''Luxemburger Wort'' (; ) is a German-language Luxembourgish
daily newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
. There is an English edition named the ''Luxembourg Times''. It is owned by Mediahuis Luxembourg.
History and profile
''Luxemburger Wort'' has been published since 1848. The paper was founded just three days after press censorship was abolished. The newspaper is mainly written in German, but includes small sections in both Luxembourgish and French. For many years from its founding until recently, the paper was part of the Saint-Paul Luxembourg S.A. which was owned by the
Archdiocese
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...
. The paper has a strong
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
leaning.
It is not known exactly how the
Apostolic Vicar
Apostolic may refer to:
The Apostles
An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission:
*The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles
*Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...
Jean-Théodore Laurent
Jean-Théodore Laurent (; 6 July 1804 – 20 February 1884) was the Apostolic Vicar of Luxembourg from 1841 to 1856.
Biography
Laurent was born in 1804 in Aachen to a family of modest means. His father, the Luxembourger Franz Laurent, had 1 ...
, who had been accused by the government of provoking the
1848 Revolution
The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...
and had to leave the country six weeks later, brought about the creation of the newspaper.
Nevertheless, Laurent wrote to his brother that they were making use of freedom of the press. In 1948, the bishop
Joseph Laurent Philippe Joseph Laurent Philippe S.C.I. (3 April 1877 – 21 October 1956) was Bishop of Luxembourg from 1935 to 1956.
Life
Born in Rollingergrund in 1877, Joseph Laurent Philippe was ordained a priest on 28 May 1904. The new newspaper was an aggressive Catholic opposition newspaper and, in part, combative towards the liberal state. Its creation marked the true birth of political Catholicism in Luxembourg.
From its very foundation, the newspaper opposed the '' Volksfreund'', founded by
Samuel Hirsch
Samuel Hirsch, (June 8, 1815 – May 14, 1889) was a major Reform Judaism philosopher and rabbi who mainly worked and resided in present-day Germany in his earlier years. He promoted the radical German Reform Judaism movement and published several ...
, and the ''Judenrabbiner'', as well as the subsidy for the Jewish congregation. In the period from 1849 to 1880, on average it published two anti-Semitic articles per week.
From 1938, the newspaper opposed Nazi Germany. In 1940, after the
German invasion of Luxembourg
The German invasion of Luxembourg was part of Case Yellow (), the German invasion of the Low Countries—Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands—and France during World War II. The battle began on 10 May 1940 and lasted just one day. Facing ...
, the ''Luxemburger Wort'' was co-opted as part of the occupation. The director
Jean Origer
Jean Origer (25 May 1877 - 17 September 1942) was a Luxembourgish cleric and director of the newspaper ''Luxemburger Wort''. Jean Origer was born in Esch-Alzette and later became a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg. During World War ...
and the editors Batty Esch and Pierre Grégoire were arrested by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. Pierre Grégoire was the only one of them to survive imprisonment. After the liberation of Luxembourg, the paper produced the headline: ''Lëtzebuerg as fräi!'' ("Luxembourg is free!"). At the same time this was one of few editions that appeared entirely in Luxembourgish; the publishing house also changed its name from German into French as a symbolic act.
After André Heiderscheid's replacement as editor-in-chief by Leon Zeches, the latter sought to 'de-ideologise' the newspaper and to distance it more strongly from the
Christian Social People's Party
The Christian Social People's Party (, , ; CSV or PCS) is the largest political party in Luxembourg. The party follows a Christian democratic and conservative ideology and has been described as centre to centre-right. Furthermore, akin to most ...
. For example, the paper increasingly started to report on initiatives, debates and congresses of other political parties as well.
From 17 March 2005 to 21 March 2008, the paper called itself ''d' Wort: Luxemburger Wort für Wahrheit und Recht''.
In the period of 1995–1996 ''Luxemburger Wort'' had a circulation of 85,000 copies, making it the best-selling paper in the country. The circulation of the paper was 83,739 copies in 2003. In 2006 its circulation was 79,633 copies. The paper had a circulation of almost 70,000 copies a day and a daily readership of more than 180,000 (print and e-paper) in 2007, making it Luxembourg's most popular newspaper by both counts.
Editors
* Edouard Michelis (1848–1854)
* Nicolas Breisdorff (1854–1885)
* Jean-Baptiste Fallize (1884–1887)
* Andreas Welter (1887–1889)
*
Jean Origer
Jean Origer (25 May 1877 - 17 September 1942) was a Luxembourgish cleric and director of the newspaper ''Luxemburger Wort''. Jean Origer was born in Esch-Alzette and later became a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg. During World War ...
(1924–1940)
* ''German occupation 1940–1944''
* Jean Bernard (1945–1958)
* Alphonse Turpel (1958–1967)
* André Heiderscheid (1967–1986)
* Léon Zeches (1986–2009)
* Marc Glesener (2010–2012)
* Jean-Lou Siweck (2013–)