On October 14, 1915, large crowds bade their final farewells to prime minister Paul Eyschen (1841-1915). Departing from Place Guillaume II, the cortège passed through Grand Rue and Rue de la Porte-Neuve to the Notre-Dame cemetery at Limpertsberg. Members of the government, the grand duchess, yet also representative of the German military administration attended the state funeral.
The unmarried politician had died of heart failure on October 12, 1915 in Luxembourg City after having been a leading figure in Luxembourgian politics for a period spanning almost three decades. Just seven days before his death, he had returned from neutral Switzerland, where he had been vainly seeking support for an improvement to the food supply situation in Luxembourg.
Eyschen left a lasting mark on Luxembourgian politics. However, his political stance had been the subject of criticism even during his own lifetime. As one of the first to do so at this time, he promoted the Luxembourgish language. Statutory health insurance such as we know it today was a further cause he espoused, and this he introduced while still in office. Eyschen also supported the liberal education reforms in 1912. Conservative politicians and the grand duchess subsequently accused him of having destroyed the Catholic values of Luxembourgian society. Liberal and left-leaning politicians, for their part, disapproved of his interpretation of the country’s constitution, which accorded the grand duchess the right to actively intervene in politics.
During the war, the Eyschen administration and its successor governments regularly protested against the German occupation of Luxembourg, expressing concern about the country’s independence. Today, however, it may be assumed that Eyschen expected the Kaiserreich to prevail.
Eyschen’s decease sparked political instability. Interference by the grand duchess in appointments made to the subsequent administration was one of the factors that led to her abdication in 1919.
