Pierre Dupong
Pierre Dupong was a Luxembourgish politician and statesman. He was the 16th Prime Minister of Luxembourg, serving for seventeen years, from 5 November 1937 until his death, on 23 December 1953, and was also responsible at different times for the ministries of finance, the army, agriculture, labour and social matters. He founded the Christian Social People's Party as the main conservative party after the Second World War, having been a founding member of the Party of the Right in 1914.
He was one of the founding members in 1914 of the Party of the Right, and was elected to the legislature in 1915. From 1926 he was 1937 Director-General for Finance, and in 1936 and 1937 also Minister for Social Security and Labor.
His first government was the Dupong-Krier Ministry. Between 1940 and 1944, Dupong then led the Luxembourgish government-in-exile, after Luxembourg had been occupied by Nazi Germany. He fled the country along with the rest of the Luxembourg government and the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg, settling in France. Once in Bordeaux, they were granted transit visas from the Portuguese consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, in June 1940. Pierre Dupong, along with his wife Sophie, and their children Marie Thérèse, Lambert Henri, Henriette and Jean, followed the Grand Ducal family through Coimbra and Lisbon, settling at Praia das Maçãs after the Grand Ducal family had moved to Cascais. By August, the entire entourage had moved to Monte Estoril. The Dupong couple stayed at Chalet Posser de Andrade until 26 September 1940, while their children remained there until 2 October 1940. On 26 September, the couple boarded the S.S. Excalibur headed for New York City, arriving on 5 October 1940. Georgette and Betty Bech, the wife and daughter of Joseph Bech, the Foreign Minister of the Luxembourg government-in-exile, traveled with them.
He then presided over the Liberation Government, the National Union Government, and the Dupong-Schaus and the Dupong-Bodson governments. He is also notable for sending Luxembourgish soldiers in the UN mission during the Korean War, as part of the Belgian United Nations Command.
He was the father of Jean Dupong, who became a minister and CSV deputy himself.
