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49
MARGUERITE "GRITTY" SCHNEIDER
1921: born in Luxembourg City
1940: openly shows anti-German sentiments
1942: sends rations to Luxembourgers deported to Hinzert concentration camp (D)
1944: resettled to Trebnitz (D) with her mother; later on lived in Hirschberg (D)
1945: returns to Luxembourg
Gritty and her mother, Trebnitz 1944
Barracks like the ones where Gritty Schneider and her mother had to live during their resettlement in Trebnitz, 1944
Work
During the occupation, Gritty Schneider attracted negative attention from the Nazi authorities by refusing to decorate her parents’ grocery shop with a swastika flag or with a portrait of Adolf Hitler. In August 1942 general conscription into the Wehrmacht was introduced in Luxembourg. Gritty’s brother Josy was called up, but hid with a farmer’s family. In retaliation for his disappearance, Gritty and her mother were resettled to Trebnitz in February 1944. There she volunteered to look after children but was soon dismissed because she taught the children forbidden Luxembourgish songs. Although resettled Luxembourgers were constantly watched, they were allowed to keep in touch with the outside world by letter and to engage in cultural activities outside the camp. Violations to the rules were punished with arrest or a ban on correspondence. In July 1944 Gritty Schneider and her mother came to Hirschberg (D), where Gritty got an office job at a petrol station. They returned to Luxembourg in June 1945.
From Gritty Schneider’s personal photo album: uprooted and separated from friends and relatives, the deportees try to stay in touch through letters. Their correspondence is monitored and censored if necessary, Trebnitz 1944.
Am Lager hu mir missten d’Bréiwer oppen ofginn an déi Bréiwer, déi mir kritt hunn, déi waren och all op an da stoung „zensiert“ drop.
Marguerite Schneider, contemporary witness interview, 2009
Eigentlech hu mer keng lëtzebuergesch Lidder dierfte sangen, mä ech hunn et awer gemaach. Si hunn eng Kéier d’Uelzecht gesongen, d’Meedercher all zesumme vun engem Grupp am Lager. Du war de Lagerführer net do, wou se gesongen hunn.
Marguerite Schneider, contemporary witness account, 2009
Gritty Schneider with Luxembourgish children in the Trebnitz resettlement camp, 1944
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