Hoffen (; gsw-als, Hoffe) is a commune 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 Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

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 It superseded three former administrat ...

in north-eastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

.INSEE commune file
/ref> On 1 January 1975 the commune merged with those of Hermerswiller and Leiterswiller.

Geography

The village is within easy walking distance of departmental road RD 263 which links Wissembourg and

Haguenau Haguenau (; Alsatian: or ; and historically in English: ''Hagenaw'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of France, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg, some to the south. To the ...

as well as the local railway line following the same route.

History

The village first appears in surviving records in 1052 as Hoffen. Hof is a Germanic word denoting a farm, a homestead or a settlement. The village coat of arms comes from the Trautwein family who founded Hof: the family died out in 1664. The story of Hof has been a turbulent one. In the fourteenth century there were two settlements: Hoven comprised a dozen farms and Buren just four houses. These were the property of "St Peter the Younger" in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

. However, in 1450 the villages were surrendered to the lords of Hohenbourg and Fleckenstein. Then from the end of the fifteenth century possession of these settlements passed into the hands of the Counts of Zweibrücken. During the seventeenth century Hoffen became attached to the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

Cleebourg Cleebourg (; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Cleebourg was claimed by the Kings of Sweden from 1652 to 1787. See also * Communes of the Bas-Rhin department The following is a list of the 514 c ...

. The

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

was devastating for many villages in Alsace, and in 1633 the hamlet of Buren disappeared following the passing of imperial catholic troops. There were further destructive wars for much of the eighteenth century, but

1748 Events January–March * January 12 – Ahmad Shah Durrani captures Lahore. * January 27 – A fire at the prison and barracks at Kinsale, in Ireland, kills 54 of the prisoners of war housed there. An estimated 500 prison ...

probably marked the end of the most deadly of them all for Alsace. Many villages were left depopulated and were subsequently resettled by migrants from

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, higher up the river

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

or from other parts of

which emerged from the war in possession of most of the major towns and cities in Alsace, and controlled the whole province by the time of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

's death in 1715. In September 1939 the population of Hoffen was evacuated to

Haute Vienne Haute-Vienne (; oc, Nauta Vinhana, ; English: Upper Vienne) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve departments that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitain ...

as the government reluctantly planned for another territorial struggle with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. With effect from 1 January 1975 the former communes of Leiterswiller and Hermerswiller merged into the commune of Hoffen.