Alsace and Lorraine ARE NOT the same place, but separate states that are linked by military history. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marleen Van Horne" <msvnhrn@jps.net> To: <hesse@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 3:13 PM Subject: Re: [HESSE] (no subject) > This is my understanding of the situation: > > The Alsace/Lorraine region is/was a state that under different political > circumstances was in either Germany or France. It is currently a part > of France. > > Alzey, however, has always been in the German state of Hesse-Darmstadt. > The confusion, as I see it is in the fact that on various occasions, > as a result of war, that part of Hesse-Darmstadt on the west side of the > Rhein River has been occupied by France, i.e., the Napoleonic Wars, WWI > and WWII. In each instance the territory was eventually returned to the > German state. > > Alsace and Lorraine are the same place, called Alsace by the Germans and > Lorraine by the French. > > Hessen is north and east of Alsace/Lorraine, and is well within the > borders of present day Germany. This state does not share a border with > France, and was only under French control as an occupied territory. > > I am sure if I have gotten this wrong, someone more knowledgeable will > correct me. > > Marleen Van Horne > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > HESSE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message

>From Wikipedia--a history of Alsace-Lorraine The Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine (German: Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen, generally Elsass-Lothringen) was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after the annexation of most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east of the Vosges Mountains. The Lorraine section was in the upper Moselle valley to the north of the Vosges Mountains. These territories had become part of Eastern Francia in 921 during the reign of King Louis the German, and later became part of the Holy Roman Empire. Their population spoke Germanic and Romance dialects. Those in Alsace spoke in their vast majority Germanic dialects, in particular Alsatian, an Alemannic German dialect similar to that spoken on the opposite bank of the Rhine, while those in Lorraine were divided roughly equally between those who spoke the Romance Lorrain dialect and those who spoke Franconian German dialects. The area had gradually become part of France between 1552, when Metz was ceded to the Kingdom of France, and 1798, when the Republic of Mulhouse joined the French Republic. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the area was annexed by the newly-created German Empire in 1871 by the Treaty of Frankfurt and became a Reichsland. French troops entered Alsace-Lorraine in November 1918 at the end of the World War I and the territory reverted to France at the Treaty of Versailles of 1919. The area was de facto annexed by Nazi Germany in 1940 (although no official de jure annexation took place), but reverted to France in 1944-1945 at the end of World War II and has remained a part of France since. In 1871, the Reichsland of Elsaß-Lothringen was made up of 93% of Alsace (7% remained French) and 26% of Lorraine (74% remained French). For historical reasons, specific legal dispositions are still applied in the territory in form of a local law. In relation to its special legal status, the territory has since its reversion to France been referred to as Alsace-Moselle > Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:43:55 -0500 > From: raygun33@optonline.net > To: hesse@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [HESSE] (no subject) > > Alsace and Lorraine ARE NOT the same place, but separate states that are > linked by military history. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Marleen Van Horne" <msvnhrn@jps.net> > To: <hesse@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 3:13 PM > Subject: Re: [HESSE] (no subject) > > > > This is my understanding of the situation: > > > > The Alsace/Lorraine region is/was a state that under different political > > circumstances was in either Germany or France. It is currently a part > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to HESSE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message