Victor Nicolas Bodson (24 March 1902 – 29 June 1984) was a

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. As a standard form of th ...

politician and lawyer who held a number of political posts during his career. He is recognised as

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sa ...

awarded by

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

for his actions during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

in occupied Luxembourg, in which he helped

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

escape persecution from the German government.

Life

Bodson was born on 24 March 1902 in

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 Gr ...

. He practiced as a lawyer in Luxembourg, and was a motorcyclist (Luxembourgish champion in 1926) and swimmer. His political career started in 1930, when he became a member of the

Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party The Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party ( lb, Lëtzebuerger Sozialistesch Aarbechterpartei, french: Parti ouvrier socialiste luxembourgeois, german: Luxemburger Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei), abbreviated to LSAP or POSL, is a social-democratic, pr ...

(LSAP). In 1934 he was elected into the Chamber of Deputies, and in 1935 he became a member of the council of Luxembourg City. He was an active campaigner for those Luxembourgers who volunteered to fight on the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

side in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

; he also campaigned against 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 ...

''. On 6 April 1940 he became Minister for Justice, Public Works and Transport. On 10 May 1940 Germany invaded Luxembourg. Most of the government quickly departed

in a motorcade, but Bodson stayed behind at the Saint-Esprit Barracks to monitor the situation. He later fled and, using his knowledge of Luxembourg's secondary roads garnered while motorcycling, he was able to avoid German roadblocks and escape to France. After arriving in Bordeaux, Victor Bodson and his family were granted transit visas from the Portuguese consul

Aristides de Sousa Mendes Aristides de Sousa Mendes do Amaral e Abranches () GCC, OL (July 19, 1885 – April 3, 1954) was a Portuguese consul during World War II. As the Portuguese consul-general in the French city of Bordeaux, he defied the orders of Antóni ...

, along with the rest of the government and the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg, in June 1940. Victor, along with his wife Gilberte, and their five children, Andrée, Marie, Sonia, Robert and Leon, followed the Grand Ducal family through Coimbra and Lisbon, settling at Praia das Maçãs after the Grand Ducal family had moved to

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourist destination. Its marin ...

. By August, the entire entourage had moved to Monte Estoril, where the Bodson family stayed at Pensão Zenith, between 30 August and 2 October 1940. On the same day that they checked out, the family boarded the ''S.S. Excambion'' headed for New York City, along with the children of Pierre Dupong, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Charles Bech, the son of Joseph Bech, Foreign Minister of the Luxembourg government-in-exile, and Suzanne Busch, the grand-ducal family's cook. They arrived on 11 October 1940 and will live in exile in Montreal.Ellis Island Passenger Registration Records. After the liberation, he had the same portfolios and, as justice minister, was partially responsible for purification (''épuration'') in the Liberation Government, and in the

National Unity Government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nat ...

(until 1 March 1947). In 1948 and 1951 he was re-elected to the Chamber. In 1967 he was appointed as Luxembourg's

European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...

and served on the

Rey Commission The Rey Commission is the European Commission that held office from 2 July 1967 to 30 June 1970. Its president was Jean Rey. Work It was the first commission of the merged European Communities. It was the successor to the Hallstein Commission a ...

until 1970. He had responsibility for Transport.

Righteous Among Nations award

Victor Bodson lived close to the river

Sauer The Sauer (German and Luxembourgish, , ) or Sûre (French, ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the Moselle, its total length is . Rising near Vaux-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes in southeastern Belgium, the Sauer ...

, which acts as the border between Luxemburg and Germany. Bodson helped create and operate an escape route for Jews during World War II. The route required fleeing Jews to cross over the river before meeting Bodson at his house in Steinheim. Here using a special apparatus in his car, he would ferry these people to a safe haven that had been prepared in advance by his friends. During the course of his actions, Victor Bodson risked his life several times. Due to the results of his actions approximately 100 Jews were saved from the concentration camps.

Miscellany

The

Victor Bodson Bridge The Victor Bodson Bridge (Luxembourgish: ''Victor-Bodson-Bréck''; French: ''Pont Victor Bodson''; German: ''Victor-Bodson-Brücke'') is a cable-stayed bridge in Hesperange, in southern Luxembourg. It circles the south-eastern suburbs of Luxembou ...

Hesperange Hesperange (; lb, Hesper ; german: Hesperingen) is a commune and town in southern Luxembourg. It is located south-east of Luxembourg City. The total population of the commune is 14.701 people. This breaks down into 6.909 Luxembourgers, 2.021 Fre ...

, in southern Luxembourg, is named after Bodson. Victor Bodson founded a law firm in Luxembourg in 1923, which is today called Wildgen, Partners in Law.

References

Victor Bodson
– his activity to save Jews' lives during the

, at

website * * . Retrieved 28 April 2006. , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodson, Victor 1902 births 1984 deaths Ministers for Justice of Luxembourg Ministers for Public Works of Luxembourg Ministers for Transport of Luxembourg Luxembourgian European Commissioners Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg) Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg) Members of the Council of State of Luxembourg Councillors in Luxembourg City Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party politicians Luxembourgian people of World War II Luxembourgian Righteous Among the Nations People from Luxembourg City The Holocaust in Luxembourg Alumni of the Athénée de Luxembourg Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany European Commissioners 1967–1970