Henri Koch-Kent (2 May 1905, Luxembourg — 8 October 1999) was a Luxembourgish publicist author (in French/German), historian, active in the Luxembourgish Resistance during World War II.
After attending the Athenaeum and the Echternach Gymnasium, he studied law from 1927 to 1935 at the Cours supérieurs in Luxembourg and at the Universities of: Alger,
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Toulouse, Paris and Brussels. After his studies he took over the general agency of German companies in Luxembourg. When Hitler came to power, he ended this business activity and became involved in the fight against fascism at the
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
movement early on and by helping to set up a spy network for the French intelligence service.
He became president of the
During World War II
On 10 May 1940 (the day Germany invaded France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) he left Luxembourg and entered the service of the French military authorities. In June he moved to London, where he worked first as an editor for the INBEL agency elgian News Agency then as a head of the department at the Belgian Ministère de l'Information. He was also responsible for the Luxembourg, Belgian and French programs at the BBC. He "played an important role with the Luxembourg government in London." There he met his wife, the illustrator Alison Kent (b. 1913 - d. 2006). (). Born Henri Kent, in order not to be confused with a politician (1919-1987) of the same name, he adopted her family name and called himself "Henri Koch-Kent" from then on.
As the Luxembourg government in exile was criticized by members of the
Resistance
Resistance may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Comics
* Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm:
** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title
** ''T ...
and others for its lack of help towards Luxembourgers attempting to flee their occupied country during the war. Its inactivity persuaded two of its critics, the resistance members Henri Koch-Kent and Mac Schleich, the presenter of the Luxembourgish BBC programme, to found the ''Association des Luxembourgeois en Grande-Bretagne'' ("Association of Luxembourgers in Great Britain") in London, which counted 300 refugees from Luxembourg and men who had been forcibly conscripted into the German armed forces but had defected to the Allies. It was founded on 10 May 1944.
After World War II
After the war, Koch-Kent was active in its founding of the Union of European Federalists (''Union européenne des fédéralistes)'' at Luxembourg meeting, and worked as its deputy general secretary.
He had worked as a journalist, e.g. for international press agencies. In 1959 he became editor of the liberal
Lëtzebuerger Journal
The ''Lëtzebuerger Journal'' () is an online magazine in Luxembourg. It was formerly a daily newspaper published six times a week until 1 January 2021. The online magazine is currently managed by Daniel Nepgen (managing director), Lynn Warken (con ...
from 1961 to July 1964 he was its director. In the 1970s and 1980s, Koch-Kent wrote and edited several books on the Second World War, in which he critically examined the role of Luxembourg's government-in-exile.
He was also with ''Amicale des anciens des services spéciaux de la défense nationale.'' (AASSDN) ssociation of veterans of the special services of national defense
In 1998, Henri Koch-Kent was the first winner of the Testimonial and Presence prize created by Nic Weber and ''Les Cahiers Luxembourgeois
Writings
* ''10 mai 1940 en Luxembourg: Témoignages et documents,'' 1971.
* ''Hitlertum in Luxemburg, 1933–44. Beiträge zur Zeitgeschichte,'' Luxembourg: Hermann, 1972.
* ''Luxemburger als Freiwild'' (with Hohengarten, Andre), Luxembourg: Hermann, 1972.
* ''Luxemburg im SD-Spiegel,'' Luxembourg: Hermann, 1973.
* ''Sie boten Trotz. Luxemburger im Freiheitskampf,'' 1974.
* ''Doudot. Figure légendaire du contre-espionnage français,'' 1976.
* ''Putsch in Luxemburg. Ein Schildbürgerstreich,'' 1980.
* ''Ils ont dit NON au fascisme. Rejet de la loi muselière par le référendum de 1937,'' 1982
* ''Vu et entendu.'' 2 Bde.: ''Souvenirs d'une époque controversée. 1912–1940,'' Luxembourg: Hermann, 1983; ''Années d'exil. 1940–1944,'' 1986.
* ''Halte à la falsification de l'histoire : le Procès Gomand (1945-1947) : 114 témoins contre le gouvernement luxembourgeois en exil,'' Luxembourg: Hermann, 1988
* ''Der parteilose Einzelgänger. Im Blick seiner Zeitgenossen,'' 1990.
His mémoires, accounts, (among other historians') including of a government
Antisemitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
incident against a student in 1933, was included in Luxembourg government's 2015 report: ''The "Jewish Question" in Luxembourg (1933-1941): The Luxembourg State in the Face of Nazi Anti-Semitic Persecution.'' The report was unanimously adopted in the government and it apologized to the Jewish community.