Maizières-lès-Metz (, literally ''Maizières

near NEAR or Near may refer to: People * Thomas J. Near, US evolutionary ichthyologist * Near, a developer who created the higan emulator Science, mathematics, technology, biology, and medicine * National Emergency Alarm Repeater (NEAR), a form ...

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

'';

Lorrain Lorrain may refer to: * Claude Lorrain (1600–82), a 17th-century French artist of the baroque style * Lorrain language, a Romance dialect spoken in Lorraine region in France and Gaume region in Belgium See also * Lorain (disambiguation) * Lor ...

: ''Mach'ire'') 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 Moselle 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 It superseded three former administra ...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 ...

. Anciently part of the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine (french: Lorraine ; german: Lothringen ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy. It was founded in 959 following th ...

, Maizières was within the Holy Roman Empire until 1766, when Lorraine was annexed by France. From 1871 to 1918, as part of Alsace-Lorraine, Maizières belonged to the German Empire as ''Maizières-bei-Metz''. Between 1915 and 1918 the town's name was briefly Germanized to ''Macheren''. During the German occupation from 1940 to 1944 it was known as ''Machern-bei-Metz''. The amusement park Walygator is located in Maizières-les-Metz. The town gives its name to the now German

Maizière family The Maizière family is a German noble family of Huguenot ancestry that migrated from the Duchy of Lorraine to what is now Germany in the late 17th century. Several family members have had and still have important roles in German politics and busine ...

which, being

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

, had to emigrate from the Duchy of Lorraine to

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

in the 17th century. Preserving the name of their town up to the present, prominent members of the family include

Lothar de Maizière Lothar de Maizière (; born 2 March 1940) is a German Christian Democratic politician. In 1990, he served as the only premier of the German Democratic Republic to be democratically elected freely and fairly by the people. He was also the last l ...

, last Prime Minister of the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

, the politician Thomas de Maizière and the general

Ulrich de Maizière Karl Ernst Ulrich de Maizière (; 24 February 1912 – 26 August 2006) was a German general. He served in the army of three German states: the ''Reichswehr'' of the Weimar Republic, the ''Wehrmacht'' of Nazi Germany, and the German Army of We ...

Population

International relations

Maizières-lès-Metz is twinned with

Bukowsko Bukowsko (; yi, בוקאווסק, Bikofsk; uk, Буківсько, Bukivsʹko) is a village in Sanok County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland. It's in the Bukowsko Upland mountains, parish ''in loco'', located near the towns of Medzilaborce ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and Montastruc-la-Conseillère,