Introduction
Luxembourg, one of the smallest countries in Europe, distinguished itself as one of the 16 nations that contributed to the UN forces that fought in the Korean War and which liberated Reverend Moon from certain death in a North Korean prison camp. The following is one of the many instances in which True Father refers to these 16 nations:
« The Korean War, in which the youth of sixteen countries shed their blood under the United Nations flag to protect freedom, was a righteous war unprecedented in history. I remain ever grateful to the United Nations and those sixteen nations. » (Renewing the United Nations to Build Lasting Peace by Reverend Sun Myung Moon, Founder, Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace, August 18, 2000, The United Nations, New York.)
1960s
Reverend Moon created a Holy Ground in Luxembourg on 9th August, 1965 (1), because it was one of the 16 nations that volunteered to contribute to the UN forces in the Korean War.
Four years later, in December 1969, Robert Brandner was sent from Austria by Peter Koch as the first missionary. In subsequent years, Peter and Gertrud Koch would visit regularly to check up on and nurture the members.
1970s
Egide Wealer was the first Luxembourgian member to join and he brought his brother, Nico, who became the main lecturer. In summer 1972, Maria Pichelbauer came from Austria to support Robert and she took over as national leader when he left some months later to participate in the IOWC in the USA.
At this time, the cheapest flights from Europe to the USA were on Iceland Air which flew to Luxembourg. Therefore, many important leaders, such as Peter Koch and Korean elders, passed through here on their way to or from the USA, providing the latest news.
Among the first members to join were Carlos Da Souza, Edith Wagner, Alexander Martija, Debbie Carpenter, Paul Frank, Nicole Steinmetz, Maria Cuypers, Renate Kaufmann (former missionary in Africa), Marceline Rollinger, Denise Netgen who joined in Germany, Ingo Krüger, his wife, Marceline Mersch and her sister, Gabrielle, Herman Resinger, Mathias and Chantal Pignolo, Paul and Thésie Wolter and Tata (3) Eugenie Kohnen.
It was not possible to fundraise in Luxembourg. Therefore, brothers and sisters worked in Egide’s butchery factory and stand and in the company, Société Mondiale de Commerce Extérieur, which was created in 1973 or 74 to sell ginseng, in order to raise funds for the movement, as a result of which the Luxembourg church was comparatively well provided for in those early days.
Paul Frank joined on 1st April 1973 while practicing as a lawyer and in November 1975 joined the Luxembourg Court of Justice after consulting with the national leader, thus also providing financial support for the movement.
The first centre was a rented property at 26-28 rue Goethe, previously called rue des Marronniers. Afterwards, the headquarters building at 50, rue Michel Welter, previously called rue des Carmélites, was acquired in 1974 in the name of Egide, who also purchased a factory outside town which was used for workshops. Many brothers and sisters worked to restore these buildings.
The workshop centre was used jointly with the Belgian church, providing an example of good cooperation, just as Luxembourg and Belgium soldiers fought side by side in the Korean War.
In 1978, several members, including Nico Wealer, Debbie Carpenter, Nicole Steinmetz, Denise Netgen and Egide Wealer took part in the witnessing activities in England, where the Luxembourg members eventually came together in Nottingham.
In the European 118 couples blessing on 21/5/1978, Paul Frank and Maria Pichelbauer were blessed, respectively, to Reinhild Walland from Austria and Hendrik Dijk from the Netherlands. Reinhild came to Luxembourg shortly afterwards in December 1980.
1980s
The Home Church providence was started in Luxembourg in the early 1980s upon the return of the members from England. The Frank family lived for 10 years in their home church area.
In Spring 1981, Maria Pichelbauer left Luxembourg to join her husband, Hendrik Dijk, who was national leader of the Netherlands, and Nico Wealer took over as national leader. Egide and Nico were both blessed in New York in 1982.
Nico’s wife, Evelyne, from France, took over for a few years from about 1983 when he worked as an IOWC commander in the U.S. Nico, who graduated from UTS where he was selected as the spokesperson of the students, came back later and was national leader again from the late 1980s.
Egide and his German wife, Doris, previously a missionary in Panama, took care of a CARP centre in Germany during the mid-1980s before returning to Luxembourg.
Several members were blessed and the sisters started to leave the country one by one to join their husbands. Two previously married couples, Paul and Thésie Wolter and Mathias and Chantal Pignolo participated in the special blessing for previously married couples.
A second Holy Ground was created in the town centre, because of the inaccessibility of the original one, but the tree has since been cut down.
1990s
Under the leadership of Rev. Won Pil Kim, Paul Frank became national leader in 1991. The same year, Erwin Franzen, a Luxembourg national who met the church in the US, and his Japanese wife Tomoko moved to Luxembourg. They had spent some years in the Middle East where Erwin worked as a journalist for the Middle East Times.
In 1992, Reinhild Frank participated in the inauguration of WFWP in Korea and became the first WFWP president when the organisation was founded on 27 September 1993. True Mother came and spoke in Luxembourg on 3 November 1993 to about 300 guests in the Intercontinental hotel at Dommeldange (now the Hilton hotel). The president of the parliament, Mrs Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, met privately in the Ducal Suite of the hotel with True Mother, who asked her to become president of WFWP in Luxembourg. However, opposition from within the government and churches prevented her from effectively exercising this position. Among the VIPs, François Colling, who was president of the Christian branch of parliamentarians, particularly appreciated True Mother’s speech.
In 1994, 10 Japanese missionary sisters representing WFWP, led by Rev. Kim Il Soo from Korea, came and carried out witnessing activities for 3 years. They distributed approximately 100,000 copies of True Mother’s speech from the inauguration of WFWP to many houses in Luxembourg. They also carried out many activities to support the mission, including Japanese cultural activities.
In 1995, Mathias Pignolo and his son, Vincent, spent 40 days helping to develop the Jardim training centre in Brazil, where they had many direct experiences with True Father. In 1995, Paul Frank, a member of the Luxembourg Court of Justice since November 1975, along with Bruce Casino from the U.S.A., was appointed by True Father in Uruguay to solve the « Schengen problem » (2). Paul continued in this role for many years, thus enabling Luxembourg to contribute to the resolution of this major problem.
In early 1996, Michel Brebsom, spiritual son of Marceline Mersch, became national leader after being assistant national leader for some time. During his tenure, there were always many guests coming to the centre.
After the launching of the National Messiah Providence in September 1996, Massimo and Silandia Trombin came to Luxembourg with their family two months later as the Cain National Messiah from Italy and remained until recently. Massimo also organized many European and international humanitarian projects for IRFF during his time in Luxembourg.
With the participation of Mrs Yamamoto and the Japanese missionaries who came in 1996, the inaugural conference of the Family Federation for World Peace (FFWPU) in Luxembourg was held on 21st November 1996. Also, a panel exhibition was organized for the purpose of witnessing.
Rev. Lim Jong Yoo, as the Adam National Messiah, and Mrs Junko Yamamoto representing the Eve National Messiahs came in mid-1997 and stayed for 3 years until they were called back. They both returned later from time to time.
In 1997, Ikuko Yosikawa and 8 other Japanese missionaries came to Luxembourg as part of a mobilization of 6000 missionaries to 120 nations. They conducted witnessing activities for the sake of giving the blessing with the help of the members. The goal of 5000 couples was achieved under Michel Brebsom’s leadership.
The Abel National Messiahs, John and Evelyne O’Connor from the US and France, respectively, came with their family in August 1999. John O’Connor replaced Michel Brebsom as national leader in late 1999.
IIFWP was founded on 6 February, 1999, and John and Evelyne O’Connor worked with Paul Frank to send VIPs to this event. Subsequently, over the years, many VIPs participated in ILCs, ELCs, MEPIs and other international and European events.
2000s
From 2000, a number of brothers and sisters travelled to Cheong Pyeong to participate in the 8 and 21 day workshops, respectively, and the registration blessing.
John and Evelyne O’Connor made considerable effort to build unity and friendship among the brothers and sisters and also organized several service projects. They conducted pre-blessing activities with the Japanese missionaries, supported True Mother’s tour in La Hague in May 2002 and helped develop a “Free Teens” abstinence program. John, Massimo, Paul, Jacqueline Frank, Sebastian O’Connor and Adriel Trombin participated in a service for peace project in Romania.
From 16/4/2002 to 16/7/2002, Mr Rikio Yamamoto, the Eve national messiah, participated in special activities in Leda, Paraguay, where he planted a tree in honour of Luxembourg at this important providential location.
John and Evelyne O’Connor returned to the US in November 2002, following which Paul Frank resumed as national leader.
In December 2004, a coronation ceremony for True Parents was held in the presence of AfPs and members, including Jean-François Moulinet and Philippe Jacques from France and Belgium, respectively.
In the same month, Dr Frank Kaufmann was appointed as the Abel Boon Bong Wang (BBW) for Luxembourg, initially referred to as the representative for the United Nations Peacekeeping Korean War Memorial Federation (UPKMF). Dr Kaufmann concentrated on providing Divine Principle education to both members and Luxembourg’s elite during his regular visits. He also participated in numerous events related to the Korean War Veterans, with whom a special connection was forged since 1980, through the active participation of Paul and Reinhild in their associations, and many of them later participated in the UPKMF events and ILCs in Korea. He also made attempts to link the Luxembourg Royal family with other Royal families in order to connect them to the peace work of True Parents.
On several occasions, Dr Bernard Zamaron, head of the Robert Schumann Centre for Dialogue in Luxembourg, participated in the Middle East Peace Initiative in Israel and Palestine.As part of the Global Peace tour IV, during which International AfPs read True Father’s speech, Reverend Carlos Torres, an American minister, came to Luxembourg in November 2006.
Mrs Bu-ja Ahn, wife of Reverend Yoo, passed into the spiritual world at 9:55 am on Sunday December 17, 2006, and her Seunghwa ceremony was held on December 19, 2006. She joined the church in February 1962 and was blessed with her husband in the 430 couples blessing.
On 1st September 2007, the Rally to Declare the Beginning of a New Universal Civilization of Peace was held with the participation of 10 Korean and 10 Japanese members. A UPF Global Peace Tour event for Luxembourg was held on 4th April 2009 in the presence of President Song and Dr Frank Kaufmann. Immediately afterwards, the position of national leader passed to Alexander Martija. All members from Luxembourg participated in the special blessing ceremony on 14 October 2009.
2010s
In 2010, a special Seunghwa ceremony for the former Prime Minister, Pierre Werner, was held with the participation of numerous AfPs.
On 18th September 2010, the Little Angels visited Luxembourg as part of a 16 nation tour to honour the veterans of the Korean War and to commemorate the 60th anniversary. The visit of the Little Angels in Luxembourg was a grand affair, endorsed by the nation’s Prime Minister and future President of the European Commission, Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, and attended by the international diplomatic corps, and Luxembourg’s political, social, cultural, and business leaders and veterans. In addition to their performance, they participated in two ceremonies of commemoration, one at the Luxembourg war memorial and the second at the Luxembourg American Cemetery where General Patton is buried and where Erwin Franzen is a member of staff. At this time, Paul Frank was the president of the Korean Veterans association and Reinhild treasurer. Following the event, Alex and Anna Martija offered gifts from Luxembourg to every one of the Little Angels.
In February 2012, Alan and Brigitte Sillitoe were appointed as acting national leaders. In March, WFWP president Reinhild Frank attended the 20th anniversary of WFWP in Korea. In June 2012, True Father’s autobiography was given to the Prime Minister and sent to the government ministers, parliamentarians and those who attended the Little Angels event. The approximately 1500 people that were invited to the Little Angels received an invitation to a seminar introducing Divine Principle and True Father’s autobiography. 34 people participated in the one day seminar.
In July 2012 in Korea, Reverend Lim Jong Yoo, the Adam National Messiah, attended the inauguration of the Abel Women UN, part of the Special Education Session and came to the Peace Cup with his children. Along with Mrs Yamamoto, the Eve National Messiah, 5 Japanese missionaries, Ikuyo Kimura, Keiko Nihashi, Mamiko Asada, Tazumi Maeyama (2nd generation) and Hatsumi Yamaguchi, 4 members, Alan and Brigitte Sillitoe and Paul and Reinhild Frank, attended the entire program. Two second generation, Nami Franzen and Naori Yamaguchi, who were attending the 2nd generation workshop in Cheong Pyeong, were also present for the inauguration of the Abel Women UN.
In October 2012, a two day D.P. workshop following up on the Little Angels event was held in Reims in collaboration with the French and Belgian movements with, from Luxembourg, 28 participants including 9 guests. In January 2013, a further 2 day D.P. seminar was held in Luxembourg with 30 participants including 13 guests. On 22 February, 2013 (H.C. 13/1/1), nearly all of the members participated in the Foundation Day blessing. Several seminars were jointly organised by FFWPU, UPF and WFWP in 2013 and 2014.
From 9-14 August, 2014, Mrs Erna Hennicot Schoepges, former President of the Luxembourg Parliament,former Minister of Culture, Education and Research and former Member of the European Parliament, attended World Summit 2014 in Seoul.
Footnotes:
- The date in Footprints of the Unification Movement II is incorrect: it was incorrectly interpreted from an American format date. Also, the report from Peter Koch states that, “On August 9, we left Brussels for Luxembourg. In the afternoon Holy Ground was blessed on a hill north of the city. When we visited the city of Luxembourg, we didn’t even miss the nice little University which is about the size of our Berkeley Center. In order not to waste time we proceeded directly to the French border which we crossed shortly after midnight.”)
- The Schengen agreement, which is named after the town in Luxembourg after which it was named, was used by Germany to prevent Reverend Moon from entering many of the countries of Europe from 1995 until 2006 when the ban was overturned by the German Supreme court.
- Tata means aunt in Luxembourgish.