Sarreguemines

Sarreguemines
View of the Saar River and the casino
Sarreguemines
Location within Lorraine region  Sarreguemines
Administration
Country	France
Region	Lorraine
Department	Moselle
Arrondissement	Sarreguemines
Canton	Sarreguemines, Sarreguemines-Campagne
Intercommunality	Sarreguemines Confluences
Mayor	Céleste Lett (2001–2010)
Statistics
Land area1	29.66 km2 (11.45 sq mi)
Population2	21,965  (2009)
- Density	741 /km2 (1,920 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	57631/ 57200
Website	sarreguemines.fr
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Sarreguemines (German:  Saargemünd) is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.

It is the seat of an arrondissement.

Geography

Sarreguemines, whose name is a French spelling of the name in local Lorraine-German dialect "Saargemin", meaning "confluence into the Saar", is located at the confluence of the Blies and the Saar, 40 miles (64 km) east of Metz, 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Strasbourg by rail, and at the junction of the lines to Trier and Saarburg. Traditionally Sarreguemines was the head of river navigation on the Saar, its importance being a depot where boats were unloaded.

Administration

Sarreguemines is the seat of two cantons:

• Sarreguemines, comprising the commune of Sarreguemines
• Sarreguemines-Campagne, comprising 21 nearby communes

History

Sarreguemines, originally a Roman settlement, obtained civic rights early in the 13th century. In 1297 it was ceded by the count of Saarbrücken to the Duke of Lorraine, and passed with Lorraine in 1766 to France.

It was transferred to Germany in 1871, with the Treaty of Frankfurt following the Franco-Prussian War. From 1871 to 1918 it formed part of the German imperial province of Alsace-Lorraine and manufactured plush velvet, leather, porcelain, and earthenware, and was a chief depot for papier-mâché boxes, mostly used for snuffboxes. It was returned to France after World War I.

On December 21–23 1944, the 44th Infantry Division (United States) threw back three attempts by the Germans to cross the Blies River. An aggressive defense of the Sarreguemines area was continued throughout February and most of March 1945.

Notable people

Sarreguemines was the birthplace of

• Jean-Pierre Bachasson, comte de Montalivet (1766–1823), Peer of France and a French statesman.
• Simon Lazard (1828).
• Camille Crémer ( 1840-1876 ), General.
• Hugo Karl (1878-1944), General.
• Maximilian von Jaunez (1873-1947)
• Eberhard Hanfstaengl (1886-1973)
• Hans Traut ( 1895-1974) (1895–1974), General.
• Georg Eißer (1898-1964).
• Marianne Oswald (1901-1985).
• Karl Ullrich (1910-1996), Knights Cross holder.
• Eugen-Ludwig Zweigart (1914-1944), Pilot.
• Jean-Marie Rausch (born 1929).
• Roland Minnerath (born 1946).
• Céleste Lett (born 1951).
• Michel Roth (born 1959).
• Eric Hassli (born 1981), French footballer
• Matthieu Sprick (born 1981), French cyclist

See also

• Communes of the Moselle department

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• Official website
• http://realtravel.com/sarreguemines-lorraine-travel-guide-d1772892-1.html
• http://www.travelpost.com/EU/France/Lorraine/Saargemund/6224215
• http://www.voyage-scolaire.com/france/sarregms/index.html
• http://www.sarreguemines-museum.com
• Médiathèque d'Agglomération Sarreguemines Confluences