Luxembourg
Recognition of the Roma Genocide
Recognition, official texts
Luxembourg has officially recognised the Holocaust but not the Roma Genocide.
Data (camps locations, Remembrance places, measures etc.)
According to Ian Hancock, director of the Romani Archives and Documentation Centre at the University of Texas at Austin, almost the entire Roma population was killed in Luxembourg, i.e. 200 individuals.
Luxembourg has numerous local memorials, monuments and museums, where it commemorates the sufferings of the victims including the Jewish victims of the Second World War, including those of the Jewish community. However there is no memorial dedicated to the persecuted Roma in Luxembourg
The Mémorial de la déportation is the former train station of Hollerich in Luxembourg city. It is the only memorial (Gedenkstätte) concerning Nazi Occupation during Second World War offering a pedagogical and cultural coherent program of scientifically followed up activities in Luxembourg. It is the seat of the Centre de Documentation et de Recherche sur l'Enrôlement forcé (CDREF’s (Centre for Documentation and Research on Forced Recruitment). The persecution and extermination of Roma victims of Nazism is one of the points of interes of the Centre.
Specialised institution, commission, research centre etc., dealing with this issue
The Centre for documentation and research on resistance (CDRR) and the Centre for Documentation and Research on Forced Recruitment (CDREF) have participated, initiated and organized a number of projects on the Holocaust, including historical conferences, meetings with survivors and visits to remembrance sites. Exhibitions presented as part of Holocaust Memorial Day have been financed, co-financed, assisted and created by the CDREF since 2012. The CDREF requested the Roma Genocide to be considered while studying, teaching and remembering Second World War in Luxembourg
Luxembourg does not have a National Holocaust Museum but the Shoah is part of:
- the exhibition "Mémorial de la Déportation" located in a former railway station in Luxembourg-Hollerich and
- the "Musée national de la Résistance" at Esch/alzette. Moreover, the NGO “MémoShoah” has created a travelling exhibition “Between Shade and Darkness” on the subject of the Jews in Luxembourg during the 30s and the 40s. With the support of the Ministry for Education, the exhibition will be shown in various secondary schools.
Luxembourg is also a member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which has a committee on the genocide of the Roma.
Official initiatives (campaigns, actions, projects, commemoration days, museums)
Every year, at the beginning of July, the Jewish Community, the Comité Auschwitz and the CDSR invite to remember the victims of the Shoah at “Fünfbrunnen Memorial”. Luxembourg observes 27 January as Holocaust Memorial Day. The day commemorates the victims of the Holocaust and, in doing so, seeks to prevent crimes against humanity in the future. The official day was established in 2003 following a UN recommandation. Prior to this, 10th October served as the official Day of National Remembrance
On 27 January every year, until 2014, a remembrance ceremony was held at the “Mémorial de la Déportation”, located at the former Hollerich deportation station (La Gare de Déportation de Hollerich), from where Jews and other victims of Nazi persecution were deported during the Nazi occupation. During the ceremony, a strong emphasis was placed on the fate of the Jewish population in Luxembourg in and after 1940. This was followed by a public discussion attended by internationally respected historians, survivors and partners of the Centre for Documentation and Research on Forced Recruitment (CDREF). In 2015, the “Musée national de la Résistance” became the official site for 27 January commemoration. The “Mémorial de la Déportation” has continued to serve as a venue for several exhibitions on the topic of the Holocaust. The CDREF has also created an exhibition about Auschwitz and its aftermath that actually travels and exhibits in France.
Remembrance day
From 2003 to 2016 for Holocaust Memorial Day, the Ministry of Education has organized a central commemorative event that gathers approximately 300 pupils, teachers and representatives of the government, parliament, patriotic associations and the Jewish community. On the evening before 27th January, a wreath is laid at a school in Luxembourg. This event is intended to illustrate to students the consequences of not opposing anti-Semitic discourse and racist politics.
No official Remembrance Day for the Roma Genocide has been established in schools in Luxembourg.
Teaching about the Genocide of the Roma
Inclusion of the topic in the school curriculum
Pupils between 15 and 19 years of age learn about the Holocaust as part of their studies on World War II. Teaching about the Holocaust is not restricted to history classes but it is also addressed in ethics, science and languages lessons. Still Luxembourg does not provide official information on the teaching of the Roma Genocide.
Inclusion of the topic in the school textbooks
As Luxembourg does not publish its own history books, but relies on foreign books (French, Belgian, Swiss, and German), history teachers have a great freedom to develop the topic of the Holocaust.
Training of teachers and education professionals
Every year, optional teacher training sessions open to all teachers are offered, sometimes in close collaboration with the National History Teachers’ Association. The Ministry of Education also offers courses focusing on history and remembrance in particular. Every year some 20 to 50 teachers attend these training sessions. The topic is also an integral part of initial teacher training.
Teachers learn about the sensitivities attached to teaching the Holocaust in teacher training program, as well as during Holocaust Memorial Day. The University of Luxembourg offers a number of seminars on the topic of history and remembrance with regard to Second World War as part of its pedagogical training.
No specific training of teachers on the Roma Genocide has yet been reported
Particular activities undertaken at the level of education institutions
Annual educational trips to Auschwitz are organised with the support of the Ministry of Education, during which 200 to 250 pupils visit the site and other camps. Trips are also organised to the camps at Natzweiler, Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Bergen-Belsen. The pupils met a Roma survivor from Auschwitz and had the opportunity to discuss his experiences with him. He gave a public conference as well. In addition to this national event, different secondary schools have organized activities such as visits to concentration camps, exhibitions, theatre performances for their pupils, or actively work on their own exhibitions and presentations on this topic.