Around 50 people live in Breidfeld in the north of Luxembourg. A sign with the village’s Luxembourg name greets visitors upon arrival: Bredelt. “It’s actually called Bréidelt,” said locals Marie-Paule Johanns-Hamer and her husband Hilaire Johanns. But it’s also often spelled Breedelt, they added.
Apart from a barking dog and the sound of snow crunching underfoot, the village is quiet. A small chapel marks the intersection where the Duarrefstrooss (the village street) and Waemperweeg (the Weiswampach path) meet. The chapel was built in 1840 on land provided by a local resident, who also donated money and labour for its construction. Residents previously had to walk around 1.5km to nearby Holler for the nearest place of worship, according to openchurches.eu.
Until a good 30 years ago, the bell was rung by rope
The interior of the chapel is surprisingly small due to the relatively thick walls. An old cross and a bell from 1784 stand in front of the building. “The first cross was already there before the church,” explains Marie-Paule. “It was a so-called sacramental cross that processions passed by. In 1884, the first cross was replaced by the slate cross that can be seen in front of the church today.”
The church bell from 1784 only found its way to Breidfeld decades later. “It was consecrated in Breidfeld in August 1930,” said Marie-Paule. The bell originally came from the church in Wilwerdange and was added to the chapel’s existing bell.
Until 1994, they were rung using two ropes, until the belfry was found to be unsafe. The 1784 bell was also out of tune, said Marie-Paule. It was replaced in July 1995 with the new model dedicated to St Alphonse. The ringing of the bells is now done electronically, the Breidfeld local said.
Not only the 1784 bell, which now hangs outside the chapel, has been replaced. The bell it joined in 1930, too, was replaced in 1947 and “replaced a previous bell that had been damaged during the Rundstedt offensive,” said Marie-Paule.
Traces of the Second World War
The village used to have its own school, but this, too, “was completely burnt down during the Rundstedt offensive,” said Marie-Paule, referring to the Battle of the Bulge. “It was rebuilt after the war, but because there were only a few children in the village, it wasn’t put back into use.”
The building became private property in 1982. The village children go to the primary school in Weiswampach, which is around 2.5km away (or roughly 5 minutes by car or bus and 10 minutes by bicycle).
There are now at least 14 children and young people in Breidfeld due to the influx of new residents.
Not far from the central chapel, a barn provided a hiding space for three young men who escaped for over a year from forced conscription by the Nazi occupiers during WW2. A commemorative plaque from the Cercle d’étude sur la Bataille des Ardennes, which studies the Battle of the Bulge, and the municipality of Weiswampach, is attached to the outer wall.
Not far away, the “Al Molkerei” (old dairy) reflects a different legacy. “At the beginning of the 1930s, there were still 14 farms in the village,” said Hilaire. “They got together and built a dairy – a skimming station to be precise – so that not everyone had to do the work themselves at home.” The building was used from 1933 until production was later outsourced to various co-operative dairies. “It was over in 1955,” said Hilaire.
Farmers would bring their milk and it would be skimmed in the little house. They would take the skimmed milk back to their farms and the cream would remain cooled at the site until it was picked up by a cooperative.
The “Al Molkerei” was in operation from 1933 to 1955. Today it serves as a bus shelter © Photo credit: Chris Karaba
It wasn’t only a site of work, however, as the dairy is also where villagers exchanged news and gossip, said Mathias Johanns, Hilaire’s father, in descriptions of the house that have been published in local history accounts.
Since the mid-1980s, the picturesque little house, which also houses the community notice board, has served as a bus stop.
A funfair of their own
There is still plenty of socialising in Breidfeld today, with many associations active in village life, typical of Luxembourg’s rural areas. But there is also at the local fair, which takes place annually at the beginning of August in honour of Saint Alphonse.
“There are no floats or fairground stalls,” said Hilaire. But the “Wämper Musik” (the Weiswampach brass band) goes from house to house and plays the Hämmelsmarsch, a traditional piece of Luxembourg music. “People give a small donation and in some houses they are also served something [to eat or drink],” said Marie-Paule.
(This story was first published in the Luxemburger Wort. Translated using AI, edited by Cordula Schnuer.)
