Diverging Memories of the "Steel Crisis". Deindustrialization in Belgian and Luxembourgish Steel Towns, 1975-2020

This paper examines how the “steel crisis” of the 1970s is remembered in two neighbouring steel towns: Athus in Belgium and Pétange in Luxembourg. Although both towns were affected by similar processes of deindustrialization, their post-crisis economic trajectories and memory practices have diverged. Drawing on municipal archives, cultural productions by former steelworkers, and oral history interviews, the paper analyses how the crisis has been narrated locally and how these narratives have evolved over time. It shows that in Luxembourg the steel crisis is often remembered as a challenge that was overcome, while in Athus the 1977 closure of the steelworks continues to be remembered as a moment of loss with lasting social and spatial consequences. The comparison highlights how differing economic recoveries shape the ways industrial decline is remembered and interpreted over the long term.