Every two years, the Centre National de Littérature (CNL) invites people to moderate a discussion for its in-house magazine Fundstücke/ Trouvailles, which not only aims to provide information about the work of the cultural institute, but also seeks dialogue with civil society. For this year's edition, I had the pleasure of discussing Luxembourg with the writers Florence Sunnen and Benoît Wolff and getting to the bottom of the question of why, as an intellectual growing up here, one might feel the urge to move away.

Many thanks to Daniela Lieb and Ludivine Jehin at CNL for making this happen.

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There were only two candidates for the job, but in hindsight it was one of the best experiences I've ever had. As editor-in-chief of the only street magazine in Luxembourg, I gave my heart and soul to this newspaper for a year and a half. From a brochure that had become discreet and only served to be listed in the annual report, "Stëmm vun der Strooss" developed into a catchy magazine about social work topics, proudly written by people in difficult life situations, and supported by the Ministry of Health. 

When my father died in early 2024, it was the only thing that kept me going. My dream would have been to sell the magazine in the streets and thus generate a much-appreciated source of income for people in dire straits. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to convince my employer of this concept. After all, I was mainly there to replace my predecessor. Sadly, he too passed away a few days before my contract expired. Months earlier, he had warned me: “We were never the Augustin and we will never be the Augustin”. How right he was to be.

When Christian Aschman, a fine photographer on his own, asked me to write Leçons d‘une vie : L‘œuvre de Pol Aschman dans la presse de son temps about his uncle's vast photographic work, I was initially very flattered but soon felt a little paralyzed. Of course, like every Luxembourger, I was familiar with Pol Aschman‘s work. But who was the man in whose pictures we like to look for our relatives, neighbours and contemporaries? For the first time, an attempt has been made, through this publication, to determine what the enigma Pol Aschman stands for and how to appreciate the work he left behind, which Christian so reverently highlights in this beautiful book. 

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