Luxembourgian people of World War II

Damian_Kratzenberg

Damian Kratzenberg (November 5, 1878 – October 11, 1946) was a highschool teacher who became head of the Volksdeutsche Bewegung (German-People's Movement), a pro-Nazi political group, in Luxembourg during World War II. He was executed after the war for collaboration with the Nazis.
Kratzenberg was the son of the administrator of the castle of Clervaux, a German immigrant. After receiving his baccalaureate at the Diekirch gymnasium, from 1898 to 1902 he studied literature in Luxembourg, Lille, Paris and Berlin. Following this, he taught Greek and German in Diekirch, Echternach, and from 1927 at the Athénée de Luxembourg.From 1927 to 1936, Kratzenberg was a member of the liberal party. From the mid-1930s, he became a supporter of Nazi Germany. From 1935 to 1940, he was the president of GEDELIT, the Luxemburger Gesellschaft für deutsche Literatur und Kunst (Society for German Literature and Art). In 1936, he received the Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft.Kratzenberg became head of the regional branch of the Volksdeutsche Bewegung in 1940, and was appointed head of the Athénée de Luxembourg in 1941.Kratzenberg fled to Weißenburg in Bayern a few days before the liberation of Luxembourg on 1 September 1944. A letter to his daughter after the end of the war however gave his location away and Kratzenberg was apprehended by American military police, moved to Luxembourg and stood trial. He was sentenced to death on August 1, with the sentence carried out on October 11, 1946, at the shooting range of the barracks of the Holy Ghost Plateau in Luxembourg City.

Pierre_Dupong

Pierre Dupong (French pronunciation: [pjɛʁ dypɔ̃]; 1 November 1885 – 23 December 1953) was a Luxembourgish politician and statesman. He was the 16th prime minister of Luxembourg, serving for sixteen years, from 5 November 1937 until his death, on 23 December 1953, and was also responsible at different times for the ministries of finance, the army, agriculture, labour and social matters. He founded the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) as the main conservative party after the Second World War, having been a founding member of the Party of the Right (PD) in 1914.
He was one of the founding members in 1914 of the Party of the Right, and was elected to the legislature in 1915. He served as Director-General for Finance from 1926 to 1937 and as Minister for Social Security and Labor in 1936 and 1937.
His first government was the Dupong-Krier Ministry (1937–1940). Between 1940 and 1944, Dupong then led the Luxembourgish government-in-exile, after Luxembourg had been occupied by Nazi Germany. He fled the country along with the rest of the Luxembourg government and the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg, settling in France. Once in Bordeaux, they were granted transit visas from the Portuguese consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, in June 1940. Pierre Dupong, along with his wife Sophie, and their children Marie Thérèse, Lambert Henri, Henriette and Jean, followed the Grand Ducal family through Coimbra and Lisbon, settling at Praia das Maçãs after the Grand Ducal family had moved to Cascais. By August, the entire entourage had moved to Monte Estoril. The Dupong couple stayed at Chalet Posser de Andrade until 26 September 1940, while their children remained there until 2 October 1940. On 26 September, the couple boarded the S.S. Excalibur headed for New York City, arriving on 5 October 1940. Georgette and Betty Bech, the wife and daughter of Joseph Bech, the Foreign Minister of the Luxembourg government-in-exile, traveled with them.
Between 1940 and 1944, he led the government in exile in Montreal.He then presided over the Liberation Government, the National Union Government, and the Dupong-Schaus and the Dupong-Bodson governments. He is also notable for sending Luxembourgish soldiers in the UN mission during the Korean War, as part of the Belgian United Nations Command.
He was the father of Jean Dupong, who became a minister and CSV deputy himself.