Sarreguemines

Sarreguemines
Subprefecture and commune
View of the Saar River and the casino

Coat of arms
Sarreguemines
Location within Grand Est region
Sarreguemines
Coordinates: 49°07′N 7°04′E / 49.11°N 7.07°E / 49.11; 7.07Coordinates: 49°07′N 7°04′E / 49.11°N 7.07°E / 49.11; 7.07
Country France
Region Grand Est
Department Moselle
Arrondissement Sarreguemines
Canton Sarreguemines
Intercommunality Sarreguemines Confluences
Government
 • Mayor (2014-2020) Céleste Lett
Area1 29.67 km2 (11.46 sq mi)
Population (2013)2 21,572
 • Density 730/km2 (1,900/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code 57631 /57200
Elevation 192–293 m (630–961 ft)
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 (French pronunciation: ​[saʁɡəmin]; German:  Saargemünd , Lorraine Franconian: Saargemìnn) is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France.

It is the seat of an arrondissement and a canton. As of the 2013 France census, the town's population is 21,572. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Sarregueminois and Sarregueminoises.

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 was, from 1985 to 2015, the seat of two cantons:

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

Both cantons, minus the communes of Grundviller, Guebenhouse, Loupershouse and Woustviller that were added to the canton of Sarralbe, were merged into one canton of Sarreguemines on January 1, 2015.

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

See also

References

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Saargemünd". Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 954.
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