Joseph Bech (17 February 1887 – 8 March 1975)Thewes, Guy
"Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848."
Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. was a

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

ish politician and lawyer. He was the 15th

Prime Minister of Luxembourg german: Premierminister von Luxemburg , insignia = Lesser CoA luxembourg.svg , insigniasize = 100px , insigniacaption = Lesser coat of arms of Luxembourg , insigniaalt = , flag ...

, serving for eleven years, from 16 July 1926 to 5 November 1937. He returned to the position after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and served for another four years, from 29 December 1953 until 29 March 1958. The 1982–1983 academic year at the

College of Europe The College of Europe (french: Collège d'Europe) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with its main campus in Bruges, Belgium and a second campus in Warsaw, Poland. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 by leading ...

was named in his honour.

Career

Bech studied law at

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

before he received his doctorate in law in 1912, and qualified as a lawyer in 1914. The same year, on 30 June, he was elected to the Luxembourgish Chamber of Deputies for the newly-founded Party of the Right, representing the Canton of

Grevenmacher Grevenmacher (; ) is a commune with town status in eastern Luxembourg, near the border with Germany. It gives its name to and is the capital of the canton of Grevenmacher, and, until its abolition in 2015, the district of Grevenmacher. The town ...

. On 15 April 1921, Bech was appointed to

Émile Reuter Émile Reuter (2 August 1874 – 14 February 1973)Thewes, Guy"Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848."Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. was a Luxembourgish politician. He was the 13th Prime Minister of ...

's cabinet, holding the positions of Director-General for the Interior and Director-General for Education. In 1925, Bech lost those positions, as the Party of the Right was edged out of government by a coalition of the other parties, which formed the government under

Pierre Prüm Pierre Prüm (9 July 1886 – 1 February 1950) was a Luxembourgian politician and jurist. He was the 14th Prime Minister of Luxembourg, serving for a year, from 20 March 1925 until 16 July 1926. Early life Prüm was born in Troisvierges, in the ...

. When Prüm's coalition collapsed in 1926, Bech became Prime Minister, as well as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Education and Wine-growing. He was to remain Foreign and Wine-growing Minister until 1954. His term as Prime Minister, on the other hand, lasted until 1937, when he resigned over the outcome in the referendum on the ''

Maulkuerfgesetz The ''Maulkuerfgesetz'' ( Luxembourgish; "Muzzle law") was a proposed 1937 law in Luxembourg. Officially, it was entitled the "Law for the Defence of the Political and Social Order" (french: Projet de loi pour la défense de l'ordre politique et s ...

''. At various points, he also held the portfolios of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, and the Interior. With the German invasion of Luxembourg on 10 May 1940, most of the government quickly departed

Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...

and escaped to France. It was in Bordeaux that Bech and his family were granted transit visas from the Portuguese consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, along with the rest of the government and the

Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg constitutes the House of Luxembourg-Nassau, headed by the sovereign Grand Duke, and in which the throne of the grand duchy is hereditary. It consists of heirs and descendants of the House of Nassau-Weilburg, w ...

, in June 1940. Joseph, along with his wife Georgette, and their children Charles and Betty, followed the Grand Ducal family through Coimbra and Lisbon, settling at Praia das Maçãs after the Grand Ducal family had moved to Cascais. By August, the entire entourage had moved to Monte Estoril, where the Bech stayed at Chalet Posser de Andrade until 26 September 1940, with the exception of Charles, who would stay until 2 October. On 26 September, Georgette and Betty boarded the S.S. Excalibur headed for New York City, along with Prime Minister of Luxembourg Pierre Dupong and his wife Sophie. They arrived on 5 October 1940. Joseph Bech eventually returned to London, where the Luxembourg government-in-exile was officially based. During World War II, Bech was the Foreign Minister of the

Luxembourg government-in-exile The Luxembourgish government in exile ( lb, Lëtzebuerger Exil Regierung, french: link=no, Gouvernement luxembourgeois en exil, german: link=no, Luxemburgische Exilregierung), also known as the Luxembourgish government in London (''Lëtzebuer ...

in London. In that capacity he signed the

Benelux Treaty The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

in 1944. Bech is considered to be one of the ' Founding Fathers' of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

. He was one of the participants of the

Messina Conference The Messina Conference of 1955 was a meeting of the six member states of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The conference assessed the progress of the ECSC and, deciding that it was working well, proposed further European integratio ...

in 1955, which would lead to the Treaty of Rome in 1957. He was Prime Minister again from 1953 to 1958, succeeding

Pierre Dupong Pierre Dupong (1 November 1885 – 23 December 1953)Thewes, Guy"Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848." Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. was a Luxembourgish politician and statesman. He was the 16th ...

. He remained in the government until 1959, when he became President of the Chamber of Deputies until 1964. Bech died on 8 March 1975, at the age of 88.

Honours and awards

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F024619-0009, Bonn, Trauerfeier für Konrad Adenauer

Honours

Grand-Cross of

Order of the Oak Crown The Order of the Oak Crown (french: Ordre de la Couronne de chêne, german: Eichenlaubkronenorden, lb, Eechelaafkrounenuerden) is an order of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. History The Order of the Oak Crown was established in 1841 by Gran ...

AUT Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria - 2nd Class BAR

Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria (1955) * GER Bundesverdienstkreuz 7 Grosskreuz

Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

(1958)

Awards

Charlemagne Prize The Charlemagne Prize (german: Karlspreis; full name originally ''Internationaler Karlspreis der Stadt Aachen'', International Charlemagne Prize of the City of Aachen, since 1988 ''Internationaler Karlspreis zu Aachen'', International Charlemagn ...

(26 May 1960) – "in recognition of his life's work and his high merits for the unification of Europe that began in the old League of Nations and in the European institutions took their purposeful continuation."

References

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bech, Joseph European integration pioneers Prime Ministers of Luxembourg Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg Ministers for Defence of Luxembourg Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg from Grevenmacher Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg) Luxembourgian people of World War II World War II political leaders Party of the Right (Luxembourg) politicians Christian Social People's Party politicians 20th-century Luxembourgian lawyers Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Grand Decoration with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria 1887 births 1975 deaths People from Diekirch Ministers for Agriculture of Luxembourg