Luxembourg's emigrants given voice in new book

(JB) A writer with Luxembourgish roots has shed new light on the lives of the descendants of Luxembourg emigrants to the US by releasing a book.

Though fictional, Adella's Diary, is based on real people and incidents that happened within the Luxembourgish community that settled in the Whitewater Valley, Winona County, in Minnesota.

“Those kids really did walk a mile to school. It was so cold and then there's the excitement of when you came to a treipefest, that must have been wonderful!” said writer Mary Nilles.

The diary is an account of a farmer's daughter, named Adella, living through the seasons during the course of 1894. 

The living  history of a house

It is set in Marnach House, a stone building constructed by Luxembourgers along a stagecoach road in a forest, which was recently restored and today serves an important heritage role.

From schooling to religion, work, food, celebrations and death, the story casts a fascinating light on the often hard lives that these emigrants had.

Nilles, who is both a university lecturer in New York and volunteer at Marnach House, says she drew inspiration for the book by spending time in the house itself but also at her family home in nearby Rollingstone.

“Most of it was written here (in Rollingstone), sitting on the farm by my old barn that was also built by Luxembourgers,” the writer explained. 

Adella's Diary is Nilles' seventh book on Luxembourg culture and it draws on her past work, tracing family genealogy in the area, interviewing local families and remembering stories from her own family, which also feature as characters in the book. 

Oral tradition

“There was a strong oral tradition in my family. For example in the book when the boy tries to go home with the wood and the snow comes and he freezes to death. There were instances like that which really happened.”

While Luxembourgers were not the only nationality in the area, they made up the largest group of permanent settlers, which explains why so many Luxembourgish traditions and customs have endured there.

Nilles refers to these in the book, among the main ones being the special dishes such as the treipen, Boxemännercher and the liquor Dröpp and a visit from Kleeschen (St Nicholas).

Because the book serves an educational role, there is a glossary in the back to help readers understand what these are.

“I hope readers will enjoy it as a story and that it will start a conversation about the immigrants, how they adapted. But also where we go from here,” Nilles said, explaining that while a tremendous amount of work has been done to preserve the heritage of emigrating Luxembourgers, the work is not over. 

Restoring Marnach House

Marnach House was listed on the US National Register of Historic Places in 1978, which attracted the attention of the Luxembourg media.

Luxembourg invested considerable sums in the project and Luxembourg craftspeople travelled to the area to lovingly restore the building.

Marnach House opened for the first time to the public in 1993.

With the exception of the installation of solar panels to operate fans for combating damp, the house is much the same as it would have been when it as constructed in the 1850s. 

"Special and unique"

“It has an educational function that is very special and unique. There's no other place like that,” Nilles said, adding that it is her dream for a new generation of descendants to take over the preservation of the house.

Until that happens, she will continue to write about the lives of the Luxembourgish emigrants to the US, and is already thinking about the next book.

Adella's diary costs 15 USD plus postage and packaging. To order a copy, email mnilles@CityTech.Cuny.Edu

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