Not the most well-behaved pupil

By Pascal SteinwachsLex Kleren Switch to German for original article

As part of our summer series, which rather developed into an autumn series, we also took a detour to Differdange, the home of Claude Meisch. The Minister of Education told the Lëtzebuerger Journal, where he was a local correspondent for some time as a student, what places he has special memories with.

It was one of those days that happened more often in this late summer, wonderfully sunny and wonderfully warm – actually too bad to work, but you can't call such an excursion real work. By the way, on the way to Differdange we listened to Oberkorn (It's A Small Town) by Depeche Mode, not very original. The group, which was to achieve world fame shortly afterwards, gave a concert here (in the Rainbow Club) at the beginning of the 80s, which apparently left such an impression on the group that they named the B-side of one of their singles (The Meaning Of Love) after Oberkorn.

Since then, Oberkorn, which – just to remind you – is a village in the municipality of Differdange, has been on the international music map, even if this is probably known to very few Differdangers. Unfortunately, we forgot to ask Claude Meisch about this anecdote during our visit, but at the age of eleven he probably didn't notice Depeche Mode's performance at the time anyway.

If Esch is the metropolis of the south and Dudelange the hippest of all southern communities, then Differdange is the unloved stepchild. At first glance the town is really no beauty, at second glance still not, but at third and fourth glance … you just have to have the right view.

Claude Meisch had suggested the Creative Hub 1535° as a meeting point, which has something of a Berlin flair, just like the few metres around Bonnevoie’s Rotondes or the area of the Escher Kufa in summer. Especially if, like the writer of these lines, you've never been there before, it really is a cool place, as we discovered while waiting for the minister. Slightly rocked-out architecture and lots of cool people, many of whom are conspicuously tattooed and pierced. And then Claude Meisch arrives: Not tattooed, not pierced, but somehow still cool in his own way. The minister had left his tie in the office, his suit jacket casually thrown over his shoulder.

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