Paul Palgen

This plot, which dates back to 1913, was transferred to the City of Luxembourg in 2009, in memory of the Luxembourg author Paul Palgen.

Elise Graff (Luxembourg, 24 January 1859–Leuven, 7 October 1913) was the first to be interred in this grave. She was the wife of Charles Palgen (1854–1903). After studying engineering in Leuven, Charles Palgen embarked on a glittering career in the steel industry, working as an engineer at Wendel's blast furnaces in Audun. From 1889 to 1898, he served as Director of the company Lorraine Industrielle, in Hussigny. In 1899, he co-founded the Société des Hauts-fourneaux de Moselle (Moselle Blast Furnace Company). Charles Palgen was laid to rest in Hussigny.

Their sons Alphonse (1890–1945), Paul (1883–1966) and Ferdinand (1897–1917) and their daughter Jeanne Hernandez-Palgen (1893–1978) were interred with their parents. Jeanne Palgen married Charles Hernandez (1879–1944) – a merchant tailor in Luxembourg. Their marriage produced two daughters: Claire (1921–1946), a teacher of English and French (buried in the plot), and Fernande Hernandez, a music teacher. Both died unmarried.

Alphonse Palgen (1897–1945) had forged a brilliant career in medicine. He obtained two doctorates – one in surgery and the other in obstetrics – before becoming an assistant at the Leuven University Clinic in 1913. He later became an assistant at the children's hospital in Düsseldorf, before opening his own medical practice in Esch-sur-Alzette. In 1930, he was appointed Director of the maternity ward at the Maison Laval in Esch-sur-Alzette.

Paul Palgen, to whom the Dictionary of Luxembourg Authors devotes several pages, attended the lycée in Hussigny-Godbrange and the Athénée de Luxembourg. In 1903, his family moved to Leuven, where he qualified as a civil engineer in 1908. He then went on to work in Dessau. Suspected of spying for France, he was arrested, convicted and imprisoned, and subsequently expelled from Germany. Paul Palgen's dislike of the Germans was reinforced when his family home was destroyed during the German occupation of Belgium in WWI. His brother, Ferdinand Palgen (1897–1917), died fighting for France. He is buried in the plot. Paul Palgen settled in Luxembourg with his wife Claire Vermast (1893–1974), who was a singer, the daughter of pianist Jean Vermast. She died in Liège, but was buried in Luxembourg. Paul Palgen became an engineer at ARBED. In 1919, he lauded the proclamation of the republic in Luxembourg, and called for the country to be reunited with France. In 1920, ARBED sent him to Brazil to develop the Comptoir luxembourgeois de métallurgie (Columeta – Luxembourg Metallurgy Firm), ARBED's distribution company, and the Société des Terres Rouges. After spending 18 months in Rio de Janeiro, Palgen returned to ARBED in Luxembourg. Three years later, he moved to Liège, where he worked for various metallurgy companies. In 1950, he was appointed Honorary Consul of the Grand Duchy in Liège.

Historian Frank Wilhelm has conducted an in-depth analysis of his work: Paul Palgen began contributing to the newspaper "L'Indépendance luxembourgeoise" in 1921, and published his first poems in 1904 in the Brussels magazine "Le Patriote illustré". His work has appeared in "Floréal", "La Voix des Jeunes" and "Les Pages de la SELF" (Société des écrivains luxembourgeois de langue française). Some of his stories, such as "Maria de Jesus" (1953), were published in "Les Cahiers luxembourgeois". Many of Paul Palgen's poems have been reprinted in foreign publications, such as the "Courrier de poésie", "France-Luxembourg", "Il Giornale dei Poeti", "L'Esprit français", "La Grive", "La Revue de l'Amérique latine", "Le Bayou", "Le Cocotier", "Le Goéland", "Le Journal des nations américaines", "Le Journal des poètes", "Le Thyrse", "Marginales", "Mercure de France", "Points et contrepoints", "Risques" and "La Revue nationale". His earliest poetry collections were published in Luxembourg, while others were published in Belgium and France. The manuscript of "Les seuils noirs. Poèmes de la guerre 1914-1917" was confiscated by the Germans during WWI.

Paul Palgen was influenced by Émile Verhaeren's vision of a new and better world.

He described the exotic territories of Brazil, the power wielded by soldiers and engineers, and the ensuing destruction and misery. The serpent – as a symbol of fascination with evil and perfection – was a recurring motif in Paul Palgen's work. His only novel, "La Margrave aux chiens", inspired by science-fiction literature, is about a dystopian world threatened by mutants.

Several of Paul Palgen's poems have been set to music by Jean Faber and Lou Koster. Others have been translated into Hungarian. Two collections of poetry by the author were published posthumously: "Guanabara" and other poems, with a preface by Georges Thinès, in 1992, and "Choix de poèmes" (Selected Poems), annotated by Nic Klecker in 1994. Paul Palgen was a founding member of SELF, and a member of Amitiés françaises Luxembourg, PEN International, and the Centre français de Belgique. He received awards from the Alliance française: in 1932 for "La Pourpre sur les crassiers", and in 1935 for "Guanabara". In 1954, he was awarded the SELF prize. Later, he also won the Van-Lerberghe prize awarded by the "Maison de poésie" in Paris, and the Simon-Bolivar prize. In 1962, Paul Palgen was a founding member of the Institut Grand-Ducal (Arts and Letters Department).

The monument is a cenotaph in polished, light Labrador granite, set in the centre of the plot. The sides are decorated with greenery. Inscriptions in bronze lettering are distributed on both sides of the flat cross sculpted in bas-relief on the cenotaph. The name of the plot appears in bronze lettering on the pediment of the cenotaph. The plot is surrounded by zinc railings supported by angular cornerpieces. The monument is signed Th. Mergen, a sculptor and marble-worker from Luxembourg-Glacis.