Maizières-lès-Metz (, literally ''Maizières near

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

''; Lorrain: ''Mach'ire'') is a commune in the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

department,

Grand Est Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...

, northeastern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Anciently part of the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire which existed from the 10th century until 1766 when it was annexed by the kingdom of France. It gave its name to the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France ...

, 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 The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

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 which, being

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

, had to emigrate from the Duchy of Lorraine to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in the 17th century. Preserving the name of their town up to the present, prominent members of the family include Lothar de Maizière, last Prime Minister of the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, 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 W ...

Population

International relations

Maizières-lès-Metz is twinned with Bukowsko,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, Nowotaniec,

and Montastruc-la-Conseillère, France.

References

External links

* Maiziereslesmetz {{Metz-geo-stub

Population

International relations

See also

References

External links