C2DH Launches WW1 in Luxembourg Digital Exhibition

The Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH) at the University of Luxembourg today officially launched its digital exhibition "Éischte Weltkrich: Remembering the Great War in Luxembourg", in the presence of Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.

The exhibition is the culmination of a research project that began in February 2016, supported by the Luxembourg Ministry of State. Drawing on the collections and expertise of Luxembourg's museums, archives and cultural institutions, the project is, as Xavier Bettel himself commented, a first for Luxembourg in this field. Indeed, whilst some research had already been done on the First World War in Luxembourg, focus has mainly been applied to WWII. 

Indeed, another innovative aspect of this exhibition - apart from it being a digital resource - is the audience it targets: not only academics and history experts, but also the general public and schools. Moreover, users can access the online exhibition in three languages, French, English or German, and there are plans to add Luxembourgish at a later stage.

The exhibition features sections on four major themes (Occupation, Hunger, Grief and Loss), as well as a collection of some 300 various documents and images, an interactive map of Luxembourg locating sites of historical interest related to the Great War and a timeline presenting a chronology of events from 1914 to the early 1920s. The site includes two additional sections for academics (Resources) and schools (Education), thus catering to as broad an audience as possible.

Speaking at the launch, held this morning on 19 April 2018 in the University's Black Box (Maison des Sciences Humaines), were Professor Andreas Fickers, Assistant Professor Denis Scuto, coordinator Dr Sandra Camarda, website technical lead Daniele Guido and the university rector Stéphane Pallage, as well as the Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. The latter commented on the importance of this project in remembering the First World War and informing the public on events that are often, until today, overshadowed by those of the Second World War but which equally had huge consequences in the history of the Grand Duchy.

The "Éischte Weltkrich" digital exhibition, which has been accredited with the "2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage" status, has been produced in collaboration with the National Archives of Luxembourg, the National Library of Luxembourg, the Documentation Centre for Human Migrations, the National Audiovisual Centre, the National Museum of History and Art and the National Museum of Military History, as well as European 14-18, private collectors, student assistants, translators and several other contributing researchers and technical staff.

The digital exhibition - to which new themes and documents will be added over the next few years - is now live at https://ww1.lu/.