User:Kurtofboa/St. Germanshof

St. Germanshof
St. Germanshof is a small hamlet in the heavily wooded Lauter valley, on the road from Bundenthal to Wissembourg and adjacent to the French/German border. The nearest villages are Bobenthal on the German and Weiler on the French side.

St. Germanshof (St. German = patron saint, Hof = farm or estate) dates from 1055 when Abbot Samuel of Wissembourg built a fortress there as one of four fortifications protecting his monastery. Destroyed during the German Peasants’ War in 1525 it went through many changes of construction, reconstruction and ownership, including a period in French hands in 1789-1817. The foundations of the 16th century have left their marks on the current main building, a square structure now combining a working farm and a hotel/restaurant.

In addition to the farm and hotel the other substantial building in St. Germanshof is a sawmill, now producing parquet flooring, with generating equipment to supply electricity to the hamlet (for this purpose the Lauter is split into the river and a canal to produce the necessary difference in elevation). There are a small number of private dwellings, most prominently three whitewashed blocks of flats formerly housing a considerable contingent of customs officers/border guards and their families. A small church just across the French border continues as an active place of worship and draws large attendances on religious feast days. The church cemetery is notable for its many Muslim headstones bearing witness to participants in the second World War from French North Africa.

St. Germanshof shared the many historical comings and goings and changes of ownership between the Palatinate and Alsace over the centuries. It was heavily contested between French and German troops during WWII and sustained significant damage. The border oscillations continued for a year or two after the end of the war before settling down. Being a relatively isolated part of the Franco-German border the area was a playground for smugglers after the war; indeed, one of the border guards, Kurt Neser, was shot dead by smugglers on 15 May 1951. St. Germanshof was a focus for pro-European activists in the early 1950s, with large demonstrations at and across the border calling for the formation of a European Community.

Today the border demarcation is still in place but quite unobtrusive. St. Germanshof is a destination for Sunday outings, religious celebrations and a starting point for well-marked hikes to surrounding historic villages and hilltop castle remains. 1  Anton Eckardt and Hans Erich Kubach Die Kunstdenkmӓler der Stadt und des Landkreises Pirmasnes Vol 2 (1957) Deutscher Kunstverlag 2  See for example  Mundat Forest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundat_Forest 3  For example see http://www.st-germanshof.de/