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Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a small landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg, is one of the four institutional seats of the European Union and the seat of several EU institutions, notably the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest judicial authority. Luxembourg's culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its French and German neighbors; while Luxembourgish is the only national language of the Luxembourgish people and of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, French is the only language for legislation, and all three – Luxembourgish, German and French – are used for administrative matters in the country.
Luxembourg is a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the prime minister is the head of government, and the multi-party system. Executive power is under the constitution of 1868, as amended, exercised by the government, by the grand duke and the Council of Government (cabinet), which consists of a prime minister and several other ministers. Usually, the prime minister is the leader of the political party or coalition of parties having the most seats in parliament. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The Luxembourg Armed Forces are the national military force of Luxembourg. The army has been a fully volunteer military since 1967. As of December 2018, it has 939 personnel.
The German occupation of Luxembourg in World War II began in May 1940 after the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was invaded by Nazi Germany. Although Luxembourg was officially neutral, it was situated at a strategic point at the end of the French Maginot Line. On 10 May 1940, the German Wehrmacht invaded Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Luxembourg was initially placed under a military administration, but later became a civilly administrated territory and finally was annexed directly into Germany. The Germans believed Luxembourg to be a Germanic state, and attempted to suppress what they perceived as alien French language and cultural influences. Although some Luxembourgers joined the resistance or collaborated with the Germans, both constituted a minority of the population. As German nationals, from 1942, many Luxembourgers were conscripted into the German military. Nearly 3,500 Luxembourgish Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. The liberation of the country by the Allies began in September 1944, but due to the Ardennes Offensive it was not completed until early 1945.
Forêts was a department of the French First Republic, and later the First French Empire, in present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. Its name, meaning 'forests', comes from the Ardennes forests. It was formed on 24 October 1795, after the Austrian Netherlands had been annexed by France on 1 October. Before annexation, the territory was part of the Duchy of Luxembourg and small parts of the Duchy of Bouillon. Its capital was Luxembourg City.
The 12 cantons of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are subdivisions at the first level of local administrative unit (LAU-1) in the European Union's Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics for Eurostat purposes. They were subdivisions of the three districts of Luxembourg until 2015, when the district level of government was abolished. The cantons are in turn subdivided into 100 communes.
Diekirch is a commune with town status in north-eastern Luxembourg, in the canton of Diekirch and, until its abolition in 2015, the district of Diekirch. The town is situated on the banks of the Sauer river.
Ettelbruck is a commune with town status in central Luxembourg, with a population of 9,688 inhabitants.
North is one of the four multi-member constituencies of the Chamber of Deputies, the national legislature of Luxembourg. The constituency was established in 1919 following the introduction of proportional representation for elections to the Chamber of Deputies. It consists of the cantons of Clervaux, Diekirch, Redange, Vianden and Wiltz. The constituency currently elects nine of the 60 members of the Chamber of Deputies using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2023 general election it had 52,922 registered electors.
Charles-Mathias Simons was a Luxembourgish politician and jurist. He was the third prime minister of Luxembourg, serving for seven years, from 1853 until 1860.
The Grand Ducal Gendarmerie was the national Gendarmerie force of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, carrying both civil and military duties. It merged on 1 January 2000, with local police forces under state authority to form the Grand Ducal Police, the country's current national police force.
The Luxembourgish Patriot League was a Luxembourgish Resistance movement during World War II. When Luxembourg was invaded and annexed by Nazi Germany in 1940, a national consciousness started to come about. The LPL was founded on 4 September 1940 at the Lycée of Echternach in Echternach by Raymond Petit.
The history of rail transport in Luxembourg began in 1846 and continues to the present day.
The Luxembourgish government in exile, also known as the Luxembourgish government in London, was the government in exile of Luxembourg during the Second World War. The government was based in London between 1940 and 1944, while Luxembourg was occupied by Nazi Germany. It was led by Pierre Dupong, and also included three other Ministers. The head of state, Grand Duchess Charlotte, also escaped from Luxembourg after the occupation. The government was bipartite, including two members from both the Party of the Right (PD) and the Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP).
The German invasion of Luxembourg was part of Case Yellow, the German invasion of the Low Countries—Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands—and France during World War II. The battle began on 10 May 1940 and lasted just one day. Facing only light resistance, German troops quickly occupied Luxembourg. The Luxembourgish government, and Grand Duchess Charlotte, managed to escape the country and a government-in-exile was created in London.
The involvement of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in World War II began with its invasion by German forces on 10 May 1940 and lasted beyond its liberation by Allied forces in late 1944 and early 1945.
When Luxembourg was invaded and annexed by Nazi Germany in 1940, a national consciousness started to emerge. From 1941 onwards, the first resistance groups formed in secret, operating underground and in defiance of the German occupation. Their covert activities included aiding political refugees and those evading conscription into the German forces, as well as disseminating patriotic leaflets to bolster the Luxembourgish population's spirits.
Émile Speller was a Luxembourgish military officer and the commander of the country's Gendarmes and Volunteers Corps during the German invasion of Luxembourg in World War II. He also served as aide-de-camp to several members of the Grand Ducal Family throughout his career and chamberlain of the Grand Ducal court.
The parc municipal de Diekirch is a linear park in Diekirch, in northern Luxembourg.
Aloys(e) Jacoby was a Luxembourgish Colonel who served during World War Two.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Biographie nationale du pays de Luxembourg depuis ses origines jusqu'à nos jours (in French). Imprimerie de la Cour Victor Buck. 1949.
- 1 2 3 "Bulletin".
- 1 2 "CSV Dikrich | SVQ_154 Patton @ Diekirch". CSV Dikrich (in Luxembourgish). Retrieved 2022-11-06.
- ↑ Vanwelkenhuyzen, Jean (1982). Les avertissements qui venaient de Berlin, 9 octobre 1939-10 mai 1940 (in French). Duculot. ISBN 978-2-8011-0389-0.
- ↑ Campion, Jonas; López, Laurent; Payen, Guillaume (2019-11-08). European Police Forces and Law Enforcement in the First World War. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-030-26102-3.
- ↑ Artuso, Vincent (9 February 2015). "LA « QUESTION JUIVE » AU LUXEMBOURG (1933-1941) L'ETAT LUXEMBOURGEOIS FACE AUX PERSECUTIONS ANTISEMITES NAZIES" (PDF). Le Gouvernement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg (in French). University of Luxembourg . Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- ↑ Belgium. Vol. 1. Belgian Press Association, Incorporated. 1941. OCLC 2258244.
