{"id":9264,"date":"2025-06-17T15:17:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T13:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/c2dh-en\/?post_type=articles&p=9264"},"modified":"2025-07-29T07:21:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T05:21:54","slug":"historical-ties-between-luxembourg-and-the-dr-congo","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/c2dh-en\/articles\/historical-ties-between-luxembourg-and-the-dr-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"Historical Ties Between Luxembourg and the DR Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\nKobosana te: boyokani ezali ya kala Luxembourg n\u00e1 Kinshasa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As part of the COLUX<\/a> research project, I traveled to Kinshasa (DR Congo) in November\/December 2024 with a scholarship from the Fondation Zeilinger. The journey confronted me with the enduring legacies of colonialism and left me reflecting deeply on the role I occupy as a white or European historian working on the colonial past of Luxembourg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the following text, I shed light on the often overlooked or unknown entanglements between Luxembourg and the Congolese capital that I encountered during my journey. At this point, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who helped and supported me throughout my journey and stay \u2013 most notably Prof. Bruno Lapika Dimomfu, Pierre Turban Tudi, Jean Deb\u00e9thel B. Bitumba, Cai Chen, the team at INACO, the administration of \u2018Cit\u00e9 Kauka\u2019, the Faculty of History at the University of Kinshasa, and the Secretariat of the C\u00b2DH.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n \n\"Kinshasa

\n Waiting for public transport. \u00a9 Kevin Goergen, December 2024. <\/p>\n <\/figure>\n\n\n

\nBorn in Buschrodt \u2013 Buried in Ngaliema<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Luxembourg\u2019s colonial legacy in the Congo Basin can be traced back to the establishment of the trading post L\u00e9opoldville. Nicolas Grang (1854\u20131883) arrived in the Congo Basin in 1882 as part of the military expeditions led by Henry M. Stanley. Stanley named the station after the Belgian King Leopold II, who supported these expeditions in pursuit of his own interests. Born in Buschrodt, Grang became the first European buried in the \u2018cimeti\u00e8re des pionniers\u2019 on Monts Ngaliema \u2013 located in the western part of what is now Kinshasa.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n \n\"Kinshasa

\n Riding through the Monts Ngaliema by motorcycle. \u00a9 Kevin Goergen, December 2024. <\/p>\n <\/figure>\n\n\n

Following the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, the station L\u00e9opoldville was incorporated into the Congo Free State (1885\u20131908). During this period, at least 83 Luxembourgish citizens were active in the colony. The number rises to 90 if one also includes those who had acquired Belgian citizenship before departing, as well as those portrayed in the colonial narrative as \u2018Luxembourgish pioneers\u2019, despite having only minimal ties to the Grand Duchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1923, L\u00e9opoldville became the capital of the Belgian Congo (1908\u20131960). In 1966, the city was renamed Kinshasa as part of the Authenticit\u00e9<\/em> initiated by Congolese President Mobutu Sese Seko (1930\u20131997), adopting the name of a nearby village that had existed east of the original trading post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Monts Ngaliema, where Grang is buried, one can see Brazzaville, the capital of what is today the Republic of the Congo. Brazzaville was founded by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza on behalf of the French state on the land of T\u00e9k\u00e9 King Makoko Ilboo. During the so-called \u2018scramble for the Stanley Pool\u2019 \u2013 particularly in the 1870s and 1880s \u2013  European powers competed for control over the region between the Atlantic coast and Pool Malebo. Missionaries played a significant role in advancing national and imperial ambitions during this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such figure was Joseph Sand (1854\u20131926), who arrived in the Congo Basin in 1884 as a missionary with the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans). He was instrumental in promoting French influence in what became French Congo. At the same time, his letters from the Congo Basin \u2013 \u2018Briefe des Luxemburger Congo-Mission\u00e4rs\u2019 \u2013 were published in the Luxembourgish press, offering insights into colonial life and missionary work.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n \n\"Looking

\n Looking across the Congo River to Brazzaville. \u00a9 Kevin Goergen, November 2024. <\/p>\n <\/figure>\n\n\n

In 1948, on the occasion of the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the railway Matadi-L\u00e9opoldville, Luxembourg made its first official visit to the Belgian Congo. The delegation, led by Foreign Minister Joseph Bech (1887\u20131975), included Robert Als (1897-1991), Luxembourg\u2019s minister in Brussels, and Mathias Thill (1890-1967), president of the Luxembourg Colonial Association (Cercle colonial luxembourgeois<\/em>). During their visit they laid flowers at the grave of Nicolas Grang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nEisem gro’ssen Kompatriot – Kompatriote monene na bino<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s courtyard of Kinshasa-Est train station stands a piece of history: \u2018La Premi\u00e8re locomotive de l\u2019exploitation 1898<\/em>\u2019 (\u2018the first locomotive in service 1898\u2019). On March 16 of that year, Luxembourgish engineer Nicolas Cito (1866\u20131949) drove this locomotive to the station at N\u2019Dolo. Just four months later, the railway line was extended to the then-station L\u00e9opoldville-Est, marking the completion of the Matadi\u2013L\u00e9opoldville railway after nearly a decade of construction.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n \n\"Historic

\n Historic locomotive from 1898 preserved at Kinshasa-Est. \u00a9 Kevin Goergen, November 2024. <\/p>\n <\/figure>\n\n\n

At the station entrance, a large mural catches the eye. Above it reads the Latin phrase \u2018Aperire Terram Gentibus<\/em>\u2019 (\u2018To open the land to the peoples\u2019). This title alone reveals the perspective from which the mural was created. Painted during the colonial era to commemorate the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the railway, the artwork exposes the racialized division of labour: European skilled workers and African labourers. Among the Europeans were several Luxembourgers; four of them died during the construction, along with 128 other Europeans. In contrast, the estimated 1 800 deaths among African and Asian workers remain a vague figure \u2013 one that underscores the colonial disregard for the lives of \u2018non-white\u2019 labourers in the relentless drive for colonial-capitalist expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wikipedia article on Nicolas Cito (1866\u20131949) is available only in Luxembourgish and Lingala. Yet, Cito left enduring physical traces and a collective memory in Luxembourg and the DR Congo. A commemorative plaque honouring Cito was unveiled in 1938 in Bascharage, a village in Luxembourg. It bears the inscription: \u2018Eisem gro’ssen Kompatriot dem Nicolas Cito Ingene’er Kolonial-Pionne’er Generalkonsul vu Letzeburg\u2019 (\u2018To our great compatriot Nicolas Cito, engineer, colonial pioneer, and General Consul of Luxembourg\u2019). This monument has been, and continues to be, a focal point in Luxembourg\u2019s ongoing debate about its colonial legacy and historical entanglements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you ask people in Kinshasa today \u2013 more precisely in or around the Kauka neighborhood \u2013 whether they know Nicolas Cito or what they associate with his name, the most common answer would likely be \u2018Cit\u00e9 Cito\u2019. Established in 1948 as \u2018Camp Nicolas Cito\u2019, the neigboorhood was built to house Congolese workers of the OTRACO (Office d’Exploitation des Transports Coloniaux<\/em>). In the early 1950s, it primarily housed navigators, machinists, and their families \u2013 residency required having at least one child. By the 1970s, ONATRA (Office National des Transports<\/em>) employees could access affordable housing loans, and in 1974, the area was renamed \u2018Cit\u00e9 Kauka\u2019. The name \u2018Kauka\u2019 refers to a dredger ship used for river maintenance. Today, the neighborhood is still home to many former ONATRA employees and their families. Among the older residents, the name Nicolas Cito still resonates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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