The German Language and the History of Luxembourg

In 698, the first significant place was founded on what is now Luxembourg. The wandering monk Willibrord founded the monastery of Echternach to advance the Christianisation of the region. At this time, monasteries were not only places of education and civilisation, but also developed into economic centres.

In 963, a certain Siegfried appeared. It is known that he was the youngest son of a nobleman from the Ardennes. He had not inherited much and earned his living as a kind of "civil servant" in the service of a feudal lord. Perhaps he wanted to make more of his life.
Siegfried was interested in the Bocksfelsen - we know this name: The Bocksfelsen is today in the centre of the city of Luxembourg. It had already served as a fortification in Roman times. Siegfried understood that this rock was ideal to build a castle on.
But the Bocksfelsen belonged to Maximin Abbey in Trier. Siegfried proposed a barter to the abbey - Bocksfelsen for other lands - and finally built his castle: Lucilinburhuc.
This name was also applied to the surrounding area, and the castle's inhabitants called themselves from then on: Counts of Luxembourg.

This castle changed hands several times in the course of the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, power was not bound to territories, but to persons. Therefore, it is still not possible at this time to speak of Luxembourg as a "country" with national borders in the modern sense. It "belonged" to this or that ruler.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Luxembourg counts played an important role in European affairs:
In 1308, Heinrich VII of Luxembourg was elected German king and crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
What language did he actually speak? One source says his mother tongue was French. An interesting note: language was a point worth mentioning. Did the source indicate that Heinrich’s German was not quite perfect?
A knowledge of German was probably indispensable for Heinrich. In his time, the German language had prevailed over Latin in the Holy Roman Empire, also in administration and public life.
(It is unlikely that Heinrich - as a member of the upper class - used the language of his subjects at his ancestral seat of Luxembourg).

Heinrich was the first of a total of three Luxembourgers to become German emperors. Incidentally, his son Johann was the one who founded the Schobermesse - but that's another story.

During this time, the Luxembourgers expanded their possessions, far away in the East: they acquired Bohemia (approximately the territory of today’s Czech Republic), and Emperor Karl IV of the House of Luxembourg founded the University of Prague in 1348, one of the oldest universities in Europe. It was also this Karl who made Luxembourg a duchy.

The course of history continued, Luxembourg once again became the plaything of geopolitics: after some back and forth, it belonged to the Spanish Netherlands for a while. ...
1789: The French Revolution changes the whole of Europe. In the course of the Revolutionary Wars, Luxembourg became part of France. It was given the idyllic name: "Département des Forêts".
An important effect of this time is still noticeable today: Luxembourg law is based on the Code Civil, which Napoleon introduced in France. Even today, the laws in Luxembourg are written in French.

Napoleon’s era also passed.
In 1815, the Congress of Vienna was held to restore the old order in Europe that had been shaken by Napoleon - for Luxembourg with the following result: it officially became a Grand Duchy, but was placed under the rule of the Kingdom of the United Netherlands.

 

In 1830, the Catholic southern provinces of the Netherlands revolted against the Protestant northern provinces and enforced the creation of their own state: Belgium. The Luxembourgers liked this and sided with the new Belgians. Of course, the Dutch could not accept this.

 

So the first London Conference took place in 1838 (there was later a second one): The francophone western half of Luxembourg was assigned to Belgium, and "the rest" had to remain with the Netherlands. As you can see, languages once again played a decisive role. The division took place along the language border. And now a "non-French" part of Luxembourg is beginning to take shape. Here, the Luxembourgish language could finally develop into a symbol of common identity.

In 1848, Luxembourg got its first constitution (while still ruled by the Dutch king), in which the language issue also found expression. German and French were established as official languages.
At the same time, ordinary people continued to speak their Luxembourgish: the language spoken here in the region, but which played no role BESIDES French and German. It was only the ordinary people who used it, not the powerful.

In 1867 there was a geopolitical intrigue: Napoleon III had the idea of buying Luxembourg from the Netherlands to exchange it for other territories in a deal with German Chancellor Bismarck. Nothing came of it - except that the Luxembourgers felt united in their anger at this impertinence. Their indignation gave political clout to the refrain of a popular song: „Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn!“
In 1867, the Second London Conference determined that Luxembourg would continue to be governed by the Netherlands. It also became a neutral state (which did not last long).

Since 1842, Luxembourg was a member of the German Customs Union. This was a union of territorial rulers of the German Empire to simplify their economic relations. (The German Empire was divided into many small territories, each of which had customs stations on its borders. Trade became easier and more lucrative as soon as one did not have to pay customs duty and complete formalities at every border). Luxembourg benefited from this: prosperity began to grow. New railway lines were built, which also contributed to prosperity. These were forward-looking changes!

1886 - Here we go: There are large iron ore deposits in Luxembourg. A technical innovation made it possible to mine this raw material. The subsequent industrialisation, the establishment of large steel companies, led to an upswing and prosperity. This also strengthened the national feeling of the Luxembourgers.

The economy became more and more interconnected and became an international system. For a small country like Luxembourg, the question of economic survival arose. A partner was needed: France or Belgium? In 1921 a monetary union was formed with Belgium, which remained in place until the introduction of the euro.

In 1929, the year of the Great Depression, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange was founded.

 

At that time, the parliament decided on tax reductions for holding companies - the first signs that Luxembourg could specialise as a financial centre, which began around 1970.

 

And what about the steel industry? Luxembourg is still home to the world's largest steel group.

During the First World War (1914 - 1918), Luxembourg was occupied by the Germans - in violation of its neutrality. They were mainly interested in the railway network and steel production and used Luxembourg as a deployment area against France. The Luxembourg government remained in office - but the Germans (along with their language !) had really discredited themselves.

 

Grand Duchess Charlotte came to the throne in 1919. It was a difficult time:

 

• During the First World War, Luxembourg had tried to maintain its neutrality, which was interpreted by some of the larger states in Europe as collaboration with the Germans. However, Luxembourg was dependent on good relations with its neighbours in order to continue to exist as a state. Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide (Charlotte's predecessor) seemed unable to cope with this situation.
• There were also social tensions and strikes due to food shortages. Some of the population turned against the Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide and proclaimed the Republic - a movement that was uncompromisingly ended by the French military.

 

In this desolate situation, the solution was seen in a referendum. All Luxembourgers were to decide how and by whom they wanted to be governed. They decided in favour of the monarchy and confirmed Charlotte as Grand Duchess - who was thus democratically legitimised. Incidentally, women also took part in the referendum, since women's right to vote had been enshrined in the constitution since 1919.

In 1940, the German occupation begins: Charlotte rules from exile in Great Britain. Luxembourg was to be incorporated into National Socialist Germany (for example, Luxembourgers had to join the Wehrmacht).

As mentioned, language was also an instrument of domination.
French was to disappear. Luxembourgish was not directly forbidden, but public life and administration had to be in German. The Luxembourgers were supposed to become "German".
But they didn't want to. They made it clear that their mother tongue was not German, but: Luxembourgish!
On 10 September 1944, the occupation was ended by the Americans.
To commemorate this, the Luxembourgers named a street in their city centre: Avenue 10 Septembre.

You can understand that the Luxembourgers do not want their language to be called a German dialect.

 

In general: after all their experiences, they were fed up with being pushed back and forth between their neighboring states.
An effective means of preserving their identity and also making it visible and audible is their language – and it should stay that way.