Schirmeck is a common French, located in the department of the the Low-Rhine and the area Alsace. Schirmeck is synonymous with " the corner which protège"

Its inhabitants is called the Schirmeckois .

Geography

The city is located on the Bruche, in the middle of the Vosgean valley of the same name. The contracting due to a rock prominence led to the boring of a tunnel of 529 Mr. the deviation is opened with circulation since January 28th, 2007.

Communes bordering

• Barembach
• Broque
• Grandfontaine
• Rothau
• Russ
• Wisches

History

During the creation of the departments in 1790, Schirmeck was initially attached temporarily to the the Low-Rhine, then transferred in 1795 to the the Vosges.

In 1871, Schirmeck and its canton belonged to the territories of Alsace-Lorraine annexed by the Germany (Traité of Frankfurt).

When it became again French after the First World War, Schirmeck remained definitively Alsatian.

Two camps

Near Schirmeck, two camps were built by the Nazis during the Second world war:

• the “Sicherungslager Vorbrück-Schirmeck”, camp of rehabilitation intended for Alsatian, located in periphery of the city, activity of July 1940 in November 1944.
• the Concentration camp of the Struthof, built on a side isolated from the valley. Approximately 40  000 people were held there, with close to 25  000 victims. It is about the single concentration camp built by the Nazis in France.

Administration

Demography

Statistics

In zonings of study of INSEE, Schirmeck is attached to the urban Unité of Broque, which group 5 communes of category “City centers” (Broque, Lutzelhouse, Rothau, Schirmeck and Wisches) and 3 communes of category “Suburbs” (Barembach, Muhlbach-on-Beetle and Russ).

Places and monuments

• Castle and museum
• Memorial of the Alsace-Moselle : inaugurated in 2005, this place of memory recalls the animated and dark history of the area of 1870 to our days, while insisting more particularly on the Second world war in Alsace the Moselle. The visitor is transported in the middle of a historical and interactive course in the meanders of the destiny of Alsace the Moselle of 1870 to our days, with a space particularly devoted to the Franco-German reconciliation and European construction.
• the observatory of the Hung She-cat (altitude 900m), with its panorama without end, sensational (sight carrying until the Cathedral of Strasbourg, in clear and released weather). The easiest access, while leaving since the hamlet Salm (old woman community mennonite).
• the mount of the Donon and its famous " Pagan Temple " (maximum altitude 1009 meters). Gallo-Roman place in charge with history and legends! Exceptional panorama with tables of orientation at its top, Gallo-Roman vestiges of high tourist interest (steles, engravings, well, pagan temple, explanatory panel-guides, etc).
• the report, concentration camp Nazi of the Struthof very sinister (Rothau direction, then Natzwiller/Field of Fire). The only one of this type through all the Alsatian territory! Since up there, beautiful panorama on the average valley of the Beetle and its tops neighborhood (Rock of Mutzig, Schneeberg, Donon, Urstein, etc).

See too

• Common of the Low-Rhine

External bonds

• official site of the town of Schirmeck
• Site of the memorial Alsace-Lorraine
• the memorial Alsace-Lorraine
• the memorial Alsace-Lorraine
• the tunnel of Schirmeck
• Schirmeck on the site of the national geographical Institute
• Schirmeck on the site of INSEE
• Schirmeck on the site of Quid
• Localization of Schirmeck on a chart of France and communes bordering
• Plane on Schirmeck on Mapquest

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