Historical Ties Between Luxembourg and the DR Congo

As part of the COLUX research project, I traveled to Kinshasa (DR Congo) in November/December 2024 with a scholarship from the Fondation Zeilinger. The journey confronted me with the enduring legacies of colonialism and left me reflecting deeply on the role I occupy as a white or European historian working on the colonial past of Luxembourg.

In the following text, I shed light on the often overlooked or unknown entanglements between Luxembourg and the Congolese capital that I encountered during my journey. At this point, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who helped and supported me throughout my journey and stay – most notably Prof. Bruno Lapika Dimomfu, Pierre Turban Tudi, Jean Debéthel B. Bitumba, Cai Chen, the team at INACO, the administration of ‘Cité Kauka’, the Faculty of History at the University of Kinshasa, and the Secretariat of the C²DH.