The C²DH’s “Contemporary History of Luxembourg” research unit has set itself the objective of studying questions with varying temporal, spatial and theoretical contexts, with the aim of producing new scientific knowledge about the phenomena and processes that have had a major impact on Luxembourg and whose comparative value goes beyond the national perspective: the history of the formation of the nation state, the history of the two world wars, periods of occupation and their legacy, antisemitism and the Holocaust, collaboration and resistance, attempts at authoritarianism, democratisation, the history of trade unions and the welfare state, the history of migration, and the history of societal and cultural transformations since the 1970s. The initial focus is on the legacy of the world wars.
One of the first projects launched by the C²DH was the digital exhibition “Éischte Weltkrich – Remembering the Great War in Luxembourg”, about the First World War in Luxembourg.
Supported by the Ministry of State and involving some of the country’s major museums, archives and cultural institutions, the project took the opportunity of the centenary of the First World War to look back at a period that is still largely neglected by local historiography. This resulted in the creation of a sustainable digital resource featuring online archives from a variety of holdings that have now been made accessible to the general public.
“Digital exhibitions enable us to experiment with different technologies to enhance the way we present historical events using artefacts and collections,” explains project coordinator Sandra Camarda. “They also give us the possibility of addressing several audiences at once, with superposed layers of content tailored to different levels of expertise and interest.”
Éischte Weltkrich, which includes a narrative component divided into four themed sections, a huge collection of objects, a detailed chronology and an interactive map, as well as specific sections for schools and university researchers, was launched in April 2018 and will continue to be enriched and updated until 2021. It is available in three languages: English, French and German.
A series of events aimed at both specialists and non-specialists have been organised alongside the development of the digital platform, including a number of conferences on digital and public history projects related to the First World War; workshops and discussion groups with local history teachers to promote digital culture; and physical exhibitions showcasing the original artefacts and documents from the digital collection.
The first exhibition, entitled “Être d’ailleurs en temps de guerre (14-18). Etrangers à Dudelange – Dudelangeois à l’étranger” (“Being from another country in wartime (14-18). Foreigners in Dudelange and Dudelangers abroad”), which ran from March to December 2018, was a collaborative project between the C²DH and the Centre de Documentation sur les Migrations Humaines (Documentation Centre for Human Migrations, CDMH) exploring the link between war and human migration. Studying the migrant town of Dudelange during the First World War revealed the differing stories of those who decided to leave the country of their own free will, those who were forced to flee and those who immigrated or sought refuge in Luxembourg. The exhibition was accompanied by an immersive, multisensory video installation by artists Chiara Ligi and Mauro Macella with a soundscape by composer Tommaso Leddi.
The forthcoming exhibition “Légionnaires”, scheduled to run from June to December 2020 and developed in collaboration with the Musée Dräi Eechelen, will tell the story of Luxembourg emigrants who fought in the French Foreign Legion. It will explore questions of nationality, challenge popular myths and stereotypes and reveal ambiguities and contradictions.
A second research project, “Luxembourg State Policy Towards Jews”, funded by the University of Luxembourg, aims to fill a gap in the historiography of the Holocaust in Western Europe by providing the first detailed case study on Luxembourg from the 1930s to the 1950s, from a comparative, transnational perspective. It is examining the asylum policies applied by the Luxembourg authorities to Jewish migrants and refugees during this period, identifying patterns of continuity and change and comparing these policies with those applied to other foreigners (the Polish community, half of which was Jewish and half Catholic, represents a promising sample for this type of comparison). Furthermore, as Marc Gloden explains, “the project combines a microhistorical approach with quantitative history. By carrying out a thorough review of Immigration Department files, we have been able to compile a database containing detailed information on Jewish immigrants. Using this digital tool, we can trace the stories of thousands of individuals from the 1930s to the 1950s. Moreover, we can move beyond the individual level to analyse the composition and development of the Jewish immigrant population. The database also enables us to situate each individual in the context of the Jewish immigrant population as a whole. Finally, it paves the way for research on relations between immigrants and authorities. By carefully compiling and handling the data, we can obtain a clearer picture of the attitude demonstrated by Luxembourg government officials when dealing with Jewish refugees.”
Members of the research unit have also contributed to the development of a transnational approach to the history of contemporary Luxembourg. The publication of volume 4 (1919-1945) of the series “Grenzerfahrungen. Eine Geschichte der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft Belgiens” (“Border experiences. A history of the Belgian German-speaking community”) involved a number of C²DH members. The project raised several new questions about how to interpret the attitude of populations to Nazi annexation: the notion of “situational opportunism” will be examined in the context of Luxembourg’s history from 1940 to 1944. Team members have also held meetings to explore how they might adopt a global approach to the history of Luxembourg, examining the potential of the work “Histoire mondiale de la France” (“A global history of France”) (edited by P. Boucheron) for Luxembourg.
The C²DH Public History Department has begun working on the compilation of an image database on Luxembourg’s industrial heritage.
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The world of finance, a “glocal” history field
The financialisation of the world economy during the 20th century is a relatively new topic in the discipline of historical research.
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Luxembourg, a land of migration
Luxembourg is and always has been a country characterised by migration, with waves of emigration in the 19th century and immigration since the early 20th century.
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The activities of the C²DH’s “Digital History” (DH) unit can be broken down into three overlapping categories: 1) research and development in digital methods; 2) university teaching for the Bachelor’s in European Cultures and the Master’s in European History, as well as in-house skills training; 3) outreach – disseminating research through public events and websites.
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A framework for young researchers
One of the original features of the C²DH, like the University of Luxembourg as a whole, is the international dimension of its research and the multicultural approach to academic study.
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