02. Between Hunger and Wealth: The Social Question Before 1848
1848: Revolution in Luxembourg - An Exhibition by the National Archives and the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg
Clausen: Between industry, distress, and social engagement (1834-1836) by Nicolas Liez/ Nicolas ReuterChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
Between Hunger and Prosperity
While merchants, officials, and landowners enjoy prosperity, 12% of the population relies on alms on the eve of 1848. The poor struggle for potatoes, whose price has quadrupled. Two worlds, divided by class and wealth.
The Power of the Wealthy
The upper classes at the top of society claim the right to discipline the lower classes both economically and morally.
Stability at Risk
In the 1840s, the middle and petty bourgeoisie make up 10–25% of the population in the German Confederation. This includes artisans, merchants, printers, teachers, and mid-level civil servants – many of whom also face hunger.
A newly devised expression for a most grave and baleful phenomenon... Pauperism is to be found where a numerous class of the populace, through the most arduous toil, can scarcely earn the barest means of subsistence — and even that remains uncertain; where no prospect of betterment appears; and where contagions, the scourge of spirits, and brutish vices of every sort, as well as the poorhouse, the workhouse, and the house of correction, are ever supplied with an increasing multitude of recruits.
English translation from: Brockhaus-Konversationslexikon XI, 18469, p.15f
Nicolas Breithof(f) (1815-1874)
Printsmen like Nicolas Breithof(f) are educated, which would facilitate their political participation – if they were not excluded from it in the 1840s.
The Working Class: Surviving on Labour
The industrial valley of Mühlenbach (09.01.1843) by François BochChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
In the capital, a wage-dependent workforce has emerged in textile, glove, stoneware, tobacco, and paper production, as well as in breweries. Factories also employ home-based workers.
Laurent's social message: Sunday work (1846) by Jean-Théodore LaurentChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
Sacred Time, Secular Labor
In his pastoral letter during Lent of 1847, Apostolic Vicar Jean-Theodor Laurent criticizes Sunday labor.
The Potato Crisis: When Food Becomes Unaffordable
The spinner at the wheel (1800-1875) by Mathieu KirschChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
The Struggle for Basic Necessities
Potatoes are a staple food. Poor harvests drive the price of 65 kg from 2.40 francs (1841) to 9.60 francs (1847). A day laborer earns 0.50 francs per day. Like this spinner, many try to supplement their income with home-based work.
Industrialization: A Threat to the Poor
The cloth, fabric, and buckskin factory of the Godchaux brothers (1834-1836) by Nicolas Liez/ Nicolas ReuterChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
In 1835, the brothers Samson and Quetschlik Godchaux purchase the Schleifmühle cloth mill on the Alzette. Their cloth manufactory, founded in 1828 in the capital suburb of Pfaffenthal, is relocated there and formed the cornerstone of the later factory premises.
The Godchaux brothers' fabric and buckskin factory at Schleifmühle produces 70% of Luxembourg’s textiles. It threatens the income of rural poor who rely on home weaving.
The Godchaux factory around 1835 and 2025. Little remains of the original cloth factory.
Coping with Poverty – Charity and Control
The Boch-Septfontaines faience factory (1834-1836) by Nicolas Liez/ Nicolas ReuterChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
The Boch-Septfontaines faience manufacture was founded in 1767. It produces faience household items. After Luxembourg joined the German Customs Union in 1842, the factory experiences economic difficulties and is only able to survive with great effort.
In 1812, Pierre-Joseph Boch, the owner of the faience manufactory, sets up a workers' relief fund. Financed by contributions from the employer, employees and fines, it pays workers who are ill or unable to work up to three months a day for one franc.
The Boch faience factory around 1835 and 2025. The Boch family residence has been preserved.
Cheap Pleasures: Tobacco is kept in faience jugs like this one from Boch production. Alongside brandy, tobacco is one of the few affordable stimulants for the lower classes.
Édouard Aschman (1820-1886)
Poor relief doctors like Édouard Aschman are hired by municipalities and paid by the government. They must hold consultations for the needy. Complaints are common – such as in 1854, when a priest criticised a doctor for a five-day absence.
The Lamort mechanical paper factory in Senningen (1834-1836) by Nicolas Liez/ Nicolas ReuterChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
In 1828, printer Jacques Lamort buys the Senningen mill. In 1834, he installs a continuous paper machine. By 1845, the Lamort mills in Senningen and Manternach employ around 200 workers—pioneers of industrial papermaking in Luxembourg.
Since their meager wages are insufficient to live on, the workers are forced to take on menial labor. In the 1840s, a factory worker earns an average of between 0.60 and 0.80 francs per day.
The Lamort factory was originally located on the site of the present-day Senningen Castle, which will be used by the Luxembourg government for meetings, receptions and conferences in 2025. It is not open to the public.
Wallpaper border from Lamort production Wallpaper border from Lamort production (1800-1900) by LamortChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
Luxury Walls Amidst Poverty: Lamort’s Success
By the late 1830s, the Lamort paper factory expands its product range to include high-quality wallpaper. Strong demand from abroad helps the company weather the economic crisis of the 1840s.
Control on Paper: The Labourer’s Livret
A proven means of disciplining the lower classes is the labourer's livret, in which the employer can record any misconduct he deems to have occurred.
Marie-Catherine Wurth-de la Chapelle (1796-1875)
In 1844, Marie-Catherine Wurth-de la Chapelle founds a Catholic charity. Like Pierre-Joseph Boch, she sees the way people live as the decisive criterion for support with food, clothing, and money.
The beggar woman on the plate (1830-1855) by Boch-SeptfontainesChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
Beggars in Art: A Theme on Bourgeois Table
Since Jacques Callot at the latest, the living conditions of beggars have been a recurring theme in art, including on this Boch faience plate. Faience household items are found in all bourgeois homes.
Citizen Militias and Repression: The Fear of Unrest
Poverty drives many to beg, while others join robber gangs. A gendarmerie report on food theft in Bourscheid illustrates how the government reacts with repression. On the right: the site of the former mill in Bourscheid in 2025.
For the protection of public order (09.01.1843) by UnknownChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
Patrolling Poverty
By decree of 24 December 1842, the mayors, as here in Wiltz, were asked to set up day and night patrols to support the gendarmerie in their duties.
One of the tasks of the citizen militia is to prevent begging and vagrancy and to arrest anyone they find begging outside their place of residence.
Power Struggle Over Welfare
Circular regarding the establishment of public charity in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (29.12.1846) by William IIChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
1846: Welfare Without Rights
Private charity can no longer cope with the social problems. In 1846, the government enacts a law that reorganises public welfare: Local authorities are now responsible for those in need, but there is no enforceable right to help for those affected.
Grund : Work, Social contrasts, and Political impulses (1834-1836) by Nicolas Liez/ Nicolas ReuterChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
The Grund district of the capital is a poor neighborhood in the 19th century.
Relief by Permission
The needy must apply to their local charity office, where they have a "relief domicile" – provided they lived there before their need arose. A five-member committee of local notables, appointed by the council, reviews and decides on applications.
View of the Alzette in the Grund district around 1835 and 2025.
The beggar depot (1816-1851) by Jean-Baptiste FresezChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
From Monastery to Beggar Depot
In 1690, the Poor Clares moved to Pfaffenthal after leaving the Holy Spirit Plateau. Their convent, dissolved in 1784, stood empty for 60 years. In 1843, the Saint-Jean Elisabethan Hospice moves in with staff and residents. By 1846, it is repurposed as a beggars' depot.
Under Article 275 of the Penal Code, healthy, able-bodied "habitual beggars" face 1–3 months in prison. If caught outside their home canton, they face 6 months to 2 years. The sentence is served in the beggar depot in Pfaffenthal.
The Hospice civil around 1846 and 2025. Since 2002 it has been serving as a retirement and nursing home for the City of Luxembourg. The associated church is a listed building and classified as a national monument.
Challenging the Welfare Law: The Church’s Response
Laurent's social message: Christian charity (1847) by Jean-Théodore LaurentChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
With his pastoral letter on charity (1847), Apostolic Vicar Jean-Théodore Laurent responds not only to acute social distress but also criticizes the 1846 state welfare law.
Laurent's social message: Circular of the Apostolic Vicar (13.01.1847) by Jean-Théodore LaurentChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
Laurent urges clergy to actively participate in public charity offices to ensure that welfare remains under church oversight rather than state control.
Emigration: Escape from Poverty
Emigrants on the ship Samuel Hop (1849) by Leo von ElliotChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
One-third of Luxembourgers, especially from the Moselle region, emigrate. Some move to Paris, others to South America or later to the USA. Winegrowers suffer from the loss of Belgium as a market. Joining the German Customs Union in 1842 fails to provide an adequate replacement.
Frédéric Hengel (1809-1903)
Frédéric Hengel emigrates to the USA. French inheritance law forces winemakers into poverty as small divided plots become unprofitable. Bad weather worsens the crisis: From 1840 to 1851, except for 1842 and 1846, wine quality remains poor.
Elite Circles, Social Inequality, and Cautious Compassion
The Who's Who of the capital (1830) by UnknownChambre des Députés, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
In 1852, 5.2% of Luxembourg’s male population belongs to the elite: merchants (33%), rentiers (18.5%), artisans (16.2%), free professionals (11.9%), high-rankingofficials (10.6%). They meet at the Cercle littéraire on Place d’Armes.
The Reading Room (1843) by Johann Peter HasencleverAlte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
In social gatherings, wealthy citizens and intellectuals discuss political writings, newspapers, and new ideas – often under the watchful eye of censorship. Women are barred from membership in these reading circles.
The Cercle littéraire is an exclusive meeting place for the bourgeoisie. Only resident family fathers in Luxembourg over 25 who can afford 2 guilders monthly and 24 guilder entry fees are admitted. Over fine wine and champagne, they debate the issues of the time.
The Cercle littéraire building offers space for balls and banquets as well as a reading room. An advert for a delicatessen shows that the economic upper class has access to food that is unaffordable for the lower class - an expression of social inequality.
This letter to the editor in the liberal newspaper Courrier du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg shows that parts of the middle classes recognize the social question. The author remains anonymous, presumably to avoid coming into conflict with his social class.
Thomas Hood's lament The Song of the Shirt in honour of the widowed seamstress Mrs Bidell (1843) was translated into many languages and published worldwide - including in Luxembourg in 1861. It becomes a phenomenon that draws attention to the misery of the lower classes.
In 1848, social unrest ignited: hunger, poverty, and inequality drove people to the streets. Authorities responded with repression, but calls for reform could not be silenced.
Today, social tensions remain – rising prices, precarious work, and inequality demand answers. History does not repeat itself, but it teaches that social grievances are never without consequence.
This is how it continues: 03. Right or Left? Political Movements 1840–1848
Click here to access the overview of the 10 stories from the exhibition “1848: Revolution in Luxembourg”.
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