User:Dr Gangrene/Gomand trial

The Gomand trial was a trial from 1946 to 1947 for diffamation(?), primarily against the editor of the Luxembourgish newspaper L'Indépendant, initiated by three ministers of the Luxembourgish post-World War II government, Pierre Dupong, Joseph Bech and Victor Bodson. The trial addressed criticisms of the government's behaviour while in exile during the war and in the immediate post-war period.

Some of the key witnesses who testified against the government during the trial, were later arrested for an alleged coup against the state.

Background
Like several others, the Resistance members Norbert Gomand, Raymond Dupont and Léon Thoss had been vehement critics of the government in exile. As their criticisms were printed in the newspaper L'Indépendant, founded in 1945, the ministers Dupong, Bech and Bodson started a court case against them for libel. The trial was mainly directed against Gomand, the editor of L'Indépendant, and started in early 1946. For several months, a total of 114 witness were heard, many of whom confirmed the allegations that the government had failed to assist Luxembourgish refugees abroad during the war.

Witnesses
Lieutenant Émile Krieps was called as a witness on the second day of the trial, on 5 April 1946, as the first witness. He stated that in January 1943, Victor Bodson had been in Portugal, with a mission to help the Luxembourgers who were in the Spanish concentration camp at Miranda de Ebro. On 2 June the same year, Charles Gordian Troeller, managed to help about 30 young Luxembourgers from this camp into Portugal, from where they could travel to Britain. Bodson, on the other hand, managed to help not a single refugee.

Furthermore, he added that many Luxembourgers had left the country, in order to fight in the Allied armies, but instead only got as far as southern France, because of a lack of support from the exiled government.

Those Luxembourgers who did help their countrymen who were in hiding, included Gomand, the communist minister Dr Charles Marx, and the episcopal official, Joseph Reckinger. Krieps added that the government-in-exile should have fought more intensely and from earlier on for the evacuation of Luxembourgers who wanted to go abroad, and they should have instructed their diplomatic representatives in France to give the Luxembourgers false papers for traveling.

He also stated that 15 Luxembourgers had been found in hiding and captured by the Germans, because their government had not helped them and they had languished in occupied Europe. He accused the government of a gross failure in this regard. Like others, he himseld had had to remain for a long while in Miranda de Ebro, because Bodson had written to the Belgian consul that the Luxembourgers in the camp were merely jeunes étourdis and aventuriers, so that the Belgian officials had then ceased all aid to the Luxembourgers.

By not introducing a general military service obligation, the governmment had caused problems for the réfractaires. They were treated by the Germans as either deserters from the Wehrmacht or "free game".

Robert Winter was also a witness. He stated that in London, he made contact with Bech, suggesting that the Luxembourgers in Spain and France should be helped, and describing their living conditions. Bech declined to do anything, as the travel to Britain for these people would be too expensive. Another piece of evidence in the trial was a telegram from Bech to the Dutch consul in Madrid, with the words "Cessez tout secours aux Luxembourgeois". The testimony of Krieps, Winter and other witnesses received very little attention in the two biggest newspapers, the Luxemburger Wort and the Tageblatt.

Conclusion
The trial ended on 29 March 1947, with the sentencing of Gomand to a large fine.