The highlight of the Luxembourg Chapter activities in 2021 was the visit to Villa Pauly, on 15 December 2021. During the Second World War, the Villa Pauly was the headquarters of the Gestapo in Luxembourg.
Our guide, Mr Claude Marx, who survived the Second World War as a child hiding in France, led us through Villa Pauly and complemented the current exhibition with interesting stories.
The event concluded over dinner at the restaurant CHICHE! where the Luxembourg participants of the Friends of ERA had the opportunity to try different delicious Lebanese mezze over lively conversation. The restaurant, a pop-up project, showed to be another example for social inclusion by hiring people of all origins that have a hard time finding a job but who generally have fabulous cooking skills.
Almost 20 participants joined us for the evening. A special guest was Ms Nilab Dian, a former judge of the supreme court of Afghanistan, who was rescued from Kabul to Luxembourg in August 2021. The Afghan judge escaped certain death by the Taliban thanks to the combined efforts of several fellow European judges, some of whom also attended the evening.
This get-together was organised by our new Luxembourg Chapter Coordinator, Michèle Stoffel, and attended by the Chair of the Friends of ERA Association, Jettie Van Caenegem, and the Director of ERA, Jean-Philippe Rageade.
All in all, it was an enjoyable long-awaited evening for everyone, which finally became possible after the long months of Corona isolation.