User:Bastin/Luxembourg history/1940s

1940

Events

• 9 May – Aware that a German offensive is imminent, the government and Grand Ducal Family leaves Luxembourg for Paris.
• 10 May – Germany invades Luxembourg, beginning a four-year occupation.
• 29 August – Grand Duchess Charlotte leaves Lisbon for the United Kingdom.
• 21 October – The Gëlle Fra is demolished by the Nazis.

Births

• 28 October – Paul Helminger
• 11 November – Louis Pilot

1941

Events

• 10 October – A referendum is arranged by the German occupiers on the questions of nationality, mother tongue, and ethnicity. Over 90% respond ‘Dreimol Lëtzebuergesch’ (‘three times Luxembourgish’).

Births

• 24 July – Erna Hennicot-Schoepges

1942

Events

• 1 January – Luxembourg signs the Declaration by United Nations.
• 30 August – Luxembourg is annexed into Greater Germany.
• 31 August – Protests are held against Nazi conscription, but are punished by summary executions and deportation to labour camps.

Births

• 24 March – Johny Lahure

1943

Births

• 13 September – Fernand Boden

1944

Events

• 23 May – Most resistance groups consolidate into the Union of Luxembourgian Resistance Movements.
• 9 September – The Allied liberation of Luxembourg begins, with the liberation of Pétange by the U.S. Third Army.
• 10 September – Luxembourg City is liberated.
• 23 September – The Luxembourgian government returns from exile.
• 10 November – Compulsory military service is introduced.
• 16 December – The German Ardennes Offensive begins.
• 30 December – The minimum wage is introduced.

Births

• 3 April – Robert Goebbels

1945

Events

• 22 February – Vianden is liberated, marking the end of the Nazi occupation.
• 14 April – Grand Duchess Charlotte makes a heroine's return to Luxembourg City after almost five years in exile.
• 8 May – Victory in Europe Day.
• 26 June – Luxembourg signed the Charter of the United Nations, becoming a founding member of the United Nations.
• 2 September – Victory over Japan Day: the end of the Second World War.
• 10 November – Soldiers of the Luxembourgian army cross the German border and begin their occupation of the districts of Bitburg and Saarburg.
• 23 December – General George S. Patton's funeral cortege passes through Luxembourg City.
• 24 December – General Patton is buried at Hamm.
• 29 December – The Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial is officially established at Hamm.

Births

• 26 March – Joseph Schaack

Deaths

• 21 December – Gustav Simon

1946

Events

• 17 April – Luxembourg signs a treaty with Belgium and France establishing the Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois.
• July – Sir Winston Churchill visits Luxembourg City, and is fêted.
• 1 August – Damian Kratzenberg, the head of the pro-Nazi Volksdeutsche Bewegung, is executed for treason, along with eleven co-collaborators.
• 2 August – Four army officers and a teacher are arrested on suspicion of plotting a coup d’état. They are later released without charge.

Births

• 4 December – Pierre Even
• Unknown – Léon Krier
• Unknown – Pierre Joris

Deaths

• 1 August – Damian Kratzenberg
• 24 October – Hubert Loutsch

1947

Deaths

• 20 January – Pierre Krier

1948

Events

• 17 March – Luxembourg signs the Brussels Treaty, becoming a founding member of the Western European Union.
• Unknown – The Luxembourg Airlines Company is launched.

Births

• Unknown – Jean-Francois Rischard

Deaths

• 17 September – Folke Bernadotte
• 5 November – Frantz Funck-Brentano

1949

Events

• 4 April – Luxembourg signs the North Atlantic Treaty, becoming a founding member of NATO.