Marie Tilman married coal miner and brickmaker Emile Tassin in Courcelles in 1891. At that time, women played a fundamental role in brick manufacturing. Girls were involved in the process from a young age, acquiring their skills in the domestic environment. Adult women carried out all the tasks: digging for clay, loading wooden wheelbarrows, transporting their heavy loads to the moulding tables, shaping the bricks and stacking them.
Marie Tilman, a mother of four, took over the management of the brickworks in Hollerich following her husband's fatal accident at work in 1910. With a small team, mainly composed of women, she produced one million bricks each year in the Bonnevoie and Dudelange factories.
On 9 November 1923, the enterprising woman died at the age of 56.
Sources:
- Mémorial du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, 5 November 1910
- LW, 1 January 1910
- LW, 9 November 1923
- LW, 26 June 2023: Gesichter migrierter Frauen und stolzer Ukrainerinnen
- https://www.cdmh.lu/resources/pdf/_base_4/1476789136480-Brochure_Expo_Zillebacker.pdf?ac=1586331481
- Town of Dudelange – Equal Opportunities Department