National Resistance Museum, Luxembourg
Encyclopedia
The National Resistance Museum of Luxembourg
(Musée national de la Résistance) is located in the centre of Esch-sur-Alzette
in the south-east of the country. The specially designed building (1956) traces the history of Luxembourg from 1940 to 1945. There is also an exhibition of the Nazi concentration camps
and the treatment of Luxembourg Jews.
. The first floor is devoted to artefacts from the concentration camps and the treatment of Luxembourg's Jews.
Works of art include the reliefs by Emile Hulten and Claus Cito
outside the museum to sculptures by Lucien Wercollier
and René Weyland inside. The large fresco by Foni Tissen
and his canvas of the Hinzert concentration camp
as well as Yvonne Useldinger's drawings of the Ravensbrück camp
are also of note.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
(Musée national de la Résistance) is located in the centre of Esch-sur-Alzette
Esch-sur-Alzette
Esch-sur-Alzette is a commune with city status, in south-western Luxembourg. It is the country's second city, and its second-most populous commune, with a population of 29,853 people...
in the south-east of the country. The specially designed building (1956) traces the history of Luxembourg from 1940 to 1945. There is also an exhibition of the Nazi concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
and the treatment of Luxembourg Jews.
History
From the late 1940s, those involved in the resistance and political deportees began to plan a national resistance museum in order to preserve the memory of Luxembourg's Nazi victims. A committee made up of the City of Esch-sur-Alzette, unions and representatives of resistance movements undertook a fund-raising exercise which led to the opening of the Resistance Museum on 22 July 1956. In 1984, after Robert Krieps, Minister of Culture, had renewed the collection, the museum was given the status of a national museum.The collection
The exhibition on the ground floor describes the fate of the Luxembourg people from the German invasion on 10 May 1940, the beginning of the Nazi regime, until the liberation in September 1944 with the arrival of the Americans or in January 1945 after the Battle of the BulgeBattle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
. The first floor is devoted to artefacts from the concentration camps and the treatment of Luxembourg's Jews.
Works of art include the reliefs by Emile Hulten and Claus Cito
Claus Cito
Nicolas Joseph 'Claus' Cito was a Luxembourgian sculptor. He is most notable for having created the original Gëlle Fra war memorial.Cito trained at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels...
outside the museum to sculptures by Lucien Wercollier
Lucien Wercollier
Lucien Wercollier was a sculptor from Luxembourg.While he worked primarily in bronze and marble, some of his work is sculpted in wood, alabaster, stone and onyx. His public monuments in bronze and marble are of particular importance...
and René Weyland inside. The large fresco by Foni Tissen
Foni Tissen
Foni Tissen was a Luxembourg schoolteacher and artist who is remembered principally for his hyperrealistic, darkly humorous paintings, many of which were self-portraits.-Early life and education:...
and his canvas of the Hinzert concentration camp
Hinzert concentration camp
Hinzert was a Nazi concentration camp located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, 30 km from the Luxembourg border....
as well as Yvonne Useldinger's drawings of the Ravensbrück camp
Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
are also of note.