Lasauvage

Lasauvage (Luxembourgish: Zowaasch) (German: — notionally only — Rohrbach) is a small town in the commune of Differdange, in south-western Luxembourg.

Shortly before the Second World War, there were plans drawn up by the Luxembourg government for Grand Duchess Charlotte to reside in Lasauvage, given its proximity to France, which would enable her to escape over the border easily, but they did not come to fruition.

[1] The place name goes back to a legend of a wild woman, who is supposed to have only eaten raw meat and who lived under a rocky promontory, where she was buried by a landslide.

In early chronicles, it is referred to as Val de la sauvage femme (French for "Valley of the wild woman").

Around the year 1623 in the Valley of the Wild Woman, a water-powered hammerworks with blast furnace was erected, where the primary school is now, owned by the Longwy citizen, Gabriel Bernard.

In the Economat (opposite the school), the workers could buy groceries, and have their bill (like their rent payments) deducted from their wages.

As Lasauvage was the only Luxembourgish village in range of the guns of the Maginot Line, the Grand-Ducal family had had a casemate build under House number 55 from 1939 to 1940.

Grand Duchess Charlotte was to live here in case of a German invasion, and continue to rule the country from here, like Albert I of Belgium, who during World War I had withdraw behind the Yser line.

But, when the German invasion did come on 10 May 1940, events moved so quickly that the Grand Duchess only barely had time to escape to France, and House No.