Affichons l'égalité
Published on 08 March 2024
To mark the International Women's Day, this March, we participate again in the CNFL's campaign ''Affichons l'Egalité''. Symbolic for the women in our society, 7 women from our town have been chosen by our Commission for Social Affairs. From the 8th until the 31st of March 2024, their names will be used to rename in every one of our villages one public space
Find more infos about the women below:
Marie-Antoinette PAQUET-TONDT
Who in the commune of Niederanven did not know her: this little lady, an active member of the Commune council, with a big heart, dynamic, unique and authentic in her style. She was recently named "honorary councillor" by the Commune authorities for her more than 20 years of commitment to the commune council.
She was very socially active for many years. As an "eternal scout", she was always ready to help where help was needed. She was characterised by altruism and stood up for the disadvantaged in society; integration and social issues were her motto. In this context, she worked tirelessly, be it as president of the Commission for Integration, the Commission for Social Affairs, as a member of the Civil Hospice or the Office Social. As a member of the local committee "Douzelage", she was always ready to represent the interests of the Commune in the twin towns and was not afraid to undertake often long or time-consuming journeys as an official delegate of the commune. The list of her achievements is long. She not only stood up for people but also had a very big heart for animals and with passionate conviction she was able to give many dogs and cats a friendly home.
Marie-Antoinette Paquet-Tondt passed away on the 17th of November 2020 leaving a big gap in the commune of Niederanven. It will be a long time before our Commune can find such a dedicated and active person in the service of the community again.
Source:
Commune de Niederanven, Bulletin communal 01/21
Marie CARMES-HEFFENISCH
As a human rights activist, Marie Heffenisch was heavily involved in the Luxembourg resistance movement during World War II. After the death of her husband Sébastian Carmes in 1932, she moved to Dudelange and took over the management of the Hotel Hengesch. In 1941, the local branch of the Lëtzebuerger Fräiheetsbond was founded on the premises of the hotel. The hotel also served as a hiding place for illegal newspapers and leaflets and as a safe house for seven refractories. Marie also takes care of forged papers.
The hiding hotel was discovered by the occupying forces in 1944 and Marie Heffenisch was arrested and imprisoned in Luxembourg and Germany before being deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp. Former fellow prisoners reported that she was unrecognisable in Ravensbrück: she gave her food to young girls because she was already old and it was up to the younger ones to survive the horror.
Marie Heffenisch survived the ordeal and returned to Luxembourg in 1945 after the liberation of the concentration camp. She was awarded the medal of the "Ordre de la Résistance". The towns of Colmar-Berg and Dudelange dedicated streets to her.
She died in Niedercorn in 1985.
Sources:
Wikimedia, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
CNFL, Dépliant : Les rues au Féminin 2022-2024
Marie-Thérèse HARTMANN
Thérèse Hartmann, who was born in Luxembourg on the 18th of April 1858, was probably the first Luxembourgish female artist to study art abroad. Her father Antoine Hartmann, an engineer by profession, already painted watercolours in his spare time and supported his daughter in her artistic training. The talented Thérèse Hartmann began her studies in Düsseldorf and later in Munich. ,,Im Jahre 1877 hatte die junge Dame derartige Fortschritte gemacht, dass ein wirkliches systematisches Studium gedacht werden musste. Sie zog nach Düsseldorf, wo sie unter der Leitung des bekannten Malers Gustav Süs ein Jahr lang tüchtig arbeitete. (...) in München studierte Thérèse Hartmann mit großem Erfolg hier unter der Leitung vun Professor A Liezen-Mayer''. However, she found her vocation, portal painting, in Paris in the women's studio of Carolus Duran and Jean-Jacques Henner.
Some of her character traits can be traced back to her upbringing. The young woman is courageous, self-confident and independent. She made her way at a time when women's education was hardly promoted in public schools, if at all, then in schools run by nuns.
As extraordinary as her studies were, so too was her success. Thérèse Hartmann succeeded in having her works exhibited while she was still a student. Exhibitions and galleries support the artist. The "Luxemburger Land" devoted a laudatory article to her: "(.... )°gereifte Künstlerin, die selbstständig mit kunstgeübtem , sicherem Auge den Gegenstand ihrer Darstellung erfasst, in ihrem Geiste künstlerisch gestaltet und mit Meisterhand auf die Leinwand bannt, voll packender Lebenswärme, volldurchgeistiger, der Natur abgelauschte Wahrheit, voll glähenden Colorits".
After her return from Paris, the young woman married the Luxembourg lawyer Mathias Glaesener, who later became Attorney General. The couple had their daughter Thérèse-Emilie in 1886. Thérèse Glaesener-Hartmann continued her artistic career. Her portraits and still lives, which she painted in a conventional style, were in demand but not unanimously appreciated. Her best-known paintings include the portrait of Paul Eyschen, then Minister of State, and portraits of other members of the upper classes, such as the portrait of Paule and Jules Ulveling.
Sources:
Centre d’information et de documentation de femmes Thers Bodé (Cid-femmes : KeK : Künsterinnen entdecken, Luxembourg 2008.
Germaine Goetzinger, Antoinette Lorang et Renée Wagener : « …… so lässt die Malweise nicht die Frauenhand erraten“ dans „Wenn nur wir Frauen auch das Wort ergreifen 1880 1950 Luxembourg, Publication Nationale, Ministère de la Culture 1997 pages 267-287.
Ons Stad Nr 77, 2004.
Les rues au féminin 2022-2024
Aline MAYRISCH - DE SAINT-HUBERT
The founder of the bourgeois women's movement.
Aline de Saint-Hubert, the daughter of a timber wholesaler, married the engineer and metallurgist Emile Mayrisch in 1894, who became general manager of the ARBED steel company. She was very interested in art and literature, as well as social welfare and women's rights. Together with other middle-class women, Aline Mayrisch-de Saint-Hubert founded the Organisation pour les intérêts de la femme in 1906, the first draft of a women's organisation in Luxembourg. The organisation's close ties with liberal circles and the wealthy social position of many of its members determined its political tendencies.1
The work of the women's organisation focused on very specific areas such as job placement or legal protection for women. However, it also carries out educational work, for example by conducting a social survey on the housing conditions of working-class families. The association organises lectures - often with well-known foreign feminists - on topics such as child and maternity protection or women's suffrage.
However, the organisation's most important demand is the establishment of a girls' secondary school. The critical situation in the education system for Luxembourg women must be ended; they must be given the right to an equivalent higher education. The Organisation for the Interests of Women is calling for a public, non-denominational secondary school for Luxembourgish girls that ends with a secondary school diploma. This would give them access to university studies and enable them to pursue liberal professions.2
After the First World War, Aline Mayrisch-de Saint-Hubert and her husband campaigned for Franco-German understanding through cultural exchange. She founded numerous committees working in the field of social welfare, founded the Luxembourg Red Cross and campaigned for the establishment of a modern maternity ward.
In the 1930s, Aline Mayrisch-de Saint-Hubert withdrew more and more into the world of literature and religious mysticism. In 1939, she moved to the south of France, where she died in 1947.3
The Lycée Aline Mayrisch, founded in Luxembourg City in 2001, is named after her.
Sources:
Fraendag.lu
1 Germaine Goetzinger, Der ‘Verein für die Interessen der Frau’ oder Bürgerliche Frauenbewegung in Luxemburg, in Germaine Goetzinger, Antoinette Lorang, Renée Wagener (Hrsg.) “Wenn nun wir Frauen auch das Wort ergreifen…”, Luxembourg 1997, S. 63-79.
2 Germaine Goetzinger, Nie wöllt ech an dem Lycée sinn, Dur gi’ fei’ Médercher net hin, in Ons Stad Nr. 77 2004, S. 19.
3 Sonja Kmec, Renée Wagener (et al.), Frauenleben–Frauenlegenden. Ein Streifzug durch 1000 Jahre Stadtgeschichte: Persönlichkeiten, Geschichte(n) und Hintergründe, Luxembourg 2007, S. 32.
Josephine JACQUEMART-JAANS
Joséphine Jaans was born in Rumelange on the 6th of September 1980, the eldest of seven children. Taking responsibility and fighting are expressions that the girl learned at the age of 10 when her father died unexpectedly.
She was active and committed to sport and made it her profession. After two gymnastics internships in Neufchâtel in Switzerland, the young teacher began teaching at the Lycée des Jeunes Filles in Esch in 1916. Unfortunately, the sportswoman suffered a broken leg after a train accident, forcing her to resign.
However, this did not diminish her commitment to women's sporting activities. The introduction of new methods in physical education was a difficult and delicate matter at the time. But Josephine Jaans did not give up, despite numerous obstacles from those in power. Her tenacity and energy were also evident in her personal sporting activities. Between 1915 and 1918, she took part in numerous competitions and even became a champion in water jumping. In 1920, she married the industrialist Gust Jacquemart, then chairman of the Comitée olympique. The couple had two children, Lexy and Susy.
Her commitment grew and in 1925, together with Andrée Mayrisch and Paula Weber, she founded the Fédération Luxembourgeoise des Sports Féminins, the first official organisation for women's sport. To prove the raison d'être of this association, the founders looked for a flagship discipline that could attract many members. The choice fell on basketball. Success was not long in coming and by 1926 there were already 14 women's clubs in Luxembourg. That same year, the first championship was held at the Lycée des Jeunes Filles on the Limpertsberg. Although Joséphine Jacquemart-Jaans played well at the beginning - she was a player, coach, and referee - her project was doomed to failure in 1929 due to a lack of funds and the issue of clothing. The traditionalist tendencies of the time weighed heavily and boycotted this "woman without shame".
Joséphine Jacquemart-Jaans maintained her determination and organised the third Fête fédérale de la Gymnastique Féminine in 1937, where she proudly marched at the head of the procession. The years of the World War II also emphasised the courage of Joséphine Jacquemart-Jaans, who joined the resistance movement with her son. Both worked for the L.P.L. (Letzebuerger-Patrioten-Liga). At the end of 1941, she was arrested along with many other resistance fighters and spent two years in prison.
After the war, Joséphine Jacquemart-Jaans became involved in the National Lottery. She also became active in the tourist guides and stood as a candidate for the liberal DP party in 1951 and 1957. She continued to swim twice a week until the age of 95. Joséphine Jacquemart-Jaans died on the 6th April 1988, a sports pioneer who not only established women's sport, but also fought for the acceptance of women in the world of sport and in Luxembourg society.
Sources:
CNFL : Dépliant « Rues au Féminin » Edition 2015.
Portraits de femmes célèbres luxembourgeoises par Katja Rausch, Karà éditions, 2007.
Germaine Goetzinger, Antoinette Lorang et Renée Wagener : « …… Les débuts du sport féminin » dans « Wenn nun wir Frauen auch das Wort ergreifen“ 1880-1950, Luxembourg, Publication Nationale, Ministère de la Culture, 1997 pages 262-266.
Ons Stad 77/2004 : « Dat Geschleefs musse e fir allemol en Enn kréien“ page 13.
Barbe PECKELS
Barbe Peckels was one of the first female owners and managers in Luxembourg. In 1852, she and her husband bought a house under construction in the village of La Gaichel and started running a Ferme Auberge together. Back then, hikers came here to enjoy simple regional cuisine and the specialities of Barbe Peckels, who had a real talent for cooking. As head of the family business until her death in 1906, her spirit is still alive today. In fact, the domaine has changed over the years and today the Domaine de La Gaichel has two hotels and three restaurants.
Since its foundation, the Domaine de La Gaichel has been handed down from mother to daughter! The family business is currently run by a woman in the sixth generation.
Source:
Femmes Pionnières du Luxembourg asbl
Noémie SIEBENALLER
Noémie Siebenaller and her colleague Camille Arend were victims of a terrible accident on their way back from a volunteer assignment in Burkina Faso on 24 July 2014.
Noémie and Camille were both members of the Luxembourg NGO "ASDM - Le soleil dans la main". This organisation was founded in 2002 in the north of Luxembourg to contribute to development aid in rural areas in Burkina Faso. The two Luxembourgers had just returned from a trip to the country.
Noémie Siebenaller and her colleague Camille Arend were voted Luxembourger and Luxembourger of the Year 2014 and honoured posthumously for their commitment.
