Transnational soldiering, burial and commemoration across borders. The case of Luxembourgers in the French Foreign Legion

in Francia: Forschungen zur Westeuropäischen Geschichte. 3, 19./20. Jahrhundert (2022), 49

To whom do the dead belong? The French Foreign Legion exemplifies a modern military conundrum: how to reconcile loyal and patriotic duty with mercenary service or, in neutral terms, military labour. This ... [more ▼]

To whom do the dead belong? The French Foreign Legion exemplifies a modern military conundrum: how to reconcile loyal and patriotic duty with mercenary service or, in neutral terms, military labour. This article investigates soldierly funeral culture in the long nineteenth century, with a focus on the entangled histories of Luxembourg and France. The Foreign Legion’s transnational recruitment makes this armed force a unique case study to explore military commemoration across state borders, honouring the dead and the living alike. Since its establishment to fight outside mainland France, rooted in the conquest of Algeria (1830–1857), the Legion has been the only branch of the French military whose members swear allegiance not to France, but to the corps itself: its motto is Legio Patria Nostra (»The Legion is our Homeland«). As a military parallel society and temporary »ersatz nation«, the Legion has elaborated a specific death cult, which has both a corporeal (body-centred, individual) and a sur-real (transcendent, communal) dimension. The two dimensions cannot be rigidly delimited: they clearly overlap and can be shared with other nations, as the case of Luxembourg demonstrates. [less ▲]

Addressing seeming paradoxes by embracing them: small state theory and the integration of migrants

in Comparative Migration Studies (2021), 9

This article examines the integration of migrants in Luxembourg within the framework of small state theory. Within the comparative scholarship on migration, small states are often presented as “success ... [more ▼]

This article examines the integration of migrants in Luxembourg within the framework of small state theory. Within the comparative scholarship on migration, small states are often presented as “success stories.” This research questions this assumption and empirical data presented here indicates that many contradictions exist within Luxembourg’s migrant integration model. The country’s “success” in fact does not reflect the levels of integration of migrants nationally as significant inequalities are present in Luxembourg. However, the analysis of Luxembourg presented here illustrates how small states have coherently embraced many paradoxes that are inherent to integration strategies throughout Europe with the goal of promoting peaceful coexistence. [less ▲]

Continuity and change: Transformations in the urban history of Phnom Penh, Cambodia

in Kurfürst, Sandra; Wehner, Stefanie (Eds.) Southeast Asian Transformations. Urban and Rural Developments in the 21st Century (2020)

Gesonderte Ruhestätten für besondere Tote: Soldatengräber und Garnisonsfriedhöfe unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Entwicklung in Luxemburg

in Loew, Benedikt; Thewes, Guy; Klauck, Hans Peter (Eds.) Intra muros - Infrastruktur und Lebensalltag in Festungen - Einrichtungen der Fürsorge (2020)

„Dann eben in die Natur damit“ – Der neue Trend der Waldbestattung in Luxemburg: Geschichte, Beweggründe und ökologische Auswirkungen

in Thiltges, Sébastian; Solte-Gresser, Christiane (Eds.) Kulturökologie und ökologische Kulturen in der Großregion / Écologie culturelle et cultures écologiques dans la Grande Région (2020)

For the environment, humans and their way of life have become one of the most decisive factors of influence: their impact defines the geochronological era of the Anthropocene. These manmade changes ... [more ▼]

For the environment, humans and their way of life have become one of the most decisive factors of influence: their impact defines the geochronological era of the Anthropocene. These manmade changes include one specific type of sediments, namely that of human remains. In industrialized regions, the biologically degradable, organic matter of the human body is often altered by medical implants and pharmaceutical residues. Sepulchral practices may add other toxic substances. This article examines how the recent trend towards woodland burials of cremated remains in Luxembourg is embedded in ecological discourse and imagination, and asks whether it does provide an environment-friendly alternative to traditional full-body inhumations. [less ▲]

Introduction: The materiality and spatiality of death, burial and commemoration

in Mortality (2019), 24(2), 117-1-22

Friedhof, Heldenhain oder Totenburg? Der Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge und die Soldatenfriedhöfe Sandweiler und Clausen im Großherzogtum Luxemburg.

in Philippart, Robert L.; Reuter, Antoinette; Kmec, Sonja (Eds.) Ewige Ruhe? Concession à perpétuité? - Grabkulturen in Luxemburg und den Nachbarregionen - Cultures funéraires au Luxembourg et dans les régions voisines (2019)

The material culture of burial and its microgeography: A Luxembourg cemetery as a methodological example of an object-centred approach to quantitative material culture studies

in Journal of Material Culture (2019), 24(2), 1-26

This article uses a novel quantitative methodology to examine sepulchral material culture. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of social spatialization and art as agency, the authors contend that ... [more ▼]

This article uses a novel quantitative methodology to examine sepulchral material culture. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of social spatialization and art as agency, the authors contend that variations in grave designs and materiality cannot simply be explained in terms of changes in fashion and mentality. Other factors also need to be taken into account. Using a digital data collection tool, the Cemetery Surveyor Application (CSA) developed at the University of Luxembourg, they compile a set of data encompassing all the material aspects of each grave in a cemetery in Luxembourg (Western Europe), the setting of their case study. The graves are dated from the 1850s to 2015. |The authors compare the chronological evolution of the most recurrent material features with a GIS-based spatial analysis of the same features. The results of the spatial analysis not only largely confirm the chronological study, but also allow them to be more precise (dating is often problematic) and include undated graves (a third of the sample). The digital data collection tool also allows them to compare cemeteries and to highlight variations in these that cannot merely be imputed to chronology, but also to spatial proximity and material agency. [less ▲]

Tote Soldaten und ihre Gräber: Kriegs- und Militärfriedhöfe des Ersten Weltkrieges in Luxemburg

Article for general public (2018)

Während des Ersten Weltkrieges gehörte Luxemburg weder in die Gruppe der kriegsführenden Nationen noch war sein Territorium Teil der Kampffront gewesen. Trotzdem wurden hier hunderte deutsche ... [more ▼]

Während des Ersten Weltkrieges gehörte Luxemburg weder in die Gruppe der kriegsführenden Nationen noch war sein Territorium Teil der Kampffront gewesen. Trotzdem wurden hier hunderte deutsche, französische und US-amerikanische Soldaten begraben. Die meisten von ihnen wurden in der Nachkriegszeit exhumiert und innerhalb oder außerhalb des Großherzogtums ein zweites Mal bestattet. Dieser Artikel zeichnet die geschichtliche Entwicklung dieser Soldatengräberstätten in Luxemburg nach. Zitierung: Kolnberger, Thomas. "Tote Soldaten und ihre Gräber: Kriegs- und Militärfriedhöfe des Ersten Weltkrieges in Luxemburg" (2018). Éischte Weltkrich: https://ww1.lu [less ▲]

Cimetière communal de Walferdange au Luxembourg. Les défunts sous le regard des vivants, vivre l’hétérotopie du cimetière

in Botte, Julie (Ed.) Des lieux pour penser: musées, bibliothèques, théâtres. Matériaux pour une discussion (2018)