because the monarchy and government had nurtured it: if the Luxembourgers were shown evidence of their belonging to the German nation, the will to be independent must disappear. Life in occupied Luxembourg The general public were slow to react at first, still feeling shock from the invasion of 1914–1918. Furthermore, the royal family and the government had silently fled into exile. The majority of the population kept their heads low to avoid any conflict with the authorities; others participated in acts of passive resistance. Germanification The administration of Simon arrived in Luxembourg fully persuaded that the "German-ness" of the Luxembourgers merely lay under a thin external layer of French influence. This in turn meant that, with a bit of determined "unraveling" by his administration, the German character of the population would essentially reveal itself. Simon had two clear goals: The Nazification and Germanisation of Luxembourg, i.e., the extinction of everything that was not of German source, like French names and words of French origin or a French way of life The destruction and dismemberment of the Luxembourgish state institutions, and the country's incorporation into the Third Reich His very first series of decrees made this policy very clear: 6 August 1940: German became the only official language, and the usage of the French language was banned. The ban applied to official and administrative usage as well as everyday life. French expressions of courtesy such as "Bonjour", "Merci", "Monsieur", "Madame", etc. were included: people greeting each other had to say "Heil Hitler". Autumn 1940. The political parties and independent labour unions, the Parliament and the Conseil d'État were dissolved. All civil society organisations and the press were subjected to Nazi control. Till end 1940. German law was introduced including the Sondergerichte and the Nuremberg Laws. 31 January 1941: French-sounding family names, first names, and the names of streets, towns, shops and companies were Germanised, that is, translated into their German counterpart or simply replaced by something more Germanic. Henri became Heinrich, Dupont became Brückner. 18 February 1941: Wearing a beret (a traditional cap from the Northern Basque Country) was forbidden. From May 1941 many Luxembourgish youth were ordered to participate in the Reichsarbeitsdienst. A massive propaganda campaign was launched to influence the population, while not only dissidents and critics but also teachers, officials and leading business figures were threatened with losing their jobs unless they joined Nazi organisations, which led to