1942 Luxembourgish general strike The Luxembourgish general strike of 1942 was a pacific resistance movement organised within a short time period to protest against a directive that conscripted Luxembourg youth into the Wehrmacht . A national general strike , originating mainly in Wiltz , paralysed the country and led to the occupying German authorities responding violently by sentencing 21 strikers to death . Origins . Following the German invasion of Luxembourg on May 10 , 1940 , Luxembourg was placed under military occupation . In August 1942 , German authorities announced the formal annexation of Luxembourg by the Third Reich into Nazi Germany , or Greater German Empire , as part of the " Gau Moselland " . The Luxembourg population was declared to be German and was to use German as its only language ; the German authorities , under the orders of the " Gauleiter " Gustav Simon , developed a robust policy of germanization . Furthermore , on August 30 , 1942 , Gustav Simon announced that all Luxembourger males born between 1920 and 1927 were to be conscripted into the Wehrmacht to fight against the Allies . The strike and its consequences . Reaction to the policies was swift among the Luxembourg population , especially against the forced conscription policy . Within hours , a number of Luxembourgers discussed possibilities and decided to organize a general strike . Leaflets calling for the strike were printed , and distributed clandestinely throughout the country by resistants . On August 31 , 1942 , the strike officially began in the northern Ardennes town of Wiltz with a gathering of local Luxembourg town officials , led by local town officials Michel Worré and Nicolas Müller , refusing to go to work . These were gradually joined by other local workers , among them the employees of IDEAL Lederwerke Wiltz , a large industrial tannery belonging to the Adler & Oppenheimer group before " aryanisation " . News on the strike spread rapidly . Soon thereafter , workers from the southwestern industrial towns of Schifflange and Differdange were alerted , and also refused to go to work . In Schifflange , Hans Adam , a worker of German origins sounded the alarm across the valley to alert all workers . In Differdange , news of the strike spread throughout the workforce by word of mouth , and increased in intensity on September 1 . On September 2 , 156 mill workers refused to take their shift , and many of those who were already working stopped . The German directors of the mill warned the millworkers that they could be killed for their actions . A few workers got back to work , but approximately 50 still refused , and declared they were on strike . At 10 a . m . , German authorities reacted and designated who they held as responsible for the situation : Jean - Paul Schneider , Nicolas Betz , Alphonse Weets , Robert Mischo , René Angelsberg , and Ernest Toussaint . The six men were arrested , tried by a special tribunal , sentenced to death , and deported to the Hinzert concentration camp where they were shot . Their families were sent to prison and work camps in Germany . The strike spread also to Esch - sur - Alzette , the capital of the Luxembourg mining area , all aspects of the administration were paralysed , including administration , agriculture , industry and education structures . The central post office in Luxembourg received rumours of the strike in the morning , and received formal confirmation of the strike by early afternoon , which disrupted the distribution of mail that evening and the following day . Throughout the country , schoolchildren were kept away from school , teachers refused to teach , laborers refused to work , there was no or little production of steel , milk , and other products . Although the exact number of strikers is unknown , the movement did have a strong effect on the country and the occupying forces , and revitalized resistance movements . The strike was also widely publicized internationally by the allied press . German reaction to the Strike . Fearing a further escalation of protests , German authorities decided to react in the harshest way to the strike . Within hours , the strike leaders were rounded up and interrogated by the Gestapo . They were formally arrested soon thereafter , on September 1 , and interned in local prisons . 20 strike leaders were summarily tried by a special tribunal ( " Standgericht " ) and sentenced to death and transferred to the Hinzert concentration camp where they were shot and buried in an unmarked grave . Hans Adam , who had rung the alarm in Schifflange and had German origins , was considered to be a traitor and was thus decapitated . 200 Luxembourgers were arrested , 83 were tried by the special tribunal and transferred to the Gestapo . 290 high school children , boys and girls , were arrested and sent to re - education camps in Germany , as were 40 ARBED trainees and 7 young postmen . The first two strikers to be shot , on September 2 , 1942 , at 6 . 30 p . m . , were Michel Worré and Nicolas Müller , from Wiltz . Their last words , according to an " SS " who witnessed the execution , were " " Vive Lëtzebuerg " " ( Long live Luxembourg ! ) . A series of black on red posters were then posted throughout Luxembourg announcing the death of the strikers as a consequence of the strike , bearing the names , occupation , and residency of each victim . Their families , including their children , were subsequently transferred to work camps , many in Silesia , under very harsh conditions . Executed persons . " The Luxembourg spelling of the names is respected " Commemoration of the Strike . The 1942 Luxembourg general strike strongly marked Luxembourg ' s resistance to the German occupier , and represents one of the proudest moments of the history of the Grand - Duchy . Each year , the Strike is commemorated on August 31 by the head of state and government officials . In 1965 , a lighthouse - shaped " National Monument to the Strike " was opened in Wiltz . Luxembourg ' s most famous 20th - century sculptor Lucien Wercollier created the two reliefs on the lighthouse displayed there . Wercollier was himself imprisoned at the Hinzert concentration camp .