Wimmenau
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Wimmenau ( or ) 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 It superseded three former administra ...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.


History

Wimmenau is located at the crossroads of an ancient Celtic road from Haguenau to
Sarre-Union Sarre-Union () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It consists of two older towns that were unified on 16 June 1794. On the east bank of the river Sarre is the town of Bouquenom () and on the west bank ...
and an ancient Roman road from Strasbourg to Saarbrücken. It was mentioned for the first time in 836 (as ''Wimmenawe''). In 1365, during the Hundred Years War, a hill near the village was used by English soldiers to monitor the Sparsbach and Moder Valleys and named "Englishberg". The village was levelled during the
Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...
(1618–1648), except for the bell-tower of the Church of Saint Andrew, and was resettled by Swiss immigrants from the Bern area in the mid-seventeenth century. From 1637-1655, there was not a single '' bourgeois'' (inhabitant paying the citizen tax) in the town, which had 30 ''bourgeois'' before the war. As with most of the Alsace region, Wimmenau came under the rule of France in 1680. The lack of farmland led to the emigration of many of the commune's inhabitants to the United States and Argentina during the nineteenth century. Alsace became part of the German Empire through the
Treaty of Frankfurt The Treaty of Frankfurt may refer to one of three treaties signed at Frankfurt, as follows: * Treaty of Frankfurt (1489) - Treaty between Maximilian of Austria and the envoys of King Charles VIII of France *Treaty of Frankfurt (1539) - Initiated ...
in 1871, but was returned to France by the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
in 1919. The town came under German administration again 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 ...
until it was liberated by American troops on 5–6 December 1944. The town contains two national heritage sites (''monuments historique''). The Church of Saint Andrew (''Église Saint-André''), also known as the Protestant Church (''Église protestante''), was designated as a ''monument historique'' in 1995. Its bell-tower and
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...
dates to the 12th century and was equipped with a ribbed vault in the 15th century. The church's
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
—main building—was rebuilt after 1681 and expanded in 1878. A house built in 1669 (with additions in 1718) by the Scherer brothers—Swiss immigrants—with an adjacent oil mill dating to 1837 was added in 1984. The Scherer house, oil mill, and a few additional outbuildings form a complex which house historical artifacts related to rural life in the area.


Geography

The commune lies along the Moder River; other waterways in the commune are the Rothbach and Rosteig Streams. It is entirely within the
Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park The Northern Vosges Regional Natural Park (French: ''Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord'') is a protected area of woodland, wetland, farmland and historical sites in the region Grand Est in northeastern France. The area was officially des ...
. It lies between 197 and 413 m elevation; the average elevation is 205 m.


Climate

Wimmenau experiences an average of 1635 hours of sunshine a year (the average for France is 1900 hours).


Population

Inhabitants are known as ''Wimmenauviens'' (males) or '' Wimmenauviennes'' (females). The hamlet of Kohlhuette is divided between the communes of Wimmenau and
Wingen-sur-Moder Wingen-sur-Moder (; german: Wingen an der Moder; Rhine Franconian: ''Winge'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The name, literally translated as "Wingen on the Moder", is often shortened to ''Wingen' ...
.


Transport

Wimmenau lies along route D919—named ''Route Principale'' (Main Road) while passing through the town—connects the town of Wimmenau with Wingen-sur-Moder to the northwest and Ingwiller to the southeast. Route D12 connects the town of Wimmenau with the hamlet of Kohlhuette. Route D157 connects the town of Wimmenau with Reipertswiller. The town of Wimmenau lies along the Mommenheim-Sarreguemines rail line, which connects the cities of Strasbourg, France to Saarbrücken, Germany. The rail line was built during German rule by the General Division of the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine; the section through Wimmenau opened 1 May 1895.
TER Grand Est TER Grand Est or TER Fluo is the regional rail network serving the region of Grand Est, northeastern France. It is operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It was formed in 2016 from the previous TER networks TER Alsace, TER Lorrai ...
, a ''Train Express Régional'' operated by SNCF, operates on this line. There is no railway station in Wimmenau; TER Grand Est serves Wimmenau with bus service connecting to rail service at Wingen-sur-Moder and Ingwiller.


Notable residents

Politician
Philippe Richert Philippe Richert (born 22 May 1953) is a French politician of The Republicans party (known as the Union for a Popular Movement until 2015), president of the regional council of Grand Est from 2016 to 2017. He previously was the president of the ...
grew up in Wimmenau. He has served as senator for Bas-Rhin (1992–2010) and is the current president of the
Alsace Regional Council The Regional Council of Alsace (, ) was the regional council of the French region of Alsace from 1982 to 2015. As a result of reforms, the administrative region of Alsace merged with two other regions to form Grand Est, effective 1 January 20 ...
(2010–present).


Notes


References


External links

*
Wimmenau.fr
(French) - Official website of the commune government {{authority control Communes of Bas-Rhin