L-R) Roland GAUL, Toru Gulde/Historian; Kevin Wester;
This week, Kevin Wester, the Director of Luxembourg Legacy in the USA (and former Director of the Luxembourg American Cultural Society) is in Luxembourg to record a series of videos that will contribute towards preserving the Grand Duchy's historical legacy.
Kevin is known for creating short video clips and posting them on social media, on both Facebook and YouTube: they are primarily informative and educational and feature stories from Luxembourg as well as in America in which there is a strong Luxembourg connection, e.g. through descendants of Luxembourg emigrants in the mid 1900s.
His time in Luxembourg is being spent talking with various individuals, and capturing their first or second hand recollections of past events that have helped to shape the country that we know today.
One videos series involves talking with historians including Roland Gaul as well as with others such as Fernand Weis and Erny Kohn.
Roland Gaul is a prominent Luxembourgish military historian and researcher best known for his lifelong work on World War II, specifically the Battle of the Bulge. He founded the Diekirch Historical Society and its museum, which evolved into the National Museum of Military History (MNHM), serving as its director and curator. He has also built extensive archives by connecting with American, German and civilian veterans of the Ardennes Offensive.
Talking with Kevin Wester, he explained to Chronicle.lu that they chose different interview locations that are linked directly with specific historical happenings: therefore the video recording sessions are being scheduled in Hoscheid and Hosingen, as well as at the National Military Museum in Diekirch, Vianden and Stolzembourg. The video interviews with Fernarnd Weis (about PFC Philip Weis) took place in the Schumannseck area (also with Roland Gaul too), and those with Erny Kohn were about Clervaux (GI Memorial) and Eschweiler (PFC Mergenthaler and St. Maurice Church).
Kevin Wester's interviews with Roland Gaul address various wide-ranging stories, including the Civilian Evacuation of Diekirch and the story of Captain Harry Kemp.
Kevin Wester explained to Chronicle.lu that Luxembourg Legacy's is three-fold: Citizenship, Tours and Education; as part of their educational mission, he has been "creating videos the past three years about the following topics: Best-kept secrets in Luxembourg, Luxembourg-American sites and people throughout the US, and videos pertaining to Luxembourg dual citizenship".
He continued: "This past May when I was in Luxembourg, I wanted to do a video about General Patton's famous prayer in the chapel at Foundation Pescatore in Luxembourg City. I contacted them to gain entry to the chapel, which they allowed, but the staff there said: 'Do you know Mr. Roland Gaul? He has full access to our facility and knows the story better than anyone.' This made me chuckle because I was with Roland a few days earlier. We have been friends for over 20 years, and each year Roland spends two or three days with my annual tour group of Luxembourg Americans. So I contacted Roland and said to him: 'Roland, instead of me narrating a video about Patton's prayer, would you be willing to meet with me at the chapel and tell the story?' Roland immediately agreed. The next day, we did a ten-minute video and Roland did his usual stellar job telling every detail of the story. These precious stories of WWII are so engrained in Roland's head and heart that he has a way of bringing them to life like no one else".
Kevin Wester then called Roland Gaul to thank him and the discussion evolved to doing a "series of short videos with the goal of telling some of the most unique stories about Luxembourgers and Americans in World War II. My tour groups and I have heard these stories from Roland. They are so precious and I fear that someday they might be lost. Once again, Roland agreed to be part of the project... Thus, we are focusing on some of the most subtle but fascinating stories of how Luxembourgers and Americans intersected and were united during the horrible war years in Luxembourg".
Some of the stories Roland tells include how American soldiers introduced the celebration of US Thanksgiving to Luxembourgers; how the soldiers introduced Hersey's chocolate bars to Luxembourg children who were nearly starving. They also visited the new war memorial in Hosingen to learn about the heroic events that occurred in the Our valley as well as Wiltz where they walked "in the footsteps of the American St. Nick".
The historian Fernand Weis discovered the dog tags of US Private Philip Weis of Sartell, Minnesota, USA, who was killed in Schumannseck. Weis's grandfather was an immigrant from Insenborn, so he died very close to his ancestral village. At Eschweiler near Wiltz, Erny Kohn of Clervaux told the story of US Sargeant Mergenthaler who befriended the priest and people of Eschweiler. He was killed there and after the war his wealthy parents donated funds to rebuild the parish church in his memory.
Kevin Wester confirmed: "The list of stories goes on and on and I believe this will be our first attempt at capturing these stories. There are many more videos that need to be made". He admitted: "I am not a professional film maker or videographer. These videos will be rather informal and capture us in the moment sharing these precious stories between Luxembourgers and Americans which are frozen in time".
He concluded: "The videos will be available on our Luxembourg Legacy YouTube Channel which already contains hundreds of short videos about Luxembourg and Luxembourg-American people and sites. It is all available free of charge. We also appreciate any ideas people have of best-kept secrets of Luxembourg or places or people that speak to the unique relationship between Luxembourg and the United States. Despite the fact that the Luxembourg-American relationship has been challenged the past few years, these stories remind us of the strong and perpetual friendship that we share".
