Herrlisheim is a
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...
department in
Grand Est
Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten;
Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administra ...
in north-eastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. The town dates from the 8th century. Herrlisheim was the scene of very heavy fighting during ''
Operation Nordwind
Operation Northwind (german: Unternehmen Nordwind) was the last major Nazi Germany, German offensive of World War II on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front. Northwind was launched to support the German Ardennes offensive campaign in ...
'', an offensive launched by the
German Army during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
that inflicted considerable damage to the town.
Geography
Herrlisheim is positioned on the rich
alluvial
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. All ...
farmland to the west of the
River Rhine, north of
Strasbourg. The town is part of the
canton of
Bischwiller and the district of
Haguenau and is located on the road from
Strasbourg to
Lauterbourg
Lauterbourg ( or ; ) (historically in English: Lauterburgh) is a commune and Bas-Rhin department in the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France. Situated on the German border and not far from the German city of Karlsruhe, it i ...
along the
A35 motorway .
Herrlisheim is bordered by the towns of
Rohrwiller
Rohrwiller (; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
See also
* Communes of the Bas-Rhin department
The following is a list of the 514 communes of the Bas-Rhin department of France.
The communes coo ...
to the northwest,
Drusenheim to the northeast,
Gambsheim
Gambsheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France, in the historical region of Alsace.
Geography
Gambsheim lies adjacent to a river-crossing into Germany that is favoured by southbound traffic on th ...
to the southwest and
Offendorf to the southeast. The area is crossed by the
Zorn,
Moder and
Kleinebach Rivers.
Economy
The local economy is based on agriculture. The village promotes itself as the local
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
capital, and a Potato Festival is organised annually.
History
Herrlisheim (''Herlesheim'') was first mentioned in a deed dated 15 February 743, gifting a village called ''Hariolfesvilla'' (Hariolf’s Farm) to the
Weissenburg Abbey, Alsace
Weissemburg Abbey (german: Kloster Weißenburg, french: L'abbaye de Wissembourg), also Wissembourg Abbey, is a former Benedictine abbey (1524–1789: collegiate church) in Wissembourg in Alsace, France.
History
Weissenburg Abbey was founded in 6 ...
. The village may owe its name to Hariolf, an Alsatian who signed as a witness to a document dated 780.
Another charter dated 1 March 775 mentioned the land of ''Hariolueshaim'', also referring to Herlesheim, as being owned by the Abbey.
In 1251, the village known now as ''Herlosvesheim'' was owned by the Counts of
Oettingen
Oettingen in Bayern (Swabian: ''Eadi'') is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated northwest of Donauwörth, and northeast of Nördlingen.
Geography
The town is located on the river Wörnitz, a tributary ...
,
Landgrave
Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' (" margrave"), ...
s of lower Alsace. In 1332, control of the town was passed to the Barony of
Lichtenberg
Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen.
Overview
The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin ...
, then in 1480 to the Count of Deux-Ponts (German:
Zweibrücken-Bitsch
The County of Zweibrücken-Bitsch (, ) was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire that was created between 1286 and 1302 from the eastern part of the County of Zweibrücken and the Barony of Bitche (german: Bitsch) in Lorraine. It continued to exist ...
). The Lichtenberg line passed to the
Hanau family, who became the Counts of
Hanau-Lichtenberg
The County of Hanau-Lichtenberg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire. It emerged between 1456 and 1480 from a part of the County of Hanau and one half of the Barony of Lichtenberg. Following the extinction of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg in ...
in 1570. From 1736 until the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, the town was controlled by the House of
Hess-Darmstadt, and after 1803 due to territorial reforms following the revolution, the former county of Hanau-Lichtenberg was divided and Herrlisheim was attached to the
Bailiwick of
Offendorf. In 1871, it was annexed to the German imperial province of
Elsass-Lothringen (German: ''Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen'') after its victory in the
Franco-Prussian War.
[
]
Jewish community
The earliest mention of a Jewish community in Herrlisheim dates from 1349 when persecutions occurred during the Black Plague. A 1752 inventory notes thirteen Jewish families living there since 1693. Records mention "the Jew Läwel" who had to pay two florins of tax for protection in 1714. Village census records from 1821 and 1842 showed 198 Jewish residents, and in 1890, 202 Jewish residents. By 1936, the Jewish community in Herrlisheim numbered only 80 people. In 1940 under the German occupation, the remaining Jewish population in Herrlisheim were deported to the south of France. At least eleven of them were murdered. A monument with the names of the victims was erected in the Jewish cemetery of the town. After 1945, some of the former Jewish inhabitants returned; in 1953 there were 36 Jewish residents and 27 in 1956.
The community had a synagogue prior to the 18th century, which was demolished in 1805 and replaced with another building, which was then replaced with a new building in 1850. This synagogue was vandalized during World War II; only walls remained. The adjacent small prayer house was entirely destroyed. The synagogue and prayer house were rebuilt in the 1950s. The synagogue was closed in 1969.
Until 1870, Jewish residents of Herrlisheim were buried in the cemetery of Haguenau, along with Jewish residents of Hattstatt. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the towns of Herrlisheim and Offendorf opened a Jewish cemetery in 1886 on the Rue d'Offendorf, directly at the end of the village of Herrlisheim. The cemetery now contains about 250 burials. Several times in the past decades since the end of World War II, the graves were vandalized. In 2004, on the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birthday, pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic slogans were discovered on 127 graves of the burying ground, and cemetery signs were defaced.
World War II
Herrlisheim was the scene of intense fighting in January 1945 between the 553rd Volksgrenadier
''Volksgrenadier'' was the name given to a type of German Army division formed in the Autumn of 1944 after the double loss of Army Group Center to the Soviets in Operation Bagration and the Fifth Panzer Army to the Allies in Normandy. The na ...
Regiment, the 35th, 119th and 2nd Panzer Grenadier Regiments, 10th SS Division and elements of the United States 12th Armored Division of the Seventh Army.[ The fighting began as part of ]Operation Nordwind
Operation Northwind (german: Unternehmen Nordwind) was the last major Nazi Germany, German offensive of World War II on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front. Northwind was launched to support the German Ardennes offensive campaign in ...
which was the last offensive by German troops on the Western front in the war and was focused on the recapture of Strasbourg. The 553rd Volksgrenadier crossed the Rhine River
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, source ...
and established a bridgehead around Gambsheim
Gambsheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France, in the historical region of Alsace.
Geography
Gambsheim lies adjacent to a river-crossing into Germany that is favoured by southbound traffic on th ...
on January 5. Three days later, the 12th Armored Division started to attempt the reduction of the bridgehead and attacked Herrlisheim directly on January 16.
In the second day of fighting, elements of 10th SS Panzer Division joined in the attack and inflicted very heavy casualties, virtually wiping out the 714th Tank Battalion and the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion of the 12th Armored Division, who suffered 1,250 casualties (out of a Division strength of 10,000 men) and lost 70 combat vehicles. The next day as 10th SS Panzer attempted to exploit its victory to the west of the town, it was their turn to take heavy losses as the US forces slowly withdrew. The badly battered town was finally liberated on January 31 by the United States Army as the Germans retired after the overall failure of their offensive.
File:Herrlisheim Memorial 1 sm.jpg, 50th Anniversary of World War II Memorial, Herrlisheim, France
File:Herrlisheim Memorial 3 sm.jpg, Plaque commemorating the victims of the War and defenders of Herrlisheim on the Memorial
Heraldry
See also
* Communes of the Bas-Rhin department
The following is a list of the 514 communes of the Bas-Rhin department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):[Operation Nordwind
Operation Northwind (german: Unternehmen Nordwind) was the last major Nazi Germany, German offensive of World War II on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front. Northwind was launched to support the German Ardennes offensive campaign in ...]
* 12th Armored Division (United States)
The 12th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. It fought in the European Theater of Operations in France, Germany and Austria, between November 1944 and May 1945.
The German Army called the 12th A ...
References
{{authority control
Communes of Bas-Rhin