POST Luxembourg Commemorates 81st Anniversary of 1942 Postal Strike

On Thursday 31 August 2023, POST Luxembourg commemorated the 81st anniversary of the 1942 postal strike against the Nazi occupation.

On this occasion, the Amicale de POST Luxembourg held a ceremony in front of the commemorative plaque “A nos Héros et Martyrs” (to our heroes and martyrs), installed in the entrance hall of POST Technologies in Cloche d'Or, and presenting "St Georges terrassant the dragon" (St George slaying the dragon), a bronze sculpture by Auguste Trémont.

The victims’ family members, Luxembourg’s Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, members of the management of POST Luxembourg and the Amicale de POST Luxembourg were present for the commemoration ceremony.

The President of the Amicale de POST Luxembourg, Mike Orazi, welcomed the guests. Then followed a speech by Pierre Zimmer, Deputy Director General of POST Luxembourg, noting the importance the postal strike held and emphasising that it ultimately led to being able to “live in peace in Luxembourg”. He shared anecdotes about his grandfathers and noted how crucial it is to keep telling these stories, as even young people are interested in hearing them. “You can see how fast a country, not too far off, can go from peace into war. And how democracy can be suddenly overthrown,” he added.

Georges Schmit, former postal worker and member of Amicale de POST Luxembourg, also spoke about his parents’ resistance actions during the war and stressed the importance of keeping the memories alive. He also sang the national anthem "Ons Heemecht", officially ending the ceremony, as has become tradition.

Minister Fayot, whose grandfather had founded the Amicale de POST Luxembourg, spoke about the horrors of war and about the importance of learning from history, rejecting nationalism and developing a critical spirit against extremism.

For historical background, on Sunday 30 August 1942, a decree which Gauleiter Simon made public imposed compulsory military service in the Wehrmacht on Luxembourgers born between 1920 and 1924. Unions and resistance movements organised a strike against the forcible recruitment of around 15,000 Luxembourgers by the Nazi occupiers. This strike began in Wiltz before reaching the capital and the south of the country.

Postal workers Nicky Konz and Jean Schroeder, both aged 28, were the first to be arrested on the territory of the City of Luxembourg. They were sentenced to death and immediately executed on 3 and 4 September 1942, at the Hinzert concentration camp. Nine staff members of the Luxembourgish postal services, then known as PTT Luxembourg, who had gone on strike at the central post office in Luxembourg City, were also brought before the drumhead court-martial and were sentenced, along with 37 other Luxembourgish protesters, to various penalties. A total of 22 postal workers were deported to concentration camps, six of whom were killed. A further ten postal workers were imprisoned, two of whom lost their lives.