,410 families (4,200 individuals) resettled east, sudetenland , upper silesia. lost property , educated becoming germans , being forbidden returning luxembourg. 1943, in addition families deported political reasons, germans started resettling families sons evaded conscription wehrmacht or had deserted units. out of these resettled people, 73 died in camps, including 9 children, due malnutrition , lack of medical facilities.
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