Anti -aircraft shelter: Luxembourg was preparing for war

At the end of November 2024, the German authorities launched what the media Bild described as “bunker offensive”. Namely a census of all bunkers and shelters where the population could find refuge in the event of an attack, in a context of increased tensions with Russia. German citizens are also encouraged to create shelters at their home, by developing their cellar or garage.

If Luxembourg does not currently have real antibombes shelters and that landing underground areas is not topical according to information collected in recent months by Essentialthe reflection invites to remember the anti -aircraft shelter built near the Ettelbruck station at the dawn of the Second World War.

“The work started in 1939,” recalls the online exhibition “World War II, Luxembourg during the Second World War”. “Shortly before the war, the Luxembourg authorities took measures to protect the population in the event of an attack. It is not known whether this shelter was finished before the invasion or if it was the Germans who finished it. In any case, they carefully maintained it during the occupation, ”detail the archives on the subject.

During the striking episodes of the conflict on the Luxembourg soil, the population could take refuge there, the system being supplemented by the collective distribution of gas masks. “The safety instructions were strict, it was compulsory to obscure your house during the night so as not to inform enemy aviation,” explains the exhibition.

Today, this Ettelbruck shelter is inaccessible, but it can be visited in its virtual version, reconstructed in 3D scan. To the question “where could we take refuge in the event of a risk of bombing in Luxembourg?”, The High Commission for National Protection responded, at the beginning of the year, that “the emergency intervention plans will allow, if necessary, to respond adequately to the situation”. In parallel, at the beginning of spring, Luxembourg had relayed an appeal from the European Union, asking the population to have a kit at home to hold a few days in the event of a conflict.