The military history of Luxembourg during World War II was a period in the history of Luxembourg when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. On 10 May 1940 the German Wehrmacht attacked Luxembourg and quickly defeated its small defence force. Grand Duchess Charlotte, the head of state, managed to flee together with the main government ministers just hours before the invasion and spent the rest of World War II in exile. The country was under military administration until August 1940. The history of Luxembourg begins with its founding in the year 963, when Sigefroid, Count of Ardennes, acquired the ruins of an old Roman fort called Castellum Lucilinburhuc1 from the monks of the Abbey of St. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Wehrmacht was the name of the armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. ... A Grand Duchess is the wife of a Grand Duke or a woman who rules a Grand Duchy in her own right. ... Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, Charlotte Aldegonde Élise Marie Wilhelmine (January 23, 1896 - July 9, 1985) was the second daughter of Grand Duke William IV of Luxembourg. ... A head of state or chief of state is the chief public representative of a nation-state, federation or commonwealth, whose role generally includes personifying the continuity and legitimacy of the state and exercising the political powers, functions and duties granted to the head of state in the countrys... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Heim ins Reich

On 2 August 1940, Gustav Simon became civil administrator of Luxembourg, which was procalimed part of the Gau Moselland. Throughout the occupation, the Nazi authorities under Gauleiter Simon led a propaganda and later terror campaign, known as Heim ins Reich, to convince the population that they were ethnic Germans and a natural part of the Third Reich. The structures of the Luxembourg state were dismanteled at once: political parties and independent labour unions were banned, all civil society organisations and the press were subjected to Nazi control, the Reichsmark became the new currency. In September, the Nuremberg laws were introduced. The following month, the Parliament and the Conseil d'Etat were dissolved. Teachers were threatened with losing their job unless they joined Nazi organisations, which led to much increased recruitement from all professions. From 1941 many from Luxembourgs youth were ordered to participate in the Reichsarbeitsdienst. August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... For the state of pronounced fear, see terror. ... The Heim ins Reich initiative (German: Home into the Realm) was a policy pursued by Adolf Hitler starting in 1939 and largely responsible for the outbreak of World War II. The initiative attempted to convince people of German descent living outside of Germany that they should strive to unify their... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... The Reichsmark (Symbol: RM) was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. ... 1933 to 1939 Nazi racial policy changed extensively in the years between 1933 and 1939. ... The Reichsarbeitsdienst (or RAD) was an Auxiliary formation which provided support for the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War. ...

Public monuments with connotations of national independence were demolished, such as the Gelle Fra, a memorial for voluntary Luxembourg soldiers who had fought in World War I with the French, and the "trees of liberty" that had been planted at the occasion of the hundred year anniversary of Luxembourg's independence in 1939. The Letzebuergesch language was banned, replaced by the use of German in schools and all public domains. This included extensive "germanisation" of public names (Avenue de la liberte or Liberty Avenue, a main street in the capital, was renamed to Adolf Hitler Strasse) and even first names and surnames. Missing image Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Luxembourgish or Luxembourgian (in French, Luxembourgeois; in German, Luxemburgisch; in Luxembourgish Lëtzebuergesch) is a West Germanic language spoken in Luxembourg. ...

The Resistance

Expecting their propaganda campaign to be successful, the occupation authorities organised a census in 1941 which included seemingly innocuous questions about nationality, mother tongue and ethnicity. Resistance organisations were quick to recognise this as a thinly disguised attempt to incorporate Luxembourg into the Reich and mounted a massive underground awareness-raising campaign, turning the census into a referendum. The result was that 97% declared their Luxembourgish identity, often writing Mir welle bleiwen wat mir sin (We wish to remain what we are) on the census forms. A census is the process of obtaining information about every member of a population (not necessarily a human population). ... A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ...

The state was placed under military occupation until August 1942, when it was formally incorporated into the Third Reich: Luxembourgers were declared to be German citizens and 13,000 were called up for military service.

The Nazi repression and propaganda was met with largely peaceful resistance. The drafting into the Wehrmacht provoked a general strike against the occupying authorities which was violently suppressed: 21 strikers were executed and hundreds more deported to concentration camps. There was also campaign of punitive deportation of Luxembourg citizens to parts of the Reich, as well as attempts to settle ethnic Germans in Luxembourg. Much of the work by the resistance organisations focussed on hiding those drafted into thw Wehrmacht. Deportation is the expelling of someone from a country. ...

Collaboration

Collaboration with the Nazi occupation is an aspect less often talked about in Luxembourg. Some historians estimate that the size of the collaboration was approximately similar to that of the resistance. About 2000 collaborators were found guilty of treason after the end of the war, including nine individuals who were executed. Others remained incarcerated until the 50s, when most were amnestied.

The Fate of Luxembourg's Jews

As in other countries occupied by the Nazis, Luxembourg's Jewish community was decimated. Most of those who had not fled to the country before 1941 where killed in concentration camps and death camps. One Jewish survivor was Alfred Oppenheimer, a member of the Consistoire (Jewish Council). Together with his family he was deported to concentration camp, wher his wife was killed and then to Auschwitz where his son Rene was gassed. Alfred Oppenheimer survived the death camp and was one of the witnesses at the trial of Adolf Eichmann. He returned to live in Luxembourg until his death aged over 90, and was known for his involvement in public education about the Nazi regime and the holocaust. The Prix Rene Oppenheimer was created in memory of his son. A concentration camp is a large detention centre created for political opponents, aliens, specific ethnic or religious groups, civilians of a critical war-zone, or other groups of people, often during a war. ... Majdanek - crematorium Extermination camp (German Vernichtungslager) was the term applied to a group of camps set up by Nazi Germany during World War II for the express purpose of killing the Jews of Europe, although members of some other groups whom the Nazis wished to exterminate, such as Roma (Gypsies... Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ... Adolf Eichmann Adolf Eichmann (March 19, 1906 – June 1, 1962) was a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany and served as an Obersturmbannführer in the S.S. He was largely responsible for the logistics of the extermination of millions of people during the Holocaust, in particular Jews, which was called...

2,848 Luxembourgers eventually died fighting in the German army. U.S. forces again liberated Luxembourg in September 1944, although they were briefly forced to withdraw during the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans were finally expelled in January 1945. Altogether, of a pre-war population of 293,000, 5,259 Luxembourgers lost their lives during the hostilities. The German Ardennes Offensive1, popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge, started in late December 1944 and was the last major German offensive on the Western Front during World War II. The German army had intended to split the Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp and then proceeding to...

See also

• Participants in World War II