Buried at Luxembourg Name Damian Kratzenberg | Allegiance Nazi Germany Role Polit. | |
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Born November 5, 1878
Clervaux, Luxembourg ( 1878-11-05 ) Died October 11, 1946, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg | ||
Damian Kratzenberg (November 5, 1878, Clervaux – October 11, 1946, Luxembourg City) was a highschool teacher who became head of the Volksdeutsche Bewegung (Volksdeutsche Movement), a pro-Nazi political group, in Luxembourg during World War II. He was executed after the war for collaboration with the Nazis.
He was the son of the administrator of the castle of Clervaux, a German immigrant. After receiving his baccalaureate at the Diekirch gymnasium, from 1898 to 1902 he studied literature in Luxembourg, Lille, Paris and Berlin. Following this, he taught Greek and German in Diekirch, Echternach, and from 1927 at the Athenee de Luxembourg.
From 1927 to 1936, he was a member of the liberal party. From the mid-1930s, he became a supporter of Nazi Germany. From 1935 to 1940, he was the president of GEDELIT, the Luxemburger Gesellschaft fur deutsche Literatur und Kunst (Society for German Literature and Art). In 1936, he received the Goethe-Medaille fur Kunst und Wissenschaft.
He became head of the regional branch of the Volksdeutsche Bewegung in 1940, and was appointed head of the Athenee de Luxembourg in 1941.