When Luxembourg was invaded and annexed by Nazi Germany in 1940, a national consciousness started to come about. From 1941 onwards, the first resistance groups, such as the Letzeburger Ro'de Lé'w or the PI-Men, were founded. Operating underground, they secretly worked against the German occupation, helping to bring political refugees and those trying to avoid being conscripted into the German forces across the border, and put out patriotic leaflets (often depicting Grand Duchess Charlotte) encouraging the population of Luxembourg to pull through.
As with other countries, the origins, ideological and otherwise, of the different Resistance groups were varied: it ranged from those who found Nazi ideology itself worth fighting against, to those who valued first and foremost their country's freedom. The political spectrum ranged from the communists to clerical-conservative elements (including even some anti-Semitic undertones).
Luxemburgish Resistance groups
Christian, liberal and patriotic groups (NS-designation: "Reaktion"):
Unio'n vun de Lëtzebuerger Fräiheetsorganisatiounen (Unio'n), 1944:
• Lëtzeburger Patriote Liga (LPL), 1940
• Lëtzebuerger Legio'n (LL), 1940 → Letzeburger Volleks-Legio'n (LVL), 1941
• Trei Lëtzeburger Studenten (TLS), 1941
• Lëtzebuerger Scouten ≈ Lëtzeburger Freihéts-Kämpfer (LFK), 1940
• Lëtzeburger Ro'de Lé'w, 1941
• Lëtzeburger Freihéts-Bond ≈ Lëtzeburger Freihéts-Bewegong (LFB), 1940
• Patriotes Indépendants ("PI-Men"), 1940
Communist and international-socialist groups (NS-designation: "Rotfront"):
• Aktiv Letzeburger Enhétsfront ge'nt de Faschismus (ALEF), 1940
• Kommunistesche Kampfgrupp Schëffleng ("Alweraje"), 1941
After the war, the LPPD was formed, an umbrella group of the Resistance.
Organisation
In parallel with individual acts of protest, the summer of 1940 saw the first attempts to organise resistance to the German occupation on a more permanent level. From August, the heads of the Catholic Scouts in the south of the country met in Esch-sur-Alzette and decided to engage in resistance against the Germans. Similar meetings later took place in Luxembourg city, Diekirch and Wiltz. When the occupiers banned the Scout movement in Luxembourg, the organisation continued to exist underground, under the name Lëtzebuerger Scouten an der Resistenz (LS).
In late September, Raymond Petit, a student at the Lycée of Echternach, founded the group LPL, the Lëtzebuerger Patriote-Liga. Similarly, at the Lycée of Diekirch, Camille Sutor founded the Trei Lëtzeburger Studenten (TLS). The Lëtzebuerger Legioun (LL) was founded on 27 October 1940 by Aloyse Raths, a student at the École normale, in his native village of Bissen. In November 1940 a retired customs officer, Alphonse Rodesch, founded a second movement with the name LPL in Clervaux, referring to the World War I movement of that name. In December 1940, Hubert Glesener, Eduard Heyardt and Pierre Fonck formed the LFB (Lëtzebuerger Fräiheets-Bewegong) in Rumelange: this organisation included Catholics, liberals and communists. Until the summer of 1941 other movements were formed around the country: in Bascharage, Albert Meyers founded the Lëtzebuerger Roude Léif (LRL); in Differdange, Tétange and Rumelange the LFK (Lëtzebuerger Fräiheets-Kämpfer) and in Schifflange the "ALWERAJE" were formed. In Differdange, Josy Goerres created the Patriotes Indépendants ("Pi-Men"). Another LFB group, the Lëtzebuerger Fräiheets- Bond, was formed in Dudelange.
All these groups quickly entered into contact with one another, and several mergers soon took place. First, the TLS merged with the LL, then in June 1941, the LS and LL merged to form the LVL (Lëtzebuerger Volleks-Légioun). On the other hand, an attempt at cooperation between the LFK and LFB in Rumelange ended in betrayal and hundreds of arrests. Further arrests from November 1941 onwards decimated various Resistance groups, with the result that the LVL, the LPL and the LRL became the most substantial remaining organisations, attracting the surviving members of the defunct groups.
The only political party to continue to operate underground was the Luxembourgish Communist Party. However, in August 1942 a police raid weakened Communist resistance, and the schoolteacher François Frisch, who was close to the Communist politician Dominique Urbany, founded a new movement, the ALEF (the Aktiv Lëtzebuerger Eenheetsfront géint de Faschismus).