The Gëlle Fra was my aunt

A Luxembourg historian thinks he may have cracked one of Luxembourg's greatest mysteries of who posed for sculptor Claus Cito when he created the Gëlle Fra (Golden Lady) statue.

The monument of a woman placing a wreath on the head of the nation, has come to mean many things to Luxemburgers over the years. After WWI, it was inaugurated as a memorial to those who volunteered to serve for France.

During WWII, it became a symbol of resistance and hope that the Grand Duchy would one day be free from its oppressors.

But, to Jean Wildschütz, the statue's importance is much more personal because he says it depicts his aunt, Suzanne Marx-Wildschütz. 

Mr Wildschütz explained his aunt was the wife of the local baker, working opposite Cito's workshop in Bascharage.

Born on September 2, 1897, Suzanne's husband, Joseph, had been a friend of the sculptor's since childhood. Two years after she married Joseph on March 11, 1918, Cito asked if she would sit for him as a model. The couple consented.

Later it was Joseph Marx who carried an early version of the Gëlle Fra on his cart to the capital.

Jean said that he learned of the fascinating family connection in 1978 when his aunt was seriously ill.

Suzanne confided her secret to her nephew asking him never to tell a soul as long as she was alive. Suzanne recovered and returned to work at the bakery until her death in 1984.

Jean remembered Suzanne as a hard-working woman who, even into her eighties, insisted on whipping the cream by hand for the house speciality, “Tarte Jockey”, a kind of fruit tart. 

Her likeness, meanwhile, has had a rich life. On October 21, 1940, German invading forces tore the statue down, with some believing Nazis had melted the statue and others thinking she had been destroyed.

Later she was found and, after being unearthed from beneath the national football stadium, was reinstalled in the capital on National Day 1985.

In 2010, the statue was flown to Shanghai for the World Expo. One little-known fact is that originally, the statue's head was looking ahead. But, after it was dismantled in 1940, the head bent downward.

With elements from an article by Nicolas Anen

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