Luxembourg Resistance

"The Resistance" never existed as a unified entity, instead resistance was constituted into several separate Resistance organisations. The war did not unify the country any more than it had been previously, although more people became conscious of their national identity, and several collective victories, such as the strike of 1942 and the failed referendum of 1941 proved that cooperation was possible.[4] The Resistance was above all a regional phenomenon: each organisation had its geographical base, and none operated across the whole country.[5]

Politically, two tendencies in the Resistance can be distinguished, one left-wing (including the Communist Party of Luxembourg) and one right-wing (LVL, LPL Clervaux, Unio'n).[4] There were also organisations that had no particular political programme, which mostly occupied themselves with practical matters; as well as a large number of resistants who were not affiliated to any organisation.

The Communist Party of Luxembourg (PCL) hesitated for a long time before taking up hostilities against the German occupier, due to its loyalty to the Soviet Union, which itself was not at war with Germany until June 1941. From May 1942, the PCL advocated the policy of the popular front against the fascists, but also continued to have other political goals in mind, and saw the social democrats as a political rival. The Communists saw the fight against the German occupiers as merely the first step towards a radical change of the social and political landscape.

The PCL was not the only organisation whose political goals kept it from cooperating with other groups. The admission policy of the LVL stated that membership was forbidden to anyone who was a communist or a "drunkard".[4] The right-wing Resistance groups were generally to be found in the north, based among rural communities. Religious motivations were a significant factor for them, and they followed a "Marian cult" devoted to Grand Duchess Charlotte.

At the same time, the LVL adopted the anti-Semitism of the Nazi occupiers, and the Unio'n called for a Lebensraum (living space) for the Luxembourgish people in terms very similar to those found in Mein Kampf.

For the organised Resistance, the prime motivating factor appears to have been not a desire for liberty or a democratic ideal, but nationalism, albeit influenced by socialism for those on the left, or by anti-parliamentary corporatism on the right.[4] If there was one characteristic which was common to all Resistance movements, then, whether on the left or the right, it was this nationalism. This becomes apparent in the Resistance organisations' interpretation of history: an emphasis on the "Luxembourgish" emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, a glorification of John the Blind and the participants in the peasant war known as the Kleppelkrich, attacks on the "foreign domination" from 1443 to 1839.[6]

As elsewhere in German-occupied Europe, the underground press was an important part of resistance activity in Luxembourg. Mainly, the resistors' aim was to counteract the German propaganda that portrayed Luxembourg as an integral part of Germany, under the dictum Heim ins Reich. To this end, they printed flyers by hand or on machines, which were distributed to friends, colleagues and on the street, to spread counter-propaganda and to firm up Luxembourgers' patriotism.[7] From February 1941, the communist Resistance started publishing the newspaper entitled Die Wahrheit. Together with the 19 editions of Ons Zeidong produced by Alwéraje in Schifflange, this left-wing press provided a free source of information to workers.[7]

From summer of the same year, Luxembourgers working in the Belgian Resistance started producing De freie Lötzeburger, 17 editions of which appeared between October 1941 and August 1942. Written and printed in Brussels, each edition was transported to Luxembourg for distribution.[7]

In localities close to the French and Belgian borders, the groups soon faced the problem of how to secretly cross the well-guarded border. Those wishing to leave the country included escaped prisoners of war, Allied pilots who had been shot down, or Resistance members wishing to travel to Britain to join the Allied armed forces, and this made an organised network necessary. Additionally, from 1943, the Resistance helped numerous young men who refused to serve in the Wehrmacht, to escape to France or Belgium.[7] An estimated 2,000 people were helped across the border of Luxembourg, and several of the Resistance members lost their lives at these border crossings.[7]

The Resistance members were aware of the value of intelligence for the British, who were for a while the only country resisting Nazi Germany. In spite of this, the beginnings of intelligence work in Luxembourg were difficult, but the Resistance attempted again and again to find ways to send information to the British.[7]

Reports by doctor Fernand Schwachtgen, and signed "John the Blind", mostly reached London via the "Famille Martin" network, founded in Marseille by Walter Hamber, an Austrian Jew living in Luxembourg.[7] These contained much information of great value, including information on V-1 and V-2 rocket testing sites in Peenemünde, which led to the Allies bombing these on the night of 17 August 1943.[7]

From August 1942, the Luxembourgish businessman Edouard Hemmer, residing in Belgium, worked with Jean Fosty of the Belgian network Zéro to set up the intelligence network "Organisation Tod", or OT. OT gathered information from Luxembourg, which was then transmitted to London through Zéro. In late April 1943, Hemmer was arrested, and OT ceased its activity.[7]

From autumn of 1943, Luxembourgish intelligence was started up again. It was primarily Josy Goerres who saw the importance of political, economic and military intelligence. His reports generally reached the government-in-exile via Belgium; others were transmitted through the hands of Dr Charles Marx, who had close contact with the French Resistance.[7]

The Luxembourgish Resistance organised few acts of sabotage. In the steel plants, however, there was a "spirit of sabotage", which contributed to slowing the rate of production.[7] Two acts of sabotage resulting in trail derailments were, however, organised at the initiative of Joseph Hittesdorf.[7]

Two of the Resistance's most notable feats were the referendum of 10 October 1941, and the general strike of September 1942.[7]

The planned census of 1941 contained three questions on people's nationality, native language and ethnicity. The German authorities intended for Luxembourgers to answer "German" to all three questions, thus accepting their annexation by Nazi Germany: this essentially made it a referendum on German rule. The Resistance organisations spread awareness of the nature and significance of the upcoming census, and distributed leaflets strongly encouraging the population to answer Dräimol Letzebuerg ("three times Luxembourgish").[7] Initial results from straw polls showed that the population was following the Resistance's advice by an overwhelming majority, and the actual census on 10 October was cancelled, which was widely seen as a propaganda defeat for the Germans.[7]

The 1942 general strike came about as a result of the introduction of conscription into the German military for young Luxembourgish males born between 1920 and 1927, announced on 30 August 1942.

• Dostert, Paul (December 2002). "La résistance luxembourgeoise (1940 - 1944)" (PDF). Ons Stad (71): 12–5.
• Krier, Émile (1997). "Luxemburg am Ende der Besatzungszeit und der Neuanfang". In Düwell, Kurt; Matheus, Michael (eds.). Kriegsende und Neubeginn: Westdeutschland und Luxemburg zwischen 1944 und 1947 (PDF). Geschichtliche Landeskunde. 46. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.
• Pauly, Michel (1985). "La Résistance démythifiée" (PDF). forum (77): 45–47.