The history of Schifflange

At that time, and since 1128, Esch-sur-Alzette belonged to the parish of Schifflange (as did Lallange, Bergem, Udange, Mittenthal and the Lamesch Mill), so that the parish church, on “Saint Martin’s hill” in the middle of the present-day cemetery, was the great centre of activity for Schifflange and its wider surroundings. Major changes came about when, in 1244, the Bonnevoie Monastery bought large tracts of land in Schifflange, and when, in 1285, the Sainte-Marie-aux-Nonnains convent of Metz ceded the tithe of its material possessions in Schifflange to the Marienthal convent, with all the freedoms belonging to a “new town”. There then followed a long period of wars, disasters and epidemics that struck the south of the country and its hard-working population very harshly. For almost four centuries Schifflange developed at a measured pace and even suffered a setback when, in 1742, the High Council of Mechelen decreed the separation of Esch-sur-Alzette from the great parish of Saint Martin. Moreover, in 1742 the Marienthal convent was dissolved, and on the horizon loomed the deadly blows of fate that preceded the French Revolution. Destroyed by Napoleonic troops, the parish church was no longer rebuilt on its original site… but in the very centre of the locality (1822). This marked the beginning of a new era, which experienced an ever more rapid rise thanks to the opening of the mining grounds. Despite a great fire destroying the entire Rue Basse (Niddeschgaas) (1862), as well as a devastating cholera epidemic (1866), Schifflange moved forward with the systematic exploitation of the iron mines and the construction of the steel blast furnaces, connected to the international railway network.

The number of inhabitants kept growing and required the construction of a large school as well as infrastructure suited to the new needs. The rural character disappeared at the same rate as the many workers appeared, coming from every corner of the country and even from abroad to share in the wealth that the steel industry promised. From this population with a new face was born a great local pride that called for a swift separation from the mother municipality of Esch-sur-Alzette, into which Schifflange had been incorporated when Baron de Tornaco ceded all his Schifflange lands to the lords of Esch and Bervard.

Independence

In 1875, this drive towards municipal independence led to a “petition of 1,000 signatures” addressed to the Chamber of Deputies and gave rise to the separation decree, signed on 6 July 1876 by Prince Henry as representative of William III, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Schifflange became an independent, single-section municipality.

The first administrator of the new municipality was Mr Michel Noël (9.9.1876), followed on 7.2.1882 by Mr Jean Klein, the first officially elected mayor.

The birth of the colonies

In the meantime, the number of inhabitants of Schifflange remained somewhat stationary, but in 1912 everything changed: the merger of the old works of the Metz family with the united steelworks of Eich-Dommeldange brought not only the expansion and modernisation of the plant, but also the construction of small workers’ houses (colonies) nearby, which suddenly attracted more than 500 new workers seeking the prosperity lacking in the hinterland and especially in the mainly agricultural villages. The First World War brought not only misery, poverty, epidemic and mourning, but also triggered a global economic crisis that hit the municipalities of the south of our country hard. Our steel industry was on the verge of a total standstill.

When the guns had fallen silent, the working population of Schifflange recovered only very slowly and with great difficulty from the heavy blows of fate, but it courageously and diligently braved the harsh aftermath of this senseless war. Schifflange and its tenacious, determined working population once again set off up the steep slope towards hope.