Luxembourg

   At the time of the German occupation of Luxembourg in May 1940, there were about 3,500 Jews, who constituted 1 percent of the population. Until September 1940, some Jewish property was confiscated but no anti-Semitic legislation was passed. All of this changed in September, when the Germans applied the Nuremberg Laws to Luxembourg, and subsequently forced the Jews into a ghetto. Jews were now required to wear the yellow Star of David badge and were assigned to forced labor brigades. Between August 1940 and October 1941, approximately 1,500 Jews managed to escape to Vichy France and Portugal. This was the last opportunity for the Jews to leave Luxembourg, as the Germans commenced the roundups that culminated in approximately 2,000 Jews being deported to Auschwitz and Theresienstadt between October 1941 and April 1943. It is estimated that about 1,950 Jews were exterminated, with about a third killed in the death camps. The rest either were killed in Luxembourg or became victims of the deportations in the countries that they fled to for sanctuary.