The persecution of the Jews by the Nazi regime occurred in occupied Luxembourg virtually throughout the Second World War. This event has been the focus of research for many years, but more recently historians have begun to look at the attitude of the Luxembourg authorities to the Jewish population. Following on from a number of publications on the topic, the C²DH will be running a research project intended to analyse “Luxembourg State policy towards from the 1930s to the 1950s”.
“We are especially interested in identifying continuity and change in the attitudes and decisions of the Luxembourg government with regard to the Jewish population before, during and after the war,” explains project manager Ass.-Prof. Dr Denis Scuto. The researchers will analyse decisions adopted by the Luxembourg government and parliament as well as records from courts, government agencies, the police and local authorities, continuing the research carried out for the report published by Dr Vincent Artuso in 2015.
This “microhistorical” approach will particularly focus on specific case studies. The main source is a database primarily compiled from information provided by Immigration Department files and the records kept by the agencies responsible for war damages, enemy property and the post-war “legal purge”.
“Comparing cases will help us answer the question of whether Jewish refugees were treated differently from other foreigners,” adds Scuto. “For the period of German occupation, we will look at the way in which the Luxembourg authorities collaborated with the occupying forces with regard to anti-Jewish measures. Finally, we will also examine how the survivors were treated after the war by the Luxembourg government, whether their goods and property were returned to them and how the legal system treated cases related to the victims and perpetrators of persecution.”
The project is being carried out in cooperation with the Luxembourg National Archives (for the digitisation of documents from the Immigration Department) and the Israelite Consistory. The database will subsequently be used to develop exhibitions open to the general public.
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