Carmen Ennesch

Carmen Ennesch (22 May 1902 – 19 February 2000) was a Luxembourgish-French journalist, writer, and historian. She is known as the first female Luxembourgish journalist.

Early life and education Carmen Ennesch was born on 22 May 1902 in Aachen, Germany, the daughter of the engineer and writer Alphonse Ennesch. After completing her baccalauréat at the Lycée de Jeunes Filles in Luxembourg in 1921, she studied law and economics in Austria, Belgium and Germany before obtaining a degree in social and political science from the University of Frankfurt-am-Main in 1923. Her thesis focussed on the wage structures of metallurgical workers and miners. and from 1934 worked as a correspondent for the Toulouse daily newspaper La Dépêche du Midi. Her articles covered political, historical, and feminist topics, and appeared in many Parisian newspapers, but also in periodicals such as Saarbrücker Zeitung, Cahiers d’études cathares, Die Luxemburgerin, L’Action féminine, Luxembourg, Journal des professeurs, Les Cahiers luxembourgeois, the radical paper L'Ere nouvelle, and the Belgian socialist newspaper Le Peuple. She also presented shows on RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg and France Culture.

As a writer and journalist, Ennesch focused on feminism, socialism, the Cathars, and political and social engagement. She also authored biographies of Rosa Luxemburg and Vittoria Colonna. Her biography of Odette de Champdivers appeared in serial form in Femmes d’aujourd’hui in 1933 and 1934. In the studies La Personnalité de la femme dans la conception socialiste (1932), and Aux sources du féminisme (1934), Ennesch analysed the feminist movement and its history.

Her first book, Au-dessus du ressentiment franco-allemand (1932) was written in favour of a Franco-German alliance with a view to a socially unified Europe, and found its origins in the friendship between Ennesch and Andrée Viénot-Mayrisch, a militant socialist. and in Les Cathares dans la cité (1969). The two books were united in the collection De l’épopée albigeoise aux Cathares parmi nous (1985).

Ennesch's legacy as a researcher, writer, and pioneer of female journalism was honoured with an exhibition at the Luxembourg National Archives on the 100th anniversary of her birth in 2002, Carmen Ennesch: la présentation d’un legs: le fonds Carmen Ennesch FD 111. but also her library. Ennesch was also a member of SELF / S.E.L.F. - Société des écrivains luxembourgeois de langue française.

Works Au-dessus du ressentiment franco-allemand, 1932 La Vie et la Mort de Rosa Luxembourg, 1935 Émigrations politiques d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, 1946 La Vie comblée de Vittoria Colonna. La grande inspiratrice. L'unique amour de Michel-Ange, 1947 L’Épopée albigeoise, 1961 Les Cathares dans la cité, 1969 Mosaïque bulgare. Impressions d'un pays socialiste, 1970 De l’épopée albigeoise aux Cathares parmi nous, 1985