The Luxembourg government on Tuesday issued a formal apology for the country’s involvement in persecuting the Jews during WWII, 70 years after the conflict ended.
The apology was part of a symbolic resolution for the official recognition of the suffering inflicted on members of the Jewish community while the country was occupied by the Nazis.
On Tuesday, the resolution received unanimous support from the 60-member Chamber of Deputies. “The Chamber apologises to the Jewish community for the failings of the Luxembourg administration during the Nazi occupation,” said Alex Bodry on Tuesday.”
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel added his voice to the debate saying: “We must accept responsibility together for this.” He added: “The fact is that 1,300 Jews were deported from here, Belgium or France and they were all killed. It is a reality for which I apologise directly to today’s Jewish community but also to the families.”
Tuesday marked the first time that the question of the systematic extermination of Jewish people was at the centre of a parliamentary debate in the Grand Duchy.
The resolution came months after historian Vincent Artuso published a research-report that showed Luxembourg administrations were “not forced to participate in Nazi anti-Semitic persecution under threat.”
