Luxembourg government in exile
The Luxembourgish government in exile (Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuerger Exil Regierung, French: Gouvernement luxembourgeois en exil, German: Luxemburgische Exilregierung), also known as the Luxembourgish government in London (Lëtzebuerger Regierung zu 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).
Luxembourg government-in-exileLëtzebuerger Exil Regierung
10 May 1940
10 September 1944
The government was located in 27 Wilton Crescent in Belgravia, London which now serves as the Luxembourgish Embassy in London.[1] It was located only a few hundred metres from the Belgian government in exile in Eaton Square.
Background[edit]
On 10 May 1940, neutral Luxembourg was invaded by German troops as part of a wider attack on France. The same day, the Luxembourgish government, then under the Dupong-Krier Ministry, fled the country.[2]
The outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 and the ensuing Phoney War had made it possible to predict a violation of Luxembourgish neutrality, so that the government decided it would depart into exile if the country was completely occupied by German forces. While the departure of the Grand Duchess and her ministers was the result of a decision taken in advance, it was not well-prepared. The government left no written declaration explaining the reasons for its departure to a distressed population, nor any instructions for the commission charged with provisionally administering the country. The advance of German troops was so rapid that one of the ministers, Nicolas Margue, was captured by the invaders. So as not to compromise the action of his colleagues, he informed the Chamber of Deputies that due to his circumstances, he felt obliged to provisionally renounce the exercise of his functions as minister. The government established itself first in Paris, then when a French defeat was imminent, fled to Portugal.
In the meantime, in Luxembourg, an Administrative Commission composed of government counsellors and headed by Albert Wehrer started operating. It tried to fill the vacuum left by the departure of the executive, and tried to come to an arrangement with the German military authorities. The Administrative Commission and the Chamber of Deputies even appealed to the Grand Duchess, asking her to return to Luxembourg. The Luxembourgish authorities remaining in the country had not yet abandoned the hope that in the new European order dominated by Nazi Germany, the Grand Duchy could retain its independence. In Lisbon, the month of July passed in uncertainty. While Dupong and the Grand Duchess leaned towards returning, Bech was reluctant. Germany's de facto annexation of Luxembourg put an end to hesitations. On 29 July 1940, Gustav Simon, Gauleiter of the Gau Koblenz-Trier, was named Chef der Zivilverwaltung in Luxembourg. All the institutions of the Luxembourgish state were abolished. The Grand Duchess and the government decided to definitively join the Allied side, and opted for a dual seat. The Grand Ducal family, Pierre Dupong and for a time, Victor Bodson, established themselves in Montréal, Canada, a Francophone city close to the United States. Joseph Bech and Pierre Krier remained in London, which was the seat of several other governments in exile, such as those of Belgium and the Netherlands.
Criticism[edit]
The exile government was heavily criticised by members of the Resistance and others for its lack of help towards Luxembourgers attempting to flee their occupied country during the war.[12] Its inactivity persuaded two of its critics, the resistance members Henri Koch-Kent and Mac Schleich, the presenter of the Luxembourgish BBC programme, to found the Association des Luxembourgeois en Grande-Bretagne ("Association of Luxembourgers in Great Britain") in London, which counted 300 refugees from Luxembourg and men who had been forcibly conscripted into the German armed forces but had defected to the Allies. The Association was a bitter critic of the exile government, accusing it of treason. The government, for its part, attempted to intimidate the Association, by trying to remove Schleich as its secretary and as BBC presenter, in which it failed. Criticism was also forthcoming from the rest of the community of Luxembourgish refugees in London and in the Allied armed forces.[6] These included Émile Krieps and Robert Winter, both officers in the Allied armed forces, and Albert Wingert, leader of the Luxembourgish Alweraje resistance group.
When the London-based government returned to Luxembourg in September 1944, the resistance organisations were highly sceptical about its legitimacy, in spite of which, it refused to resign, with the justification that it wished to wait for the return of the Grand Duchess. While these same organisations approved of the nomination of Pierre Frieden to the government in November 1944, they were vehemently against its enlargement by a further two ministers in February 1945, which lacked the approval of any legislative body.