Alsace -- Brief history of Alsace

Petite France district Strasbourg

The beautiful, charming Alsace region of France is situated on the long, easternmost, strip of land nestling between the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine River. Alsace borders Germany to the north and Luxembourg and Switzerland further south. Popularly known as the land of storks, it has half timbered houses with colourful geranium hanging baskets and has long been a place where Europe’s Latin and Germanic cultures meet.

Alsace was part of the Roman Empire, but its prosperity, during the 12th century, was short lived due to a number of severe winters, poor harvests and the bubonic plague. The Renaissance, however, brought back lost prosperity and most of the Alsace region was ceded to France in 1648 after 30 years of conflict between France and Germany. Nevertheless the city of Strasbourg, populated mainly by Germans at the time, resisted having French language and culture imposed upon them. Both Alsace and neighbouring Lorraine were ceded to Germany following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).

Alsace remained under German occupation until the end of World War I when it was returned to France, despite the regional government of Alsace Lorraine seeking independence, following the famous Treaty of Versailles. The reversal of German identity, which took root in 1871, involved extraditing German settlers, prohibiting the use of the German language and making French the official language.

Alsace was, once again, torn between the two nations when it was annexed by Germany during World War II and re-established into the German Reich. The region came under the auspices of the Nazi party from 1940 and many Alsatians emigrated rather than become German nationals. The presence of Müllers and Schweitzers all over the world attests to these forced exiles. The promotion of the French language and culture was, however, immediately reinvigorated once France regained control of Alsace in 1944. The use of the German language was officially restricted after the war, but in recent decades spoken German has been increasingly tolerated by the French authorities. Overall, the younger generations of Alsatians consider themselves French and predominantly use the French as their native language. Wounded by battles, victimized by blind ambition, Alsace now symbolizes peace and harmony, a sentiment that is felt by people on both sides of the Rhine.

Alsace – Architecture & Culture

The typical Alsatian house was made with walls in half timbering for three main reasons. Firstly, wood was plentiful in the nearby Vosges Mountains. Secondly, due to the risk of earthquakes, wood, being more flexible, was more resistant than stone. Thirdly, during periods of plague and war, villages were destroyed by fire and by building the lower levels and walls in stone and half timbering the upper stories, the buildings could be more easily rebuilt once the fire had occurred. However, the half-timbers increased the risk of fire, which is why from the 19th century, they began covering them with stucco. In recent times, villagers started to paint the stucco white in the Beaux-Arts movement style. To discourage this, regional authorities gave financial grants to inhabitants to paint the stucco in a variety of colours in order to return to the more ancient usage of the substance and many inhabitants accepted the change for financial rather than esthetic reasons. During summer, the villages across the region hold a competition to determine the most flower-filled village; enter any village and become overwhelmed by the abundance of geraniums growing in window boxes on every building on every storey.