In a work published in 2007 on Places of memory in Luxembourg, Cédric Sangaletti, a Researcher in European Studies at the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (Virtual Resource Centre for Knowledge About Europe — CVCE), describes the image that Luxembourg retains of Robert Schuman, who was both a child of the country and the father of Europe.

Spring 1950 in Houjarray, as preparations are made for the Schuman Plan. From left to right: Bernard Clappier, Head of the Private Office of Minister Robert Schuman; Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister; and Jean Monnet, Commissioner-General of the French National Planning Board.

Robert Schuman holds the post of French Foreign Minister from 26 July 1948 to 8 January 1953.

Le projet français de Communauté européenne du charbon et de l'acier est volontairement entouré d'un grand secret. Au début, neuf personnes seulement en sont informées: Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, Bernard Clappier, René Pleven, René Mayer, Pierre Uri, Étienne Hirsch, Robert Marjolin et Paul Reuter.

Dans ses carnets personnels, Jacques Dumaine, chargé du protocole au Quai d'Orsay, note comment Robert Schuman a longtemps conservé secret son plan de mise en commun du charbon et de l'acier français et allemand.

On 10 May 1950, the French daily newspaper Le Monde anticipates the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) by reporting it before Robert Schuman gives his official address.

In an article in the socialist daily newspaper Action, Louis Marin, socialist Member of Parliament for Meurthe-et-Moselle, expresses his fury at the French Government’s decision to leave the French National Assembly completely in the dark throughout the preparations for the Schuman Plan and is also anxious about the role assigned to Germany under the Plan.

On 2 July 1980, Étienne Hirsch, former Commissioner-General of the French National Planning Board and former President of Euratom, explains to French historian Antoine Marès why the secrecy deliberately maintained around the preparations for the Schuman Plan was an essential condition for its success.

Composition of the first government of Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer on 20 September 1949. (First row, from left to right) Anton Storch, (Minister for Labour), Ludwig Erhard (Minister for Economics), Konrad Adenauer (Chancellor), Franz Blücher (Minister for Marshall Plan Affairs and Vice-Chancellor), Jakob Kaiser (Minister for All-German Affairs), Thomas Dehler (Minister for Justice) and Hans Lukaschek (Minister for Refugee Affairs); (second row, from left to right) Wilhelm Niklas (Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forestry) and Eberhard Wildermuth (Minister for Housing); (third row, from left to right) Heinrich Hellwege (Minister for Bundesrat Affairs), Hans Schuberth (Minister for Posts and Communications), Gustav Heinemann, (Minister for the Interior), Fritz Schäffer (Minister for Finance) and Hans-Christoph Seebohm (Minister for Transport).