Eighty years have passed since the war ended, and seventy since the Härebierg barracks in Diekirch were officially inaugurated. In this context, the National Museum of Military History in Diekirch has launched the exhibition ‘Ons Arméi um Härebierg’.
The exhibition opens with a look back at the activities of the Brigade Piron, formed during the Second World War and made up largely of Belgian troops, along with as many as 200 Luxembourgers.
According to museum director Benoît Niederkorn, the newly liberated country was relieved to have at least a small pool of trained personnel to build a fresh army from, though reconstructing a national force was, as he put it, a “Herculean task”. A pivotal turning point arrived at the end of 1945.
He explained that when Germany came under Allied occupation, Luxembourg was assigned to the French sector. Niederkorn said that the Bitburg barracks became the main training site, and every Luxembourger undertaking compulsory service was sent there, representing more than 30,000 young men in total. Many of those who served in Bitburg still look back on that time fondly, he said, because they perceived it as forging strong bonds across society.
Niederkorn pointed out that shared service created unexpected encounters and social cohesion: men from very different backgrounds suddenly found themselves living together for nine to twelve months.
He referenced Luxembourgish writer Roger Manderscheid’s novel Feier a Flam, in which the author describes arriving in the army and witnessing striking social contrasts, such as a lawyer’s son sharing a room with a farm boy who had never owned a toothbrush. Yet through shared experiences and responsibilities, these young men formed connections that often lasted a lifetime, Niederkorn said.
It soon became clear, however, that Luxembourg would need to withdraw from Germany by 1955, so a new site had to be found. Although Luxembourg City and Echternach also put themselves forward, Diekirch was ultimately chosen. The initial plan was to build the barracks on the Sauerwiss, which is today the location of sports fields and the swimming pool, but the Herrenberg offered far more space.
This choice meant abandoning earlier proposals to turn the hill into a park with a cable car. Once the required plots of land, including those belonging to the former brewery, had been purchased, construction of the barracks began. The 1950s saw significant investment in the army.
According to Niederkorn, military spending during that period was roughly three times higher than today, reflecting the defence priorities of the post-war and early NATO era. He added that Luxembourg’s ambition at the time was to field an independent army capable, at least on paper, of mobilising up to 10,000 soldiers.
These ambitions were soon scaled back. The financial burden proved unsustainable, and the economy could not cope with so many young men being drafted each year. Another milestone followed in 1967, when compulsory military service was abolished altogether.
When it comes to the decades after 1945, and especially after 1967, the museum regrets that relatively few personal belongings or testimonies from former soldiers have been preserved. Such objects and memories, they note, are essential to conveying an authentic picture of past military life, one that modern visitors can relate to. The exhibition nevertheless highlights the more recent architectural developments on the Herrenberg site.
The exhibition opened this weekend and will run until next September. Visitors can explore it freely or join a guided tour.
