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14 unusual facts about Alsace


Alfred Werner Maurer

Alfred Werner Maurer was also active in sports, he was a board member of the German Fencing Association, Board member of the National Sports Association Saar,Fencing Federation President Interregio Saar-Lor-Lux-Elsass-Südwest, President of the Federal fencers Saar.

Alice Becker-Ho

Becker-Ho was born in Shanghai, her mother Chinese, her father, originally from Alsace-Lorraine, a territory under dispute between France and Germany until the end of the First World War, claimed French citizenship.

Alsace-Lorraine Regional Party

In Haut-Rhin, the party was supported by the newspaper Elsäßer Kurier whilst in Bas-Rhin it was supported by Unterländer-Kurier.

Alsatia

Alsatia was named after the ancient name for Alsace, Europe, which was itself outside legislative and juridical lines, and, therefore, they were literally places without law.

Andrew Lorraine

Lorraine's family name was originally Levine; but his grandfather, who served with the British army in Alsace-Lorraine, liked the name Lorraine so much he took it as his own.

Belchenflue Pass

Along with the peak of the same name in Alsace (Ballon d'Alsace), it allowed the establishment of the winter and summer solstice.

C. Henry Smith

Both of C. Henry Smith's grandfathers had immigrated to the United States from Alsace-Lorraine.

Grand Canal d'Alsace

The Grand Canal produces hydroelectric power at Kembs, Ottmarsheim, Fessenheim and Vogelgrun, supplying electricity to one of the most heavily industrialized regions in France and even to Germany.

It is 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) long between Kembs and Vogelgrun, and provides access to the region from the Rhine River, Basel in Switzerland, and the North Sea for barges of up to 1,350 metric tons.

Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace

The newspaper was until March 2012 also published in German, although the Alsatian dialect is not a written language for the Alsatians German (about 10% prints).

Miel d'Alsace

Chestnut honey must be gathered in the hills south of the Vosges, in the forests of Brumath and Haguenau.

Reichsland

Denomination of Alsace-Lorraine as Reichsgebiet (imperial territory) Elsass-Lothringen between 1871 and 1918.

Valoreille

It occupies the slope from the Dessoubre to the outlook of Montaigue, with its remarkable view of the Ballon d'Alsace and the gorge of the Dessoubre.

Zell, Missouri

In 1837 German Catholics arrived, at which time the location was known as Nouvelle Alsace (French: New Alsace), and was subsequently renamed Zell in 1840.


21st Marine Infantry Regiment

These troops are landed in Provence and the battles for the potash mines of Alsace, the Colmar Pocket, the capture of Ensisheim, Leimersheim and Rastatt are all battle honours.

Abraham Kuhn

Abraham Kuhn (August 28, 1838 – September 15, 1900) was an Alsatian otolarynologist born in Bissersheim, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Agnotherium

The first specimen was located in strata zone MN 4 in Alsace, France Other locations were: En Pejouan, Midi-Pyrenees Region; Pontigne.

Alphonse Goetz

Born in Strasbourg, France, he was a refugee after the Franco-Prussian War and the annexation of Alsace–Lorraine to the German Empire.

Augusta Raurica

Early Roman cremation remains, found in 1937 by the church in Neuallschwil, show that such a post did exist on the main road north (toward Blotzheim) into Alsace.

Charles Kuentz

Charles Kuentz (February 18, 1897, Ranspach – April 7, 2005) was an Alsatian centenarian and veteran of World War I.

Charles Martin Loeffler

Throughout his career Loeffler claimed to have been born in Mulhouse, Alsace and almost all music encyclopedias give this fabricated information.

Charles-Émile Freppel

Charles-Émile Freppel (June 1, 1827 – December 12, 1891), French bishop and politician, was born at Obernai (Alsace).

Château d'Ochsenstein

The castle overlooks an old strategic passageway, which rises from the Alsace plain and Reinhardsmunster through the Mosselthal vallley, to reach the Baerenbach valley, the Stambach,Annex and, which finally reaches Lutzelbourg, and Phalsbourg in Lorraine.

Elsässische Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Grafenstaden

After the takeover of Alsace-Lorraine by the German Empire in 1871, many Alsatians who considered themselves to be Frenchmen moved to the area around Belfort where, in 1872, the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (Alsatian Mechanical Engineering Company), SACM, was opened.

Erckmann-Chatrian

They specialised in military fiction and ghost stories in a rustic mode, applying to the Vosges mountain range and the Alsace-Lorraine region techniques inspired by story-tellers from the Black Forest.

Etichonids

In the 10th century the Etichonids remained powerful in Alsace as counts, but their power was circumscribed significantly by the Ottonians and by the 11th century, Pope Leo IX seems unaware that his ancestors, the lords (or counts) of Dabo and Eguisheim for the previous half century were in fact the direct descendants of the last Etichonids.

Feliciano Ninguarda

A series of synods in mid Germany from the 1570s onwards confirmed Ninguarda's reforming ideas, deciding on the foundation of seminaries in Alsace and the County of Tyrol.

Florimont

Normanvillars was a Mennonite settlement on the border of the Sundgau (southern Alsace) and the Territory of Belfort in a forest area called by that name.

Foris Vineyards Winery

Foris is one of Oregon's most consistent producers specializing in Pinot Noir, and Alsace varietal white wines- Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Riesling, and Muscat.

Freiburg–Colmar railway

The Freiburg–Colmar railway was an international railway that formerly connected Freiburg im Breisgau, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, with Colmar, in the French department of Alsace.

Georg Wickram

Wickram was born at Colmar in Alsace; the exact date of his birth and death are unknown.

German Revolution of 1918–19

Other noteworthy parties in the Reichstag of 1912 were the Catholic Centre Party (91), the Conservatives (57), the National Liberals (45) and Progressive People's Party (42), the Poles (18) and the Alsatians (9).

Heinrich Gustav Mühlenbeck

Heinrich Gustav Mühlenbeck, name also given as Henri Gustave Muehlenbeck (2 June 1798, Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines – 21 November 1845, Mühlhausen) was an Alsatian physician and botanical collector known for his work with bryophytes.

Helena Sá e Costa

She taught in the Lisbon and Porto conservatories, and gained international recognition as an outstanding teacher, leading to invitations to oversee courses in Cascais, Espinho, Estoril, Salzburg (Austria), Gunsbach (Albert Schweitzer Centre, in Alsace, France), Switzerland, Italy, England, Germany, Canada and America.

Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves

On 21 December 1940, he set sail from Newlyn to Plogoff in Brittany on a fishing boat, the Marie-Louise, along with his 20-year-old radio operator Alfred Gaessler, a German-speaking Alsatian, codenamed Georges Marty.

Hoenheim

Following Napoleon's return and defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, the General Jean Rapp, having wind of intentions to annex Alsace and under the orders of Louis XVIII continued to fight on the Souffel, just north of Hoenheim.

Illkirch-Graffenstaden

The factory had originally been built before the annexation of Alsace by Germany, but had been operated separately as a German business between 1871 and 1918.

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz

In January 1778 Kaufmann sent Lenz to the philanthropist, social reformer and clergyman Johann Friedrich Oberlin in Waldersbach in Alsace, where he stayed from 20 January to 8 February.

Joachim-Friedrich Lang

Born on 14 September 1899 in Montigny-lès-Metz, Alsace-Lorraine, Joachim-Friedrich Lang joined the German Army before the Second World war.

John Swainson

Swainson served in the United States Army during World War II with the 95th Infantry Division and lost both legs by amputation following a land mine explosion November 15, 1944, near Metz, Alsace-Lorraine.

Julius von Bernuth

Julius Hans Camillo Friedrich Leo Ludwig von Bernuth was born in Metz, Alsace-Lorraine, on 12 August 1897.

KZ Walldorf

The labour camp was a satellite camp of the concentration camp Natzweiler-Struthof in Alsace and existed in the period from 23 August to 24 November 1944 near the village of Walldorf.

Languages of Austria

Vorarlberg uses a High Alemannic, the same dialect group as that spoken in Northern Switzerland (outside Basel) and parts of southern Alsace, France.

Lauterbourg

The town has had its own railway station since 1876, and since the reversion of Alsace to French control it has thereby been connected to both the French and German rail networks.

Lycée Seijo

During the school's lifetime, according to the Western Society for French History, the "core" of the student body consisted of children of executives working for offices of Japanese multinational companies such as Sharp Corporation and Sony in the Alsace region.

Manegold of Lautenbach

Manegold's book also contained an account of the life of Gregory VII, reflecting the Vita by John the Deacon of Gregory the Great; this shares details with chronicles of Berthold of Reichenau and Bernold of St Blasien, writing in the part of southern Germany in which Manegold had sheltered after having to leave Alsace.

Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles

As a member of the Reign of Terror's Committee of Public Safety, Hérault was chiefly concerned with diplomacy, and from October to December 1793 was employed on a diplomatic and military mission in Alsace.

Patrick Experton

A graduate of the French Air Force Academy Class of 1962, Patrick Experton was first assigned to the EC Roussillon flying Mirage IIIE aircraft then to the EC Alsace in Dijon, also flying Mirage III.

Pennsylvania German language

The ancestors of Pennsylvania German speakers came from various parts of the southwest corner of the German-speaking region of Europe, including the Electorate of the Palatinate (German Kurpfalz), the Duchy of Baden, Swabia, Württemberg, Alsace (German Elsass), and Switzerland.

Pierrick Lilliu

Pierrick Lilliu, born 13 July 1986, is a French rock-singer living in Brittany and was born in Mulhouse, Alsace from a Sardinian father.

Pope Leo IX

He was born to Count Hugh and Heilwig and was a native of Eguisheim, Upper Alsace (present day France).

Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française

In an attempt to counter the spread in Alsace of the viewing of programmes from regional television in the neighbouring German Land of Baden-Württemberg – the inhabitants of Strasbourg had, for example, been able to watch the coronation in June 1953 of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom only on West German television – Télé-Strasbourg began broadcasting on 15 October 1953.

René Schickele

Schickele was born in Obernai, Alsace, the son of a German vineyard owner and police officer and a French mother.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Rodez

At this time Conques, with Agen and Schelestadt in Alsace, was the centre of the cult of Saint Faith which soon spread to England, Spain, and America where many towns bear the name of Santa Fe.

Sarre

Sarre-Union, a commune of the Bas-Rhin département in Alsace, France

St. Marx Abbey

At the end of World War I the German sisters were expelled from Alsace and obliged to look for new premises in Germany, which in 1919 they found in the former St. Trudpert's Abbey in Münstertal.

Swiss nobility

The ancient noble families of Aargau were maintained in different cantons, and around the World, such Mülinen and Hallwyl in Bern, or abroad such Reinach in Alsace.

Turckheim

Turckheim, located in Alsace, is a village known for its Gewürztraminer wines, traditional Alsatian cuisine, and stunning surrounding scenery.

Victor Hammer

Hammer moved to Kolbsheim in Alsace in 1934 where he designed and built a chapel on an estate for a friend.

West House

Westhouse, a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France

Wildenstein Castle

Château de Wildenstein, ruined castle in the Alsace region of France, situated in the commune of Kruth in the Haut-Rhin département

William IV of Eberstein

# Philip I (1523 – 11 September 1589 in Remlingen), member of the Imperial Council, Supreme Captain and Reeve in Upper Alsace, married to Johanna of Bailleul, Dame of Douxlieu (d. 12 April 1565).