German occupation of Luxembourg in World War II The German occupation of Luxembourg in World War II was the period in the history of Luxembourg after it was used as a transit territory to attack France by outflanking the Maginot Line . Plans for the attack had been prepared by 9 October 1939 , but execution was postponed several times . On 10 May 1940 , the German " Wehrmacht " invaded Luxembourg , Belgium and the Netherlands . Eve of the invasion . The outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 put Luxembourg ’ s government in a delicate situation . On the one hand , the population ’ s sympathy lay with Belgium and France ; on the other hand , due to the country ' s policy of neutrality since 1867 ' s Treaty of London , the government adopted a careful non - belligerent stance towards its neighbours . As of 1 September , Radio Luxembourg stopped broadcasting . In spring 1940 , fortifications were erected along the borders with Germany and France . The so - called Schuster Line , named after its constructor , consisted of massive concrete roadblock s with steel doors . The official aim of these road blocks was to slow down the progress of any invading army and give time for the guarantors of Luxembourg ' s neutrality to take counteractions against the invaders . However , compared to the massive power of the German forces , it only had symbolic character and helped to calm down the population . Except for its small Luxembourgish Volunteer Corps , Luxembourg did not possess an army , due to the treaty ' s restrictions . After several false alarms in the spring of 1940 , the probability of a military conflict between Germany and France grew . Germany stopped the export of coke for the Luxembourgish steel industry . Invasion . The steel doors of the Schuster Line were ordered closed on 10 May 1940 at 03 : 15 , following movements of German troops on the east side of the border rivers Our , Sauer and Mosel . In the meantime , German special forces dressed as civilians and supported by Germans living in Luxembourg - the so - called " Stoßtrupp Lützelburg " - tried to sabotage radio broadcasting and the barricades along the German - Luxembourgish border but their attempt failed . The Royal Family was evacuated from its residence in Colmar - Berg to the Grand Ducal palace in Luxembourg City . The German invasion , made up of the 1st , 2nd , and 10th Panzer Divisions began at 04 : 35 . They did not encounter any significant resistance save for some bridges destroyed and some land mines , since the majority of the Luxembourgish Volunteer Corps stayed in their barracks . Luxembourgish police resisted the German troops , however , to little avail ; the capital city was occupied before noon . Total Luxembourgish casualties amounted to 75 police and soldiers captured , six police wounded , and one soldier wounded . At 08 : 00 , elements of the French 3rd Light Cavalry Division ( 3 DLC ) of General Petiet , supported by the 1st Spahi Brigade of Colonel Jouffault and the 2nd company of the 5th Armoured Battalion ( 5 BCC ) , crossed the southern border to conduct a probe of German forces ; these units later retreated behind the Maginot Line . On the evening of 10 May 1940 , most of the country , with the exception of the south , was occupied by German forces . More than 90 , 000 civilians evacuated from the canton of Esch - sur - Alzette as a consequence of the advance . 47 , 000 fled to France , 45 , 000 fled into the central and northern part of Luxembourg . Grand Duchess Charlotte and the government of Premier Pierre Dupong fled to France , Portugal and the United Kingdom , before finally settling in Canada for the duration of the war . Charlotte , exiled in London , became an important symbol of national unity . Her eldest son and heir , Jean , volunteered for the British Army in 1942 . The only official representative left behind was Albert Wehrer , head of a governmental commission , as well as the 41 deputies . The Nazi regime in Luxembourg . At first , the people thought that they could accommodate themselves with the occupying regime without further harm , just as they had done in World War I . However , it was soon made clear by the authorities that their fate would be very different this time . The Nazis considered the Luxembourgish people as just another Germanic ethnic group and the Grand Duchy a German territory . On 17 May 1940 , the Volksdeutsche Bewegung was founded in Luxembourg City under the leadership of Damian Kratzenberg . Its main goal was to push the population towards a German - friendly position by means of propaganda and thus to lead Luxembourg " Heim ins Reich " . After a short period under military administration between 1 May and 2 August , Luxembourg was included into the CdZ - Gebiet Luxemburg on 29 July under the guidance of Gustav Simon . Simon was the civil administrator of the Gaue Trier - Koblenz ( later Moselland ) and led a propaganda and later terror campaign , known as " Heim ins Reich " , to convince the population that they were ethnic Germans and a natural part of the Third Reich . As " Gauleiter " , he was responsible to Adolf Hitler only . His two goals were very clear : His very first series of decrees made this policy very clear : A massive propaganda campaign was launched to influence the population , while not only dissidents and critics but also teachers , officials and leading business figures were threatened with losing their jobs unless they joined Nazi organisations , which led to much increased recruitment from all professions . A central registry documented the personal opinion regarding the Nazi regime of almost every citizen . People who were openly opposed to the regime lost their jobs or were deported , mainly to eastern Germany and in the worst cases sent to the death camps where many of them died . The fate of Luxembourg ' s Jews . Before the invasion , 3 , 800 Jews lived in Luxembourg , many of them refugees from Germany . On 10 May 1940 , 1 , 800 of them still remained . After Simon introduced the Nuremberg Laws , life became unbearable for the Jewish population . Their shops , possessions and money were confiscated and all Jewish employees were fired . They were not allowed inside public buildings or to keep pets . Between August 1940 and October 1941 , 619 Jews left the country on the orders of the authorities . The Gestapo accompanied them to France and Spain but , since they were rejected there , they went on an endless odyssey . On 23 August 1941 , a curfew was introduced for the Jewish population and they were degraded to second class citizens . The synagogues in Luxembourg City and Esch - sur - Alzette were destroyed ; the ones in Ettelbruck and Mondorf - les - Bains were devastated . The Nazis concentrated the remaining Jews in the old monastery of Fünfbrunnen . On 16 October 1941 , their transportation began to the Ghetto of Litzmannstadt and after April 1942 to the death camps of Hinzert / Hunsrück , Belsen , Sobibor , Majdanek and Theresienstadt . With the last transport in June 1942 , 11 people were sent directly to Auschwitz . Two of them survived . One prominent Jewish survivor was Alfred Oppenheimer , a member of the Consistoire ( similar to the Jewish Councils of occupied eastern Europe ) . Together with his family , he was deported to a concentration camp , where his wife was killed and then to Auschwitz where his son Rene was gassed . Alfred Oppenheimer survived the death camp and was one of the witnesses at the trial of Adolf Eichmann . He returned to live in Luxembourg until his death aged over 90 , and was known for his involvement in public education about the Nazi regime and the Holocaust . The " Prix René Oppenheimer " was created in memory of his son . On 17 June 1943 , Gustav Simon announced Luxembourg to be " Judenfrei " . From the 683 deported , only 43 survived . The population ’ s reaction . The general public were slow to react at first , still feeling shock from the invasion of 1914 – 1918 . Furthermore the royal family and the government had silently fled into exile . In general the different reactions of the population can be grouped in the following categories : The Resistance . The Luxembourgish resistance was carried out by only a small fraction of the population . Its formation was spontaneous and slow at first . The first groups were formed in autumn 1940 – 1941 . In the beginning they worked without coordination and from different motivations , for instance Liberals opposed to the anti - Jewish policies and in favour of democracy as well as conservative Roman Catholics with sometimes more or less anti - Jewish tendencies . Some of the latter category also were at the same time opposed to the Soviet Union and " Judeo - Bolshevism " , hoping that Prussia n generals of the Wehrmacht would defeat Joseph Stalin and the Red Army , while at the same time hiding Jews and anti - Nazi clergy mixed together in their farms . The Luxembourg Resistance was joined by the Communist Party of Luxembourg after June 1941 ( Operation Barbarossa ) . The different groups were : The different groups merged in March 1944 into the Union . The actions against the Nazi regime were largely limited to psychological warfare and armed actions were less common . Many young men joined the armed resistance in France and Belgium . The main accomplishment of the Luxembourgish resistance , which should not be underestimated , was the moral support for the population through the distribution of leaflets ; graffiti ; and by hiding youths who refused to serve in the German " Wehrmacht " . Several well - known Catholic and Communist households , and many parishes and priories , also kept a number of Jewish Luxembourgish civilians and foreign Jews hidden and safe . The Luxembourgian general strike of 1942 was a pacifist resistance movement organised within a short time period to protest against a directive that incorporated the Luxembourg youth into the Wehrmacht . A national general strike , originating mainly in Wiltz , paralysed the country and prompted the occupying German authorities to respond violently by sentencing 21 strikers to death . Collaboration . Collaboration with the Nazi occupation is an aspect less often talked about in Luxembourg . These collaborators were mainly found within the Volksdeutsche Bewegung , an organisation which supported the Nazi regime and participated in the dismantlement of the Luxembourgish state . The most loyal members were joined by individuals who gave way to either pressure or opportunism . Some historians estimate that the size of the collaboration was approximately similar to that of the resistance . About 2 , 000 collaborators were found guilty of treason after the end of the war , including nine individuals who were executed . Others remained incarcerated until the 1950s , when most were amnestied . ( " See also : " Luxembourgish collaboration with Nazi Germany ) The majority of the population . The majority of the population kept their heads low to avoid any conflict with the authorities ; however , they did not hide their resentments completely . This attitude became obvious through subtle but effective actions : The Terror Regime . Faced with opposition from the general public the regime felt compelled to take brutal measures against any form of resistance . After the general strike of 1942 , Gustav Simon proclaimed a state of emergency and introduced the German " Standgerichte " . Thousands were arrested and tortured . Hundreds died in the concentration camps . Whole families were deported to eastern Germany and replaced by German families , mainly from South - Tyrol and Eastern Europe . The headquarters of the Gestapo , the Villa Pauly , became the symbol of this terror . The Liberation . Luxembourg was liberated by Allied forces in September 1944 . They entered the capital city on 10 September 1944 . The Germans retreated without fighting . One month before the start of the Battle of the Bulge , 250 soldiers of the Waffen - SS had unsuccessfully tried to recapture the town of Vianden from the Luxembourgish Resistance during the Battle of Vianden . During the Battle of the Bulge , the northern part of the country was hit by artillery from a special unit that the Germans designed to send shells up to away ( see V3 ) , but the Germans did not take the city . Casualties and damage . In total , 5 , 703 citizens died during World War II . This corresponds to 1 . 8 % of a pre - war population of roughly 309 , 000 .