19 American Luxembourgers Visit Grand Duchy for 2025 Holiday Tour

A tour group organised by the Luxembourg American Cultural Society (LACS) in Wisconsin, USA, has recently concluded a 2025 Holiday Tour to the Grand Duchy. 

Led by Travis Gross, Executive Director of LACS, the group met up in Chicago and travelled via Frankfurt, arriving on 29 November and departed this Monday 8 December, taking in a number of cultural and historial sites as part of their packed itinerary.

With the itinerary coordinated by Guy Dockendorf of the Roots & Leaves Association based in Luxembourg, and formerly Director General at the Ministry of Culture, representatives met the tour group upon arrival for a briefing and explain the context as most were exploring where their ancestors originated, as well as explaining the free public transport throughout Luxembourg.

Luxembourg's former Ambassador to China, Russia and Brazil, and President of the Roots & Leaves association, Carlo Krieger, also addressed the group on the European Union and the privileged relations between Luxembourg and the USA.

Luxembourg City

The participants enjoyed a guided tour of Luxembourg City by Jean Ensch, with Marie-Paule Jungblut leading a section on "Exploring Poverty in the 19th and early 20th century Luxembourg".

They got to see inside the Chambre des Députés (Luxembourg's parliament) and met with the President of the Parliament, Claude Wiseler; they also visited the Hotel de Ville (Luxembourg city hall) where they were greeted by Maurice Bauer, Deputy Mayor.

The tour coincided with the Winterlights festival in Luxembourg city, with Christmas markets spread across the city, which the tour group explored.

Museums

The group spent a day in Kirchberg including a guided tour of the Museum of Modern Art (MUDAM) in the morning and the Musée Dräi Eechelen (Three Acorns / Trois Glands) - which was build by the Austrians in 1732 as Fort Thüngen and now serves as the Fortress Museum - in the afternoon.

They also got to visit the Luxembourg City Museum on Rue du Saint-Esprit with a tour guide.

Another day they visited the American Military Cemetery in Hamm where they visited, amongst others, General George S Patton who commanded the Third Army during the Battle of the Bulge and played a crucial role in liberating the country from Nazi occupation during World War II. The group laid a wreath in honour of the soldiers of World War II who are buried there.

Outside the Luxembourg border, the tour group travelled north-west to Bastogne in Belgium where they saw over the Battle of the Bulge exhibition at the Bastogne War Museum where they used audio guides to explore by themselves. On the way back they visited the famous Schumann's Eck which was a strategic road junction during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII which saw fierce fighting in late 1944/early 1945; the National Liberation Memorial site features a 3km remembrance trail with trenches, craters and life-sized silhouettes of soldiers and represents reconciliation.

The same day the tour group travelled to Diekirch to visit the Military History Museum with the guided tour led by Frank Rockenbrod, Chairman.

Back in the Grand Duchy, the tour group was also given a guided tour of the Basilica in Echternach as well as the Hopping Procession Museum there.

Culture

A visit to the magnificent Vianden Chateau was also included in the tour group's itinerary, with audio guides allowing participants to explore at their own pace.

The also visited the Clervaux Castle and explored the Family of Man photographic exhibition by Luxembourger Edward Steichen, with a presentation by Paul Lesch, Curator of the Edward Steichen collection.

Schengen was also on the tour itinerary, where Luxembourg borders with both France and Germany: the tour group visited the Schengen Agreement Monument and toured the historic ship, the Prinzessin Marie-Astrid Europa which had been refurbished in time for the 40th anniversary celebrations of the signing of the Schengen Agreement.

Wine tasting was on the menu too: for this they visited the Caves Sunnen-Hoffmann in Remerschen where they enjoyed tasting crémant and white wines.

On the penultimate day of the trip, Sunday 7 December, group members could attend a Church service and later choose between ancestral family home trips - for which individual cars of volunteers brought individuals to see where their ancestors had lived - and a visit across the border to Trier in Germany, with Carlo Krieger the guide showing them the sights including the Porta Nigra and the Imperial Baths.

A highlight for many was attending the Philharmonie for a concert, by Grigory Sokolov on piano performing works by Beethoven and Brahms.

Genealogy

As many were interested in tracing their ancestors, the members of the tour group were also given an introduction to genealogy and a "crash course" including practical examples by Jean Ensch and Marc Klein.

Time was also set aside for those with dual citizenship appointments at the Luxembourg City Bierger Centre, with others collecting their new Luxembourg passports from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Education

The tour group also visited the Lenster Lycée in Junglinster where classes were exchanging with students from US high schools as part of an educational exchange programme organised by Marc Zimer, a teacher at the school and member of the Roots & Leaves Association. The tour group also learned about Luxembourg English-language public school offerings and had a tour of the school facilities.

LACS and Luxembourg

During the visit, Travis Gross also met with representatives of the Luxembourg Ministry of Culture to discuss the relationship between the LACS and the ministry.

Talking with Chronicle.lu at the end of the tour, he stated: "This was my first tour and it was filled with nothing but amazement. A highlight for the tour was watching a tour participant, a US Navy veteran, lay a wreath at the grave of General George Patton in the US Memorial Cemetery. [Also,] Vianden Castle is a gem, what an amazing stop for our tour".

He added: "A reason we host the tours is to take people who have earned their dual citizenship through LACS to their ancestral villages. Members of the Roots and Leaves organisation volunteer their time to drive tour participants to their ancestral villages. Several of them were able to visit the homes of their ancestors. A once in a lifetime opportunity and a memory they will carry for the rest of their lives".

ED

(Tour group pictured inside the Chamber of Deputies (parliament); Credit: Ali Sahib, Chronicle.lu)