Yearbook 2009
Luxembourg. From the turn of the year, language tests were introduced in Luxembourgish, Luxembourgish, for those who want to become citizens of the country. It is primarily a spoken language; French and German dominate in administration and media. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for abbreviation LU which stands for the nation of Luxembourg.
In March, Parliament passed the Act on Active Euthanasia and assisted suicide that triggered a constitutional crisis the year before. When Grand Duke Henri made it clear that he did not intend to sign the law, the constitution changed. In the new vote, his opportunity to veto the law was eliminated. Luxembourg became the third country in Europe to allow doctors to help patients with incurable and deadly diseases die. According to countryaah, the others are Belgium and the Netherlands; Switzerland only allows assisted suicide.
In June, national elections were held. The Christian Democratic CSV received 38 percent of the vote and 26 of the 60 seats in Parliament. This meant a slight increase, while the socialist party LSAP backed slightly and received 13 seats. In July, the two parties formed a new coalition government. Jean-Claude Juncker, who has been sitting since 1995, continued as prime minister. Juncker, however, left the finance minister post, which was taken over by party partner Luc Frieden.
Industry. – But the real economic importance of the grand duchy consists in the great iron industry. The mineral is found in large quantities in the southern section of the state, along the French Lorraine border. Its extraction, also favored by the arrangement and nature of the deposits, has made giant steps. It was 1,368,000 tons. annual in the period 1871-1880; it rises to 2,708,000 in the decade 1881-1890; to 4,544,000 in the period 1891-1900; to 6,112,000 in 1901-1910; it drops to 5,205,000 in 1911-1920 to go back to 6-7 million tons. in subsequent years. In this way, small Luxembourg is one of the large iron ore producing countries (in sixth place, after the United States, France, Russia, Great Britain and Sweden): about half is melted on the spot; the rest is mainly exported to Belgium, with which Luxembourg has been united at customs since 1922. The number of miners is about 5-6000, mostly Italians. The large Luxembourg heavy industry has developed in the iron fields, forming a single economic whole with the French Lorraine district.
The number of blast furnaces rose from 28 in 1900 to 45 in 1930. To understand the importance of the mining and steel industry, just think that in 1913 out of 32,000 people employed in various industries, 19,000 were in the heavy industry; in the period 1928-1931 out of about 42,000 people 27,000 worked in the mines and in the steel industry. Among the foreign workers the first place is always occupied by Italians. The production of crude iron rises from 971,000 tons. in 1913 to 2-2.5 million in 1930-31, after a very sensitive restriction during the war and in the immediate post-war period (617,000 tons in 1919). The steel mills have made giant strides: in 1886 turned into steel 1 / 15 of the raw material; it rises to 1 / 5 in 1891; in the middle in 1913; currently almost all of them are transformed. This rise is due to the efforts of German metallurgy, which led to the production of Luxembourg steel from 68,000 tons. in the period 1886-1890 to 1,020,000 in the period 1910-18: currently it exceeds 2 million per year, an enormous figure if compared with the smallness of the territory and the scarce absolute population. The metallurgical industry is concentrated in 7 groups of plants: next to Steinfort (canton of Capellen), and the Eich-Hollerich group in that of Luxembourg city, the most important district is the southern one with the plants of Rodange, Differdange, Esch, Rumelange and Dudelange. Due to the lack of coal, Luxembourg’s heavy industry is taxed to Germany and Belgium for fuel.
History. – In May 1940, Germany occupied Luxembourg. On 25 July of the same year, a civilian administration took over the military administration, which was appointed by the Gauleiter Gustav Simon of the Gau Koblenz-Trier. Dependent at first on the military commander of Belgium and northern France, this civil administration then passed directly to the orders of Hitler. Germany immediately adopted measures that did not hide its annexationist aims towards the Grand Duchy. In June 1940, prof. Kratzenberger founded the Volksdeutscher Bund whose watchword was: “The Reich could renounce Luxembourg, but Luxembourg cannot renounce the Reich. Let’s return to the Reich”. In August 1940, the law that proclaimed German the only official language of the Grand Duchy followed, banning French; in February 1941 the establishment of the compulsory labor service and in August 1941 the introduction of the Nazi Party and the Hitler youth. After these decrees, the gauleiter Simon believed that the time had come to incorporate Luxembourg into the Reich. A plebiscite was therefore held on 10 October 1941, in which the residents of the Grand Duchy were asked whether or not they wanted to become citizens of the Reich. The outcome of the vote was disastrous for the occupying authorities: over 96% of the population voted against acquiring German citizenship. Nonetheless, in August 1942, the annexation of Luxembourg to Germany was proclaimed. There were also reprisals: about ten thousand Luxembourgers were sent to Germany in concentration or labor camps; compulsory military service was imposed; Altoatesini were installed to replace the deported Luxembourgers. The German offensive of Christmas 1944 and the consequent American counter-offensive damaged the northern part of Luxembourg very badly. A month after the liberation, the Allies re-established the Grand Ducal government from June 1940 in exile in London; a government coalition of various parties was formed, headed by Dupong (Christian-social).