Luxembourg. Information.
LUXEMBOURG (Grand-Duche de Luxembourg), Grand Duchy of Luxembourg - the small state in West Europe. Area is 2,586 sq. km. Population is 442,972. A Capital is Luxembourg. On east Luxembourg borders with Germany. On west Luxembourg borders with France and Belgium. The recorded history of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg begins with the construction of Luxembourg Castle in the middle ages. Legend has it that a count named Sigfrid constructed a small fort on land given to him by the Abbey of Trier in AD 963. Around this fort a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a small but important state of great strategic value to France, Germany and the Netherlands. Luxembourg's fortress was expanded by successive owners, among others the Bourbons, Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns, which made it one of the strongest fortresses on the European continent. The Luxembourgian dynasty provided several Holy Roman Emperors, Kings of Bohemia, as well as Archbishops of Trier and Mainz. From the Early Middle Ages to the Renaissance, Luxembourg bore multiple names, depending on the author. These include Lucilinburhuc, Lutzburg, Lützelburg, Luccelemburc, Lichtburg, among others. The Congress of Vienna gave formal autonomy to Luxembourg in 1815, but its fortress was to be taken over by Prussian forces, following Napoleon's defeat. It thus became a member of the Zollverein, a Prussian-dominated free trading zone. It is from those times that the Luxembourgers still call the Germans informally Preisen (Prussians). Luxembourg eventually became an independent and neutral nation in 1839, but it was not until 1867 that its independence was formally ratified, after a turbulent period which even included a brief time of civil unrest against plans to annex Luxembourg to Belgium, Germany or France. Famous visitors to Luxembourg in the 18th and 19th centuries included the German poet Goethe, the French writers Emile Zola and Victor Hugo, the composer Franz Liszt, and the English painter Joseph Mallord William Turner. The country was repeatedly attacked by Germany in the twentieth century. German troops invaded Luxembourg in 1914, but the government and Grandduchess Marie-Adélaďde were allowed to remain in office throughout the occupation, bringing accusations of collaboration from France. Through the intervention of the United States, Luxembourg was not annexed to Belgium in 1918, as France had wanted. After a 3-day period as a Republic in 1919, which was quickly abolished by French troops, Luxembourg reverted to being a parliamentary monarchy. In the 1930s the internal situation deteriorated, as Luxembourgian politics was influenced by European left- and right-wing politics. The government tried to counter Communist-led unrest in the industrial areas and continued a friendly politics towards Nazi Germany, which led to much critique. The attempts to quell unrest peaked into the Maulkuerfgesetz, the "muzzle" Law, aimed at censoring the press. The law was voted down in a referendum. A second German invasion on 10 May 1940 swept away the government and monarchy, most of whom went into exile in London, from where Grandduchess Charlotte broadcast regularly to Luxembourg to give hope to the people. Measures to quell any Luxembourgian feelings were met with passive resistance at first, such as the Spéngelskrich (lit. "War of the Pins"), and refusing to speak German. As French was forbidden, many Luxembourgians resorted to 'digging out' old Luxembourgish words, which led to a renaissance of the language. Other measures included deportation, forced labour, forced conscription and, more drastically, internment, deportation to concentration camps and execution. The latter measure was applied after a general strike from the 1 September to the 3 September 1942, which paralyzed the administration, agriculture, industry and education as response to the declaration of forced conscription by the German administration on 30 August 1942. The then civilian commander of Luxembourg, Gauleiter Gustav Simon had declared conscription necessary to support the German war effort. It was to remain one of only two mass strikes against German war machinery in the West of Europe. The liberation by US troops in September 1944 restored Luxembourgian sovereignty. It was briefly endangered during the Battle of the Bulge, otherwise known as the Ardennes Offensive or the Rundstedt Offensive, which had German troops take back most of northern Luxembourg for a few weeks before the Allies' final push into Germany. After World War II Luxembourg abandoned its politics of neutrality, when it became a founding member of NATO, the United Nations and the European Economic Community (later the European Union). It is a signatory of the Treaty of Rome, and constituted a monetary union with Belgium, and an economic union with Belgium and The Netherlands, the so-called BeNeLux treaty. Furthermore, Luxembourg has been one of the strongest advocates of the European Union in the tradition of Robert Schuman. In 1995 it was given the honour of providing the President of the European Commission, former Prime Minister Jacques Santer. The current Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker follows the European tradition. On September 10, 2004, Mr Juncker became the semi-permanent President of the group of finance ministers from the 12 countries that share the euro, a role dubbed "Mr Euro".
