(Deutsch) Panneau 2 Charity, Air, and Order
Panneau 2
Charity, Air, and Order
The principle of distributing garden plots to poor citizens is based on experiences already carried out in the 18th century. Gardening was intended to improve the diet and income of the working class. Physician and educator Daniel Gottlob Moritz Schreber advocated for public health, virtue, and cleanliness. Founded in 1864 by Leipzig school director Ernst Innocenz Hausschild, the first Schreberverein and Schrebergarten focused primarily on educational and social issues. The main goal was to provide children and young people in overcrowded cities with an outdoor play area and to educate their parents on child-rearing matters.
In this spirit, the Luxembourg section of the Red Cross was founded in 1914. At the time, this organization was already managing several workers’ gardens in Germany. Luxembourgish architect Georges Traus published his Gesundbuch der Wohnungen as well as the Leitfaden der Hygiene, which he co-authored with Dr. Feltgen. The president of the steel group ARBED, Émile Mayrisch, and his wife Aline Mayrisch-de Saint Hubert actively supported the construction of workers’ housing with gardens. For decades, directors, officials of the local steel industry, and steelworkers served on the boards of workers’ garden associations.
The Arboriculture and Horticulture Association of Differdange was convinced that “through the establishment of workers’ gardens, (…) a rooted, healthy, industrious, and content working-class population would be created (…) for all those who, after a hard day’s work, seek and find refreshing rest and a beneficial activity for their leisure hours” (Luxemburger Wort, February 17, 1914).
