23:44 Jul 29, 2011 

Thank you, Susan. Yes, 1839 was the first London conference when Luxembourg lost two thirds of its territory but half of its population remained in that smaller area. That also caused already many problems for the new, smaller Luxembourg. The "Entlassung in die Autonomie" here was not a positive thing. "Being accorded" is a good solution, IMO.

20:23 Jul 29, 2011 

The date referred to is 1839. The sum total of what I know about Luxembourg is contained in this 8-page article. It was interesting, for that reason, although I don't think I'd like to live there.

18:24 Jul 29, 2011 

Are you/is this author referring to 1867, when Luxembourg was declared a neutral state at the 2nd London Conference (that's what really happened), after which the Prussian garrison in Luxembourg was closed and leveled and all the Germans went home which was followed by an economic crisis in Luxembourg during which many people who used to live and work in Luxembourg also left the country?
Autonomy was given to Luxembourg as early as 1815 at the Congress of Vienna although it only became independent very gradually (interrupted by a Belgian occupancy), ruled by the Monarchs of the Netherlands until 1890 when their dynasty died out and a new aristocratic House took over, "just" ruling Luxembourg.

18:02 Jul 28, 2011 

Can you combine that with autonomy or independence, and does it sound more like "erhalten", "bekommen", "were given"?

17:56 Jul 28, 2011 

as it has a similar positive connotation as "Entlassung". The focus is slightly different, though. "Entlassung" implies that they were given independence (by the former rulers or by a third party), "new-found" might go more in the direction of them taking it. Maybe this doesn't really make a difference in the specific context, but you can probably see one or the other focus in the rest of the text.

17:50 Jul 28, 2011 

That's very helpful. I think the problem here is that in English you don't say that somebody or something is "released into autonomy." (In fact, the translator of the job I'm editing had precisely that, and it made no sense to me, so I was trying to hone it better.) I think I may choose "... the state, with its new-found autonomy, ..." (But unless someone comes up with something better, I would still declare your answer the most helpful, because of the explanation.)

17:31 Jul 28, 2011 

ist neutral und geht weder in Richtung "had to cope with", "had to contend with", "cast adrift", "fend for itself" noch "abandoned". Meist wird es sogar im positiven Sinne benutzt.
Der Fremdwörterduden verwendet "Entlassung" unter dem Eintrag "Dekolonisation" folgendermaßen:
"Entlassung einer Kolonie aus der wirtschaftlichen, militärischen u. politischen Abhängigkeit vom Mutterland".
Ebenso formuliert man: die Entlassung eines Gefangenen in die Freiheit, die Entlassung eines genesenen Wildtieres in die Natur und eben die Entlassung einer Kolonie/eines besetzten Landes etc. in die Unabhängigkeit/Autonomie.
Die daraus folgenden Herausforderungen ("Aufbau einer eigenen Verwaltung") werden erst durch das Adjektiv "angewiesen" als Herausforderung identifiziert. Der Verfasser hätte dies auch anders ausdrücken (und werten) können, z. B. "hatte mit der Entlassung ... nun endlich die Möglichkeit zum Aufbau einer eigenen Verwaltungselite".
So wie der Satz formuliert ist, hatte der neue Staat nicht mit dem Abzug der ausländischen Staatsbeamten zu kämpfen, sondern musste nun eben die Verwaltung neu regeln. Die "Entlassung" ist zwar die Ursache, aber noch keine Wertung der Ereignisse.

16:24 Jul 28, 2011 

Could it be "left/abandoned to its own devices"? Or is there no nuance, and it's just a fancy way of saying it became independent?