Luxembourg

Luxembourg
Luxembourg City's mayor (right of stone) unveiling monument for the 50th anniversary of the NSA of Luxembourg, 2012.
Location of Luxembourg
National Assembly		Luxembourg
Statistics:
Total Population
-	UN 2021	639,321
Bahá'í pop.
-	Bahá'í source
-	Non-Bahá'í source	1,962
History: Firsts
-	Local Bahá'í	1947, Suzette Hipp
-	Pioneers	1947, Honor Kempton
-	Local Assembly	1949, Luxembourg-Ville
-	National Assembly	1962
Official Website		http://www.bahai.lu/
Related media
Categories: Luxembourg • People

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a small European country. Its official languages are Luxembourgish, French, and German.

Luxembourg was part of the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages and a member of the House of Luxembourg became the Holy Roman Emperor at one point. At the close of the 18th century it was conquered by France however in 1815 it achieved independence.

The Bahá’í Faith was established in Luxembourg in 1947 and the community has continued to develop to the present day.

History

Early years

Jeanne Bolles visited Luxembourg during a Bahá’í travel teaching tour of Europe in the mid 1930's.

In June 1946 Shoghi Effendi tasked the European Teaching Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada with settling a pioneer in the capital of Luxembourg, and in November 1946 Honor Kempton departed America for Luxembourg. Kempton stayed in England for some time at the request of Shoghi Effendi before arriving in Luxembourg in February 1947. In March 1947 Anita Ioas and Sally Sanor departed America to pioneer to Luxembourg, and later in the year Ned Blackmer pioneered from America also.

In addition to the arrival of pioneers a number of Bahá’ís visited Luxembourg during 1947. Eva Mae Barrow and Marion Little briefly stayed in Luxembourg to support the pioneers, several Bahá’ís living in Germany visited to support a youth fireside held in Kempton's home, Charles Mason Remey visited during a tour of Europe, and Mildred Mottahedeh visited while traveling Europe with two Bahá’í meetings being held during her stay in the country. On December 21, 1947, Suzette Hipp declared becoming the first Luxembourger Bahá’í.

The Bahá’ís of Luxembourg City, 1947.

Luxembourg City was designated a goal city of the European Teaching Committee for 1948 and the French Translating Committee held a Conference in Luxembourg that year. During the year Corinne True, Edna True, and Katherine True visited Luxembourg during a tour to visit the pioneers in Europe, and Dorothy Baker also visited to assist in the teaching work and she noted that all teaching in the country was being undertaken through the pioneers establishing contacts individually and holding firesides. In September 1948 the International Congress of the United World Federalists was held in Luxembourg and the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States was invited to send a representative to the event, and Ugo Giachery was selected. In late 1948 Etty Graeffe spent several weeks in Luxembourg and was able to assist in teaching work due to being fluent in French and German and Lucienne Migette visited from Paris.

In 1949 a committee was formed to facilitate cooperation between the Bahá’ís of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg city was established. There were thirteen Bahá’ís in the country as of 1949 with approximately half being pioneers and half being native Luxembourgers.

By 1950 some pioneers had departed Luxembourg with Sally Sanor and Ned Blackmer being the only pioneers in the country as of April. By December 1950 Blackmer had departed the country intending to settle in Belgium and George and Mildred Clark had pioneered to join Sanor in Luxembourg. In 1951 a Bahá’í Centre was secured in Luxembourg city, and the Bahá’ís of Luxembourg gave a presentation on the country at the European Teaching Summer School held in Holland that year.

In April 1952 the Luxembourg Bahá’ís participated in the first Bahá’í Benelux Conference held for the Bahá’ís of Holland, Luxembourg, and Belgium in Brussels. and the Annual European Teaching Conference was held in Luxembourg in August 1952. Four Hands of the Cause, who had been appointed that year, visited Luxembourg to attend the Conference; Ugo Giachery, Hermann Grossmann, Adelbert Mühlschlegel, and Zikrullah Khadem. During the Conference a Bahá’í interview was requested by Radio-Luxembourg and a public meeting to teach the Faith was held. In late 1952 Doris Lohse pioneered to Luxembourg from Switzerland.

The Ten Year Crusade

Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of Luxembourg, 1957.

In 1953 Shoghi Effendi launched the Ten Year Crusade and one of the goals to achieve by 1963 set was establishing a National Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg, and that year a regional committee was appointed to administrate the Bahá’í communities of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. In 1954 Shoghi Effendi established the Institution of the Auxiliary Board and Adelbert Mühlschlegel was the European Hand of the Cause assigned the responsiblity for Luxembourg and the Auxiliary Board members under him who shared the responsibility of developing the Luxembourg community were Eugen Schmidt, Anna Grossmann, Louis Hénuzet, and Joel Marangella. Also in 1954 a Fund was established to raise money to purchase a building to serve as a National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds for Luxembourg.

In 1957 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Benelux Countries was formed which was the regional body responsible for administrating the Faith in Luxembourg and Claude Levy of Luxembourg was elected to the body. By late 1957 a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds for Luxembourg had been secured and November 1 the building was dedicated, with Hermann Grossmann and Zikrullah Khadem attending the ceremony. In 1958 land was purchased to serve as a National Endowment for the Luxembourg Bahá’í community. In July 1959 a Benelux Summer School was held in Vlanden, Luxembourg, which Paul Haney spoke at, and in August the first International Youth Summer School was held in Echternach, Luxembourg. During 1959 a Persian family of three pioneered to Luxembourg, Virginia Orbison pioneered from Spain, and Frances Wells pioneered from America settling in the goal city of Differdange.

Bahá’í community of Luxembourg, 1961.

In 1960 Ian Semple visited Luxembourg on a teaching tour of the Benelux, and that year another Local Spiritual Assembly was formed but the country still needed three more Assemblies before establishing a National Spiritual Assembly. In September 1960 a celebration of Luxembourg's National Day was held in the Luxembourg city Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds which was attended by Hermann Grossmann and Bahá’ís from across the Benelux. There was a Bahá’í Group in Dudelange as of 1960 and on December 15 the group held its first Public Meeting to commemorate Human Rights Day. In July 1961 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Differdange held its first public meeting which Louis Hénuzet spoke at and on August 8 the first declaration in Differdange took place.

At the start of 1962 there were Bahá’í communities in four localities of Luxembourg and in January 1962 the National Consolidation and Teaching Committee of Luxembourg launched a six month teaching campaign which had been planned through consultation with Adelbert Mühlschlegel. At Ridvan 1962 the first National Convention of Luxembourg was held in Luxembourg city and the National Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg was established, with Differdange, Dudelange, Esch-sur-Alzette, and Luxembourg-Ville having Local Spiritual Assemblies which participated in the election. Hand of the Cause ‘Alí-Muhammad Varqá attended the Convention. In July 1962 the first teaching conference of Luxembourg was held at the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Luxembourg city with representatives from Luxembourg's four communities in attendance, and in September the first Luxembourg Summer School was held in Echternach with Adelbert Mühlschlegel and Leroy Ioas facilitating sessions. In December 1962 Rúḥíyyih Khánum briefly visited Luxembourg.

In April 1963 four members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg attended the First International Convention in Haifa in person with all members submitting votes for the first Universal House of Justice. In August 1963 Adelbert Mühlschlegel and John Ferraby spoke at the second Luxembourg Summer School held in Mondorf-les-Bains and seven people declared while attending the Summer School.

After the Crusade

From 1963 to 1964 there were twenty declarations in Luxembourg and at the 1964 Luxembourg National Convention three people volunteered to pioneer to goal cities within the country and a Fund was established to raise money to purchase a Temple site. In August 1964 John Ferraby spoke at the Luxembourg Summer School again and Auxiliary Board members Louis Henuzet and Eugen Schmidt also spoke. The community struggled to maintain momentum after forming its National Spiritual Assembly and by late 1964 only one Bahá’í community of Luxembourg had enough members to keep a Local Spiritual Assembly.

In 1966 John Ferraby attended the National Convention of Luxembourg, and in June 1967 his wife Dorothy spoke at the Luxembourg Summer School. In 1968 the government of Luxembourg officially recognized Bahá’í Holy Days. In late 1968 Adelbert Mühlschlegel visited Luxembourg, and in 1969 the Continental Board of Counselors for Europe held a meeting with some Auxiliary Board members in Luxembourg. Ugo Giachery spoke at the 1969 Luxembourg Summer School.

The 1970's and 1980's

In 1972 the Luxembourg community secured a Temple site with the assistance of the National Spiritual Assembly of Alaska, the Bahá’í singing group New Garden, South visited during a teaching tour of Europe. and the community held a public meeting to commemorate United Nations Day.

In 1976 a Bahá’í delegation met with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg for a fifteen minute audience and presented him with a selection of Bahá’í literature and Counselor Anneliese Bopp spoke at a three-day proclamation conference in Luxembourg city and gave a television and newspaper interview on women's rights. In August 1976 a National Teaching Conference was held in Luxembourg city.

In 1977 Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir met with the National Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg and helped them plan a two month teaching project held from August to September titled Vers la Victoire which focused on seven goal towns and he also taught at that years Summer School. In November 1978 Adelbert Mühlschlegel and Counselor Betty Reed participated in a National Teaching Conference held in Differdange, and in December prominent French author Andre Brugiroux visited Luxembourg and spoke on the Faith with his visit receiving considerable press coverage. As of 1979 Luxembourg had twelve Local Spiritual Assemblies with four being incorporated with the government and thirty-six localities had been opened to the Faith.

In July 1981 Dizzy Gillespie performed at the Festival Echternach-Luxembourg and he spoke about the Bahá’í Faith during his performance and performed the song Olinga which he had written as a memorial for Enoch Olinga. In 1985 some American youth visited Luxembourg for a teaching project, and members of the Luxembourg Bahá’í Youth Committee participated in a government sponsored International Youth Year festival in Diekirch. Canadian Bahá’í singer Judy Rafat performed on Luxembourg television also during 1985.

As of 1986 Luxembourg had not yet given official legal recognition to Bahá’í marriage or granted the Bahá’í community tax exempt status. In May 1986 a delegation of the National Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg presented a copy of The Promise of World Peace, the Peace message by the Universal House of Justice, to the Catholic Archbishop of Luxembourg Jean Hengen, and in June the National Spiritual Assembly organized a symposium on the subject Peace and Religion inviting representatives of Judaism, Catholic and Protestant Christianity, and Islam to participate.

In March 1988 an International Symposium on the subject Man, Health, Environment was held in Luxembourg and three Bahá’í representatives attended on the behalf of the Bahá’í International Community. In 1989 eleven year old Bahá’í child Nassim Toloui submitted a paper on the question "How can you, as a child, contribute to peace?" to a Europe-wide competition and his paper was selected to represent Luxembourg and ultimately won first prize winning her a trip to New York City where she read her paper before a meeting of the United Nations.

1990's to Present

In 1991 the Unity Foundation, a Bahá’í inspired development agency, was established in Luxembourg and it went on to collaborate with the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign Affairs on international development projects. In May 1992 a photo exhibition on the theme of the Promise of World Peace was contributed by Bahá’ís to International Exhibition Week held in Luxembourg City. In 1996 six Luxembourg Bahá’ís presented a written statement at a public hearing on the status of women held by the Luxembourg Parliament.

As of 1997 there were eleven Local Spiritual Assemblies in Luxembourg and approximately 370 Bahá’ís in the country including youth and children. In August 1997 Rúḥíyyih Khánum visited Luxembourg and spoke on the importance of teaching the principles of the Bahá’í Faith, and in October the Local Spiritual Assembly of Dudelange held a multicultural feast against racism and donated the profits to Dideleng Helleft, an organisation funding development efforts in South America. In November the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Bahá’í Faith in Luxembourg was celebrated at an event which some early pioneers spoke at. In April 1998 another commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary was held which Government officials and other community leaders were invited to attend, and an international youth conference was held in Luxembourg the same year.

In 2011 the Minister of Finance of Luxembourg visited the National Bahá’í Centre of Luxembourg to attend a celebration of the birthday of the Grand-Duke of Luxembourg and he praised the communities contributions to the betterment of society. In 2012 the Mayor of Luxembourg City unveiled a memorial stone in a central city park which commemorated the Fiftieth Anniversary of the National Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg being formed, and in 2014 the President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies praised the Bahá’í community at the Bahá’í National Day celebration.

In 2020 the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg wrote to the Foreign Minister of Iran to condemn the escalating persecution of the Bahá’í community of Iran.

See also

• All articles about Luxembourg
• National Spiritual Assembly of Luxembourg