In Luxembourg, the adult generation of the 1940s carries within it the fracture caused by the war, the occupation-annexation, and its heavy consequences.

Coming to power after 1945, the men of the "renewal" are driven by a transformed worldview, open to the international community, based on law and justice, rejecting the extremes of the past.

This study uses a biographical perspective supported by the reconstruction of the careers of community leaders from the 1950s to 1970, at the High Authority of the ECSC, the EEC Commission, or the European Court of Justice. These include Jean Fohrmann, Albert Wehrer, Michel Rasquin, Lambert Schaus, Victor Bodson, Albert Borschette, Charles-Léon Hammes, and Pierre Pescatore.

The analysis focuses on the Second World War—this "foundational event"—on how these men perceived it, the role it played in their ideas, careers, involvement in the European project, as well as in their personal, spiritual, and even literary development.