Touring and tourism – The Blue Line – the Vosges frontier 1871 to 1914

A summer excursion – le Moulin de St-Hippolyte

It’s the turn of the century. It’s a summer Sunday in Alsace: there are hours of warm sun to enjoy and friends to meet. Where better for an excursion than St Pilter Mühle, le Moulin de St-Hippolyte? A relaxed six km walk from St-Hippolyte, within an easy stroll from the station, the popular “Brüachmuehl” is a favourite rendezvous for local villagers and the townspeople of Sélestat.

Posted 1906

The auberge of le Moulin de St-Hippolyte was run by Daniel Oster, succeeded by his son Emile Oster, his wife and their son René. It was situated in the area of small waterways which feed into the river Ill on the fertile plain at the foot of the wine growing corridor. The ancient mill buildings included stables, a barn and an auberge surrounding a courtyard where tables and chairs were always set out. Every Sunday, pleasure-seekers descended on the auberge, gathering with their friends to eat, drink and relax. The cold water of the mill channel was clear enough to swim in and some visitors from Sélestat even arrived by boat. While Madame Oster and René brought out bottles of wine and kept glasses topped up, Emile played his accordion. Some people sang, some danced and the beer flowed liberally. Madame apparently kept the happy crowds in order!

It wasn’t only a summer destination. When the waterways and pools froze, Sunday skaters enjoyed heading for le Moulin where they could revitalise themselves with Madame Oster’s vin chaud. It was a venue for all seasons.

Nor was its purpose simply pleasure. Harvesting on the ried (the plain) was tough work under the relentless summer sun. During the heyday of manual agriculture, before full mechanisation, farm labourers spent long, exhausting days harvesting an area with little natural shelter. Le Moulin provided essential refreshment, some shade and a place where horses and working cattle plagued by horseflies could shelter, rest and drink.

In the bitter winter, the lumberjacks from the Sélestat area arrived to deal with the huge trunks cut from the frozen forests. They used small horses which had exceptional endurance and transported the trunks by wagon to the station of St-Hippolyte where they were despatched up and down the Rhine valley. These workers lodged in the barn of the auberge close to the stables where their little horses rested.

The happy times at “Brüachmuehl” ended forever in 1944. After American troops liberated St-Hippolyte, the Germans defended the plain areas. Emile Oster and his wife sheltered for a few days with a friend’s parents, but, anxious about their livestock, returned to their home. American artillery bombardment entirely destroyed the Moulin de St-Hippolyte, which burned to the ground and Emile and Madame Oster perished with their property. René Oster, their only child, had been forcibly conscripted into the Wehrmacht and captured by the Russians. He had already died in the POW camp of Tambov.

This…

le Moulin -front – 2014

le Moulin – rear – 2014

… is what remains of that joyful era. A few stones, part of a pillar, an ancient fruit tree, some burned tiles, some bricks, all now entwined with brambles and weeds. The mill river is overgrown with weeds. If you pause silently and contemplate, you can just about imagine the pleasure of the languid brook, the cobbled courtyard, the dappled shade and the warm sunsets. The atmosphere is charged, still, apprehensive. You might not wish to linger.

Please continue to the next blog post: Un Malgré-Nous: the bleak ending

The war memorial at St-Hippolyte, Haut-Rhin (Alsace)

How to find the site

Travelling north along the RN 83 from Ribeauvillé, leave in the direction of Sélestat at junction 18. Very soon on your right you come to a ruined former hotel surrounded by trees and undergrowth. Immediately next to this is a small track which takes you to the Léonhart gravel pit. You will soon pass the memorial to Lancaster ND-781 on your left. Park near the gravel pit. Walk straight along the path (with fields on your left) and after about five minutes you will come to the site of St-Pilter Mühle, le Moulin de St-Hippolyte.

Alternatively, after you have parked, you can follow the marked trail Sentier d’interprétation Ried Paysan which shows how the landscape has been exploited and preserved, and the impact of human activity on the ecosystem. This takes under two hours at a relaxed pace and you’re sure to see wildlife.

Source:

Les Cigognes, Bulletin Communal de St-Hippolyte, number 13, 1989, the recollections of Antoine Heyberger whose parents sheltered the Osters during the battle.
Postcards and photographs my own.

Chalet Hartmann: romance to ruins in 90 years

Approaching the summit of Col de la Schlucht (1139m) from the Munster valley, one of the first signs of habitation is the Hotel du Chalet. For decades travellers have refreshed themselves and relaxed here: cyclists and walkers –

motorists –

and skiers –

Adjoining the hotel premises is a patch of gravelly ground with a set of stone steps leading up to what looks like the foundations of a building. The excursionists of the Occupation era would have seen a pretty Swiss-style building called Chalet Hartmann here (seen in the second postcard above) and might possibly even have crossed paths with a distinguished visitor.

1908 – crowds linger after the arrival of Wilhelm II and his entourage. The dark building on the left is the German customs building.

Chalet Hartmann was built in 1859/60 by a prominent industrialist, Frédéric Hartmann-Metzger, known for his fabric factories in Munster and his benevolent treatment of his staff, including establishing schools in the valley. He constructed the Chalet to mark the completion of the steep, winding road up to the Col from Munster begun fifteen years earlier.

Before the Great War

Many illustrious people visited it, including Napoléon III (twice before the war of 1870) and Wilhelm II in September 1908. With Alsace returned to German territory, Hitler visited la Schlucht in 1940.

1908 (Unfortunately the original card is blurred.)

For part of its life, Chalet Hartmann was a restaurant popular with celebrities. It was badly damaged in the Great War, abandoned in the 1930s, and then damaged again in the Second World War. In 1946 it was completely demolished.

A sad sight after the Great War

This is what the once beautiful Chalet Hartmann looks like now, photographed from the footpath which climbs behind the semi-derelict Hotel Tetras and overlooks the site of the original German customs building. All that remains is the set of steps into the house.

The époque of a rather elegant, leisured, somewhat romantically inclined tourist industry was over and la Schlucht began to look for modern ways of exploiting the white gold of the high mountains.

(All postcards and photographs are my own. Modern photographs June 2013)

The Vosges trams: Ampfersbach to la Schlucht

When the mist clears, and if in your imagination you replace the modern building with a distinguished Victorian hotel, you will see an alluring destination for travellers in the Vosges during the period before the Great War.

I am in the pretty valley of Ampfersbach, looking upwards –

and the modern sanatorium is on the site of the fabulous Hotel Altenberg with its exceptional panorama.

At 1059 m, the luxurious Altenberg was a short walk from the frontier at Col de la Schlucht (1139m). (The original 1896 hotel was destroyed during the Great War and a new hospital building was built on the site between 1922 and 1926. It closed in 2011.) La Schlucht was a popular destination, well supplied with restaurants, hotels and cafés where the intrepid traveller could relax after a stimulating walk in the French Hautes Vosges, contemplate the lost region of Alsace and breathe in the energising mountain air. There were customs buildings for French and German officials.

It is, of course, possible for energetic people to walk up to la Schlucht from Munster or Gérardmer, or to travel by horse. In 1902, the embryonic idea of running a railway up to the Col and down the other side to Gérardmer began to take shape and a tramway was built. This opened up the beautiful valley and Col to tourists from Colmar, who could travel to Munster by train and board a tram, and visitors from further afield. It was a summer service and half a million people took advantage of it between 1907 and 1913.

The tram trundled at 17 kph along the flat floor of the Munster valley, calling at little stations such as Saegmatt in the Ampfersbach valley:

It is still possible to see the slightly elevated embanked track (minus rails) along which the tram travelled. When the flat valley reached the sides of the pass, the tramway began to climb at 7.5 kph up slopes of 22% until it reached the Hotel Altenberg.

The tramway levelled out after the Altenberg, passed under the Schlucht tunnel cut through the rocks –

and eventually reached Col de la Schlucht. There, the customs officers awaited in their official premises at the frontier.

German customs building

German officer, French side in the background

There is much more to say about Col de la Schlucht and the trams in future posts. When the Great War broke out, the French army took the Hotel Altenberg. The tourist trams were used in the early weeks of the war for the transport of troops and the evacuation of wounded soldiers. This stopped when the German troops cut the electricity supply to the tramway.

Returning to Ampfersbach, I am fortunate to have a special card: a postcard sent by a French soldier from Ampfersbach during the Great War. He annotated it clearly, identifying:

the small settlement where they were based
a chimney next to which was the first aid post
the house where he slept in the cellar
and the German side of the front.

According to his message, the X near the church marks the place behind the cemetery wall where he was guarding the trenches. Sadly, he didn’t date or sign his card.

In very faint pencil marks, he marked his trench line. I have traced his line in red.

It’s a privilege beyond words to have bought such a detailed snapshot of someone’s war for five euros.

All postcards and photographs my own.

Note:

Ampfersbach and the Hotel Altenberg are in Alsace, in the territory annexed by Germany.

Statistics about the tram sourced from La Vallée de Munster: Le Tramway Munster-Schlucht et les environs de la Schlucht by Gérard Jacquat and Gérard Leser.

Crossing the frontier by tunnel: the Col de Bussang

The main road between Thann and Remiremont passes the tranquil, natural lake of the See d’Urbès, where you can walk round the water’s edge and watch dragonflies darting among the marshes. You can take the little road to peaceful Storckensohn, walk past the pretty Alsacien houses and pause by the old oil mill, a watermill. I imagine that visitors from a century ago would have seen a similar scene.

– Storckensohn. Timeless –

Then you can return to the main N66 and begin the winding climb to the Col de Bussang. You pass the memorial to those whose lives ended in the Dachau satellite camp at the foot of Vallon. (It was also administratively connected to the concentration camp at Natzweiler-Struthof, 50 km SE of Strasbourg.) In 1944, the Germans requisitioned a partly complete early rail tunnel to the west of Urbès for an arms factory under the Daimler-Benz umbrella, in a scheme which was code-named KRANISCH-10. Two thousand prisoners and deportees, arriving in waves, were employed in atrocious conditions there between March and September 1944. A current project (2012-2016) aims to provide a memorial to those who worked and died there, with interpretation panels, a trail, a rose bed and art works by young people.*

The N66 is a fast, winding road and I imagine that many drivers keen to finish the steep climb to the Col du Bussang (731m) are completely unaware that just to the north of the summit (the col) there is a tunnel through the hillside. It replaced an important road which passed above the site where the tunnel was constructed. The sign over the French entrance to the tunnel was specific: Limite de territoire français 155m de l’origine de tunnel. Shortly after entering the tunnel, the traveller was entering German territory.

Customs and security on the other side of the tunnel were markedly different from that on the French side, in the officials’ uniforms and the language.

Wirtschaft zum Tunnel

The tunnel was a great draw for tourists and travellers. The café was, I believe, Café Murat and postcards dated after the Great War show that ‘Wirtschaft zum Tunnel’ was promptly obliterated and replaced with ‘Café du tunnel’.

Café du Tunnel

The entrance to the tunnel is still visible from the former German side (the Urbès side), but I have not been able to see any evidence of the former French entrance (the Bussang side). However, you can see the source of the great river Moselle (Mosel) as it trickles out of the hillside. (Take the D89, route des Sources, not avenue des Sources, and after passing the turning up the hill to Drumont there is a small picnic area at the source.)

(Former German side. Tunnel to the left of the picture. Modern hotel.)

These two cards demonstrate the difficulties of travelling through the Vosges in winter. Both show the French side of the frontier and the customs officials are visible in each. (The stamped card was posted in Wesserling, Alsace, German territory at that time, hence the German stamp.) The small chalet nearest the camera was built by Touring-Club.

The N66 remains an important road under pressure. In earlier centuries the route was vital for the defence of France and the movement of troops through the Vosges towards the Swiss border; now trucks are its significant load. The fast road is worth using briefly for the natural beauty on either side of the Col: from St-Maurice you can pick up the steep route to the Ballon d’Alsace , or it’s pleasant to linger in the tranquil nature reserves and lakes near Urbès and Kruth.

All postcards and photographs are my own.

• For more information please see http://www.struthof.fr/fr/nos-partenaires/memoriaux-des-camps-annexes/ and click on le Kommando Urbès. Also see http://www.lieux-insolites.fr/alsace/urbes/urbes.htm

Fresh air and fun: Winter tourism on the Ballon d’Alsace before the Great War

Hôtel de la Jumenterie (left) and farm

People living in developing industrial areas, in expanding cities such as Strasbourg and in increasingly urban environments viewed the mountains tracing their blue line on the horizon and dreamed of escapes to rural idylls where they could recapture an historic rural lifestyle, breathe fresh air and benefit from outdoor exercise. By the early twentieth century, the mountain areas were increasingly accessible and for those in north eastern France or in the territories to the east of the frontier, the Vosges offered beautiful landscapes, snow, space, pure air, a healthy environment and a range of accommodation. Families could choose between hotels, chalets and small establishments whether they were simply intending to explore the Massif privately or participate in great public events.

Organisations dedicated to the pleasures and practicalities of visiting the mountains developed and by the time the Great War was on the horizon, these clubs were flourishing. Ski-club Vogesen-Straßburg was launched in 1896 – the German name was used because Strasbourg was in Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen, the annexed part of France – and in 1902, the defiantly named Les Vosges-Trotters de Colmar was started by French-minded Alsaciens. Some of these clubs were modelled on the winter sports clubs which were already popular in the Black Forest, on the other side of the Rhine.

Skiers, Ballon d’Alsace, February 1910

The idea of a rural idyll was partly a myth, but it was a myth enthusiastically fostered by travel organisations and tourist literature. La Compagnie des Chemins de fer de l’Est promoted the Vosges with a vigorous poster campaign. Numerous intrepid travellers published works describing the unspoiled romantic beauty of the Vosges, an area apparently populated by simple honest folk who sang as they went about their daily lives and mingled with innocent animals straight out of fairy tales. The shallow, charming portraits almost entirely ignored the fact that the Vosges is a working area.

Path cut to provide access to the farm

Cutting a path through the snow

However, the tourists came. Refuges were built, some by Club Vosgien*, chalets were constructed, farmers saw the opportunity to sell refreshments and their own produce such as cheese.

Visitors tended to gravitate towards their nearest mountain heights. The Ballon d’Alsace drew many visitors from the Belfort region to the south of the Vosges. Several hoteliers set up premises at the summit and one particularly original one is the ‘new’ Hôtel de la Jumenterie. It was built on the site of a small farm and its crenelated appearance deliberately evokes an historic past. The original jumenterie was a stable for brood mares, established by the Ducs de Lorraine in the 18^th century. There is still la Jumenterie, now a riding-based holiday centre on the road to St-Maurice, but it does not use the original premises. I’ve been unable to see evidence of these and I think they have been demolished.

Road snowed up between Hôtel de la Jumenterie (left) and farm

Yet, despite the tourists, the Ballon d’Alsace was still a frontier area, and customs officials still had to pursue their responsibilities, even in the bitterest winter, the deepest snows. The fun was a temporary mask; the realities could be extremely harsh, as the soldiers serving in the Hautes-Vosges in the Great War would discover in little more than a decade’s time.

The statue of la Vierge du Sommet, Notre-Dame du Ballon, completely frozen into an ice sculpture

The customs officers’ premises, card posted 1911

*Club Vosgien, founded 1872, focussed on walkers. It mapped footpaths and provided excellent sign posts through the whole massif of the Vosges. Today they have covered 17000 km of paths. Appealing to the less bourgeois who might not be attracted to the winter sports culture, Les Amis de la nature came to the Vosges just before the Great War, founding branches from 1912-14.

All postcards my own

Winter tourism (and some inventive transport) before the Great War: have a fabulous week in the Vosges!

(Card posted 1908)

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, there was a growing appetite for affordable travel and the bicycle offered a perfect means of economic transport. The Bicycle Touring Club was founded in Britain in 1878, but changed its name five years later to the Cyclists’ Touring Club so that tricycle users could join.

Le Touring Club de France was launched in January 1890, modelling itself on the British association. It published guides, routes, journals and postcards for tourists and it promoted awareness of tourist provision such as road signs, orientation tables and refreshment facilities. It funded benches, shelters and some road improvements. (Travellers today may see the Vaulthier sculptures which mark the former Great War front line. They are squat granite pillars topped with an Adrian helmet and a laurel wreath. Touring Club de France was responsible for organising these. Three remain in the Vosges and six in Haut-Rhin, Alsace; one is at Hartmannswillerkopf.)

Naturally the Vosges mountains offered plenty of opportunities for the early tourism industry and Touring Club de France organised a series of exhibitions to promote the pleasures of spending a week in winter enjoying snow sports. The intermittent adventures of wealthy individuals with plenty of time could now potentially be enjoyed by more people.

February 1910 was bitterly cold and the heavy snowfall was an auspicious start to the new winter sports tourism industry. Gérardmer, on the French side of the 1871 frontier in the Hautes-Vosges, was an extremely popular summer destination but moribund in winter. The efforts of Touring Club de France could transform its tourist trade in its quietest season.

The problems of getting around on snow and ice kindled people’s imaginations. Bobsleighs were popular. Reminiscent of the craze for velocipedes (ingenious pedal cycles with up to four wheels), various comical transport machines were invented:

the vélo-ski…

(Card posted 1910)

the auto-traîneau…

the traîneau à hélice…

(I find it hard to see how the unshielded propeller could possibly be safe!)

Even the customs and military organisations investigated the possibilities of ski transport. Here are customs officials at Col de la Schlucht:

German (Card posted 1910)

French (doorway shows height of snow)

and military skiers on the Ballon d’Alsace. Security is non-existent!

The spirit of adventure inevitably led to mishaps. One particular accident near Col de la Schlucht involved two French officers who aspired to reach the summit of Hohneck (1363m), undaunted by the atrocious weather conditions. Inevitably, they were caught in snowfall and fog. Suddenly, one vanished before his companion’s horrified eyes. He had fallen down a ravine, but fortunately his fall was cushioned by snow and he survived, bruised. This didn’t deter others from intrepid escapades and there were deaths.

The winter sports season was a great success and hopes were high for the coming years. Unfortunately in 1911 the snow failed to materialise. In 1912/3, le Club alpin français held the seventh Concours internationale de Gérardmer, an international snow sports event. A winter sports programme was organised for January 1914, with skiing and evening skating by electric lighting on constructed ice rinks. This was the last winter sports season on the French side of the frontier. By the time the Hautes-Vosges were next available for winter pleasure, Alsace and the Vosges had been restored to France.