Tocino Oliverio de Guillermo

Volmerange-the-Mines is a common French located in the department of the the Moselle.

History

According to certain authors, the name of the commune would have indicated in the beginning the field or the stronghold of certain Volcmarus, the frank suffix " ing" or " ingen" indicating the possession indeed. Volcmarus-ingen or Volcmar-ingen, giving German Wollmeringen and French Volmerange, would thus be built as Lohtar-ingen (possession of Lohtaire) which gave Lothringen in German and Lorraine in French. Besides one imagines easily this Gallo-Roman Volmcmarus already installed in our small valley at the time of the franque conquest. Misadventures of the name of our village are quoted in various works:

Valembregam villam in pago Moslenci in 980
Garmerange in 1239
Warmerange in 1306
Woilmeringen in 1472
Volmerange-lès-Oeutrange in 1869
Volmerange becomes finally Volmerange-the-Mines on October 1st, 1920.

The Francique is the language which is resulting from that of the Francs. It gave Luxemburgish but also the Platt of Volmerange (and of the area of Thionville) which is characterized some by some particularisms and especially by the pronunciation. About memory of man, even during the annexation (the village was German between 1870 and 1918), in Volmerange, one always spoke " platt" , at the house, in the street, everywhere, except at the school.

The cultural richness of Volmerange must the abroads much. And initially, the inhabitants of Volmerange at the end of war 14-18 were not themselves from abroad in their own village since it was necessary that in 1920 they ask their rehabilitation in French nationality. The demographic rise of the commune is of course due to the massive arrival of the minors German, Luxembourg, Italian and Polish.

; The agricultural activity:

The common one was always an agricultural village, initially in quasi exclusiveness, then, starting from the beginning of the 20° century, parallel to the linked activity with the iron mines. If the surface devoted to the cultures and the breeding only varied rather little during the 40 last years, the number of exploitations on the other hand fell considerably. In 1975, the commune counted 14 exploitations. In 1987, there remained 13 exploitations making live 51 people including 3 permanent employees. In 2000, there still remain only 3 exploitations in activity, the others having been condemned by the requirement for profitability. Besides for a long time already, much occupied simultaneously an employment with the factory, that of Dudelange (Luxembourg) in particular. The regrouping undoubtedly made it possible some farmers to continue to live of their exploitation. Among the traditional agricultural activities, one can still quote the gardening and the culture of the fruit trees which were practiced by all Volmerangeois.

; Archeology: Without being rich, the archaeological layers attest nevertheless of an early human presence on the territory of the commune. The locality " Heide" thus delivered many objects ascribable to various prehistoric periods undoubtedly beginning with the paleolithic superior: scrapers, arrowheads. With the locality " Hoeschtert" shards of sigillée pottery were discovered. For more precise details, to address itself to Romain Wagner or Patrice Peiffer, impassioned historians of Volmerange. Finally during construction of the shooting range, excavations with the locality " Heydentempel" updated an interesting archeological site. Here, such as it is appeared in the Lorraine Review of Archeology in 1998, the report of these excavations:

The site of Volmerange-the-Mines was located following surveys carried out in 1994 on the site of a future shooting range (scientific cf Bilan regional 1994, p 99). Before excavation work, an excavation was carried out on the layers previously located. This operation made it possible to release the remainders of occupations spreading out Neolithic era at the time Roman. The habitat protohistoric is strongly eroded. a small furnace and two posts are the only preserved structures ascribable to this period. An important level of the ground was also preserved in the fossil bed of a brook. A series of manual surveys made it possible to sample this ground over approximately a 60 m length. The study of furniture is in hand and already makes it possible to distinguish two quite distinct chronological phases. One can be dated from the transition Bronze final IIa/Iib, the second of final Bronze III. Flints in secondary position, whose some polished reinforcements and two axes, attest of an older occupation tonic with the final Neolithic era. Upstream of the channel, the argillaceous substrate with license vegetable conservation of the matters on a score of meters. A handle, perhaps from sickle, out of wood, some branches carrying of the traces of blows and some chips come from this less dense sector in vestiges. Several columns of sediments will make it possible to study the floristic evolution of this sector. The Roman occupation corresponds to a small rural establishment. It gathers a rectangular apartment building built out of wooden and ground. Interruptions spared in the foundation raft made up of blocks limestone let suppose the presence of openings. A plaster filling, located in the part is construction, suggests the presence of internal divisions. This dwelling is established perpendicular to the slope and its orientation is roughly East-West. Some posts and structures of combustion rectangular accompany this building. The furniture which is not studied yet, makes it possible to consider a dating of the II° - III° centuries of our era for this site.

; Armorial bearings:

The armorial bearings of the commune were allotted to him, after deliberation of the municipal council, by the decision of the prefect dated April 30th, 1960. They are described in the following way: Of sown Azure of flower of lily of gold, mouths to the issuant full money, gold lion. Flowers of lily symbolizing the abbey of Saint-Denis and the kingdom of France, the lion on red bottom the family of Eltz and Luxembourg, and the money (or white) évêché of Metz.

; Files:

The files related with work and communal management in general filed in town hall go up, except for some documents, only at 1945 and relate to for a great share the war damage and the rebuilding. On the other hand, the registers of the deliberations of the municipal council, if they present a white corresponding to the period 1940 - 1945, start with the meeting of February 5th, 1861. The advisers of the time were called: Bach, Claus, Pauly, Create, Creutz, Keilich, Hilbert, Reisse, Schmitz, Vinkel and Clause.

As for the registers of the civil statue counting marriages, births and death, they will be able to interest a genealogist as from 1823 (provided that its research relates to old facts of at least 100 years). The commune also has the register of rehabilitation in the French nationality of 1920, of the old cadrastal maps, including one very beautiful of 1937, of interesting collections connected of the " Bulletin of Laws and Décrets" of 1819 to 1851, collection of the administrative acts of the Moselle (of 1846 to 1870), " Monitor of Communes" from 1852 to 1870, official journal of 1944 to 1949 and collections of laws and administrative acts German of 1871 to 1916. Part of the communal records is with the Departmental records of the Moselle, with Saint-Julien-the-Metz.

Places and inheritance

; Localities:

Localities raised on the documents of the land register of 1937, whose majority are still reproduced on that of today.

Alheck, Bauschiger Weg, Birlenschutt, Gerden, Gontzeler, Heide, Hoschtert, Hutberg, Kirchental, Langenberg, Mann, Molvinger Anten, Rosenberg, Schlammfeld, Village, Widem, Wonnersberg, etc When a name is not used any more, it is that the village, and thus a street, took the place of it as it is the case for the places crossed by the avenue of Freedom. The names of origin are German; some were translated into French on the official plans and charts. Certain names lost their direction, but others are still comprehensible: hoehle indicates a hollow, a hole, a basin heide indicates heather eck indicates a corner heck indicates a hedge bush indicates a wood buechel indicates a small hillock gaass indicates a street etc

; The town hall:

The rectangular building of 10x20 meters has its main entrance by a broad perron on the side avenue of Freedom. Dating from the years 1960, it was renovated in 2000. On this occasion, to him were added a ramp approach for handicapped and small an appendix sheltering the medical block, the flat roof was replaced by a roof with four sides. The communal services are computerized, have of three phone lines in network, a fax and an access to Internet.

; The post office:

The building, which has one century of existence, is located with 2, rue des Écoles. It has a frontage of 15 meters and a 12,5 meters depth. The ground floor is on the left occupied by the O.G.B.L and on the right by the post office (reception, counters and office of the receiver). This building was in the beginning the town hall and the school of boys. ; Laundrettes:

There existed formerly at least two laundrettes with Volmerange, one close to the avenue of Freedom, on the left of the Bar with Mine, where still a basin remains, the other leant with the current building of the Restaurant the Interval, rue du Cimeti2ere/side. Become useless, this last laundrette, probably built during first half of the 19° century, was demolished with the whole beginning of the year 1960. There remain about it only photographs and the ondin which throne on a rock in front of the town hall. ; The Ondin statue:

This small statue was the ornament of the laundrette located at the crossroads of the streets of the Cemetery and Ottange. It carries the date of 1833 and represents a child barechested, capped with a laurel wreath, girds of a loincloth, whose body ends in a double cut in front. It is perched on a tortoise and blows in a horn. Ondin is currently on a base in front of the town hall.

Administration

Demography

Anecdotes

; The language:

During its recent history, Volmerange will have heard not badly different idioms: French, platt, German, Italian, Polish, plus some others coming from all Europe. Only French remained, obviously. Quite regional French however, and perhaps even a little particular to Volmerange in certain points! Initially, it there with the accent, this heavy rural accent of the linguistic surface of extension of francic, confusing the " on" and " an" , being unaware of the grave accent, aspiring the " h" with all the blows, transforming the soft " ge" ends of words in " che" and mixing the French and Germanic tonic accents anarchically. There are also some idioms like " that tire" for " there is a current of air" , the definite article in front of the name of the people and this astonishing manner of expressing with back the family relations: " the Jean, his mother; the Marie, her son; the Auguste, his beautiful-soeur". In the content, this patois is not more unpleasant than the Marseilles speech than the talent of Marcel Pagnol knew to make tempting. It should nevertheless be specified that the speech typically volmerangeois tends to disappear. Fortunately?

; Frogs:

This sympathetic nerve batrachian appears periodically (but less and less) associated with Volmerange and its inhabitants. It is that formerly their neighbors of Escherange or Kanfen called them " Attrapeurs de Grenouilles". This nickname would come from the right of grenouillage, feudal right known as ridiculous which made obligation with certain inhabitants, the 14° century, to make conceal frogs when the prior of the abbey of Saint-Denis slept at the village. The children undertook this task with a money sling brought by the prior. In exchange of this drudgery, the children had the pleasure of pre called " field with the grenouilles".

; Nicknames:

The use of the nickname is always in force among the young people. It is a manner of making fun somebody… or of expressing its affection to him. Formerly, at time when the " was still spoken; platt" , it was a little different. People knew each other all and were never called by their family name. They always used the first name. It was the habit. And as there were not 36 different first names, since one almost always gave (with the boys at least) that of the father or the godfather, one was obliged to find stratagems to differentiate people. Among the most current first names, there was Jean (Jang), who Jängi, Jeanchen, Jeanli, Pierre who made Péit, Pier, Péitchen or Pierchen. But Louis remained Louis, with the accent on the " Lou". The diminutive " chen" was reserved to the children, but applied to a female first name it flattered a woman. The girls were called Marie (May), Margueritte (Gréit, Gréitchen) or Catherine (Kätt, Kättchen, Kätti). With all that, there was what to confuse the people, then one designated people by nicknames. In general, this nickname was related to the place where the person lived or had lived, with an old family, with a physical or vestimentary characteristic, a defect too. To complicate the things, the nickname could do without wire father, at the end, one knew more really only it meant in the beginning. It could also be attached to a house and successively designate the families which lived it. Thus the " Schwärze Balthes" is Balthazar which lives the " Schwäärzelach" , that one could not confuse with the " Kaapesh Balthes" who always carried a cap (Kaap). As an indication, in 1931, out of 887 people of French nationality, the most current first names were Marie (106), Jean (77), Catherine (53), Nicolas (41), Marguerite (40), Jean-Baptiste (36), Pierre (35), Madeleine (33), Jean-Pierre (32), Michel (30), Joseph (29), Anne (23), Louis (21), Mathias and Henri (20). 55% of the people thus shared the first 10 first names of this list.

Personalities related to the commune

External bonds

Official site of Volmerange-the-Mines
the railway station of Volmerange-the-Mines
List of the mayors of Volmerange-the-Mines
Volmerange-the-Mines on the site of the national geographical Institute
Volmerange-the-Mines on the site of INSEE
Volmerange-the-Mines on the site of Quid
Localization of Volmerange-the-Mines on a chart of France and communes bordering
Plane on Volmerange-the-Mines on Mapquest

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