AT A GLANCE
Why go?
The National Museum of the Resistance and Human Rights in Esch-sur-Alzette tells the story of Luxembourg under Nazi occupation (1940–1945) — from passive resistance and the general strike to forced conscription, the concentration camps, and liberation. Founded in 1956 by veterans and trade unions, it combines a deeply personal national history with a broader message about human rights, making it one of Luxembourg's most moving cultural sites.↗
Admission is free. Guided tours are available in four languages, and the museum is wheelchair accessible. A major renovation is underway to triple exhibition space with a new museography concept.↗↗↗↗
A Nation's Memory, Preserved
When Nazi Germany invaded Luxembourg on 10 May 1940, this tiny Grand Duchy was annexed into the Third Reich under Gauleiter Gustav Simon. The occupiers forced young men into military service, suppressed the French and Luxembourgish languages, and deported the Jewish population. What followed — the general strike of 1942, the networks of refractory men who refused the uniform, those who joined the maquis or fought with Allied forces — became the founding story of this museum.