Joseph Bech (17 February 1887 – 8 March 1975)Thewes, Guy
"Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848."
Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. was a

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ish politician and lawyer. He was the prime minister of Luxembourg, serving for eleven years, from 16 July 1926 to 5 November 1937. He returned to the position after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and served for another four years, from 29 December 1953 until 29 March 1958. The 1982–1983 academic year at the

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was named in his honour.

Career

Bech studied law at Fribourg and

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before he received his doctorate in law in 1912, and qualified as a lawyer in 1914. The same year, on 30 June, he was elected to the Luxembourgish

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for the newly founded Party of the Right, representing the Canton of Grevenmacher. On 15 April 1921, Bech was appointed to

Émile Reuter Émile Reuter (2 August 1874 – 14 February 1973)Thewes, Guy"Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848."Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. was a Luxembourgish politician. He served as prime minister of Lux ...

's cabinet, holding the positions of Director-General for the Interior and Director-General for Education. In 1925, Bech lost those positions, as the Party of the Right was edged out of government by a coalition of the other parties, which formed the government under Pierre Prüm. When Prüm's coalition collapsed in 1926, Bech became prime minister, as well as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Education and Wine-growing. He was to remain the Foreign and Wine-growing Minister until 1954. His term as prime minister, on the other hand, lasted until 1937, when he resigned over the outcome in the referendum on the '' Maulkuerfgesetz''. At various points, he also held the portfolios of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, and the Interior. With the German invasion of Luxembourg on 10 May 1940, most of the government quickly departed

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and escaped to France. It was in Bordeaux that Bech and his family were granted transit visas from the Portuguese consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, along with the rest of the government and the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg, in June 1940. Joseph, along with his wife Georgette, and their children Charles and Betty, followed the Grand Ducal family through Coimbra and Lisbon, settling at Praia das Maçãs after the Grand Ducal family had moved to Cascais. By August, the entire entourage had moved to Monte Estoril, where the Bech stayed at Chalet Posser de Andrade until 26 September 1940, with the exception of Charles, who would stay until 2 October. On 26 September, Georgette and Betty boarded the S.S. Excalibur headed for New York City, along with Prime Minister of Luxembourg Pierre Dupong and his wife Sophie. They arrived on 5 October 1940. Joseph Bech eventually returned to London, where the Luxembourg government-in-exile was officially based. During World War II, Bech was the Foreign Minister of the Luxembourg government-in-exile in London. In that capacity he signed the London Customs Convention establishing the Benelux Union in 1944. Bech is considered to be one of the ' Founding Fathers' of the

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and the European Community. He was one of the participants of the Messina Conference in 1955, which would lead to the Treaty of Rome in 1957. He was prime minister again from 1953 to 1958, succeeding Pierre Dupong. He remained in the government until 1959 when he became President of the Chamber of Deputies until 1964. Bech died on 8 March 1975, at the age of 88.

Honours and awards

Honours

* Grand-Cross of the Order of the Oak Crown *

Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Gran ...

of the Order of the White Lion (1930) * AUT Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria - 2nd Class BAR

Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria (1955) * GER Bundesverdienstkreuz 7 Grosskreuz

Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1958) * Honorary Doctorate by the University of Innsbruck (1968)

Awards

* Charlemagne Prize (26 May 1960) – "in recognition of his life's work and his high merits for the unification of Europe that began in the old League of Nations and in the European institutions took their purposeful continuation."

References

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bech, Joseph European integration pioneers Prime ministers of Luxembourg Ministers for foreign affairs of Luxembourg Ministers for defence of Luxembourg Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg from Grevenmacher Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg) Luxembourgian anti-communists Luxembourgian people of World War II World War II political leaders Party of the Right (Luxembourg) politicians Christian Social People's Party politicians 20th-century Luxembourgian lawyers Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Grand Decoration with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria 1887 births 1975 deaths People from Diekirch Ministers for agriculture of Luxembourg 20th-century Luxembourgian politicians Permanent representatives of Luxembourg to the United Nations