Truth
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The Alsace - Yesterday & Today
What and Where is Alsace?
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A simple answer is that Alsace ("Elsass" in German) is a cultural and historic region of France, located in that country's far northeast corner (see map below). It's bordered on the east by the Rhine River, which separates it from southern Germany. Historically its culture has been more German than French, but that is less so now than in the past. The region is fertile, has been fought over for centuries, and has changed hands several times in the past 200 years.
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Alsace has two traditional parts known as "départements" - Bas-Rhin (Lower Alsace) to the north, and Haut-Rhin (Upper Alsace) to the south. Until recently the predominant spoken language of the region was Alsatian, a German dialect. Many Alsatians today speak French.
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Hatten
Why do Americans often call it "Alsace-Lorraine?"
The term "Alsace-Lorraine" ("Elsass-Lothringen" in German) refers to a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian war. This was their name for the land they took from France, consisting of almost all of Alsace and one quarter of adjacent Lorraine. This area was returned to France at the end of the First World War and again at the end of the Second World War.
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The part of Lorraine that was included is Moselle, and to this day there are certain "local laws" in Alsace and Moselle that are allowed to supersede French law. Despite this, Alsace and Lorraine have always been distinct places. In addition, Alsace-Lorraine did not exist when most of our ancestors left, and does not exist today, so to say they came from Alsace-Lorraine is a bit like saying they came from Ohio-Michigan or Georgia-Alabama.
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A very brief history
The earliest written records of Alsace are its conquering by the Romans in the first century BC and use for wine production. After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was taken over by the Alemanni, a confederation of Germanic tribes that left their cultural imprint in the form of the Allemanic language. This was the basis for Alsatian, the traditional Germanic spoken language of the region.
When France invaded Upper Alsace in 1444, Alsace had been a semiautonomous region affiliated with various duchies, city-states, and Germanic rulers for at least 500 years. The French army attempted to strongarm Strasbourg, then and now the largest city in Alsace. France was unable to conquer and hold more than fragments of Alsace, however, and during the Reformation of the 1500s, Strasbourg and much of Alsace adopted Protestantism. This was in contrast to predominately Roman Catholic France.
Some sources indicate that many Alsatians died or fled Alsace during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), leaving Alsace relatively unpopulated, and that immigrants subsequently arrived from Switzerland and southern Germany.
France gained control of most of Alsace in 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia, but under the treaty and subsequent policies, most of the local peoples' rights and customs were preserved, including their language and religion. This continued until the French Revolution when the region was torn by conflict between revolutionary sympathizers and those sympathetic to traditional Prussian and Austrian powers. In 1793 France issued a proclamation drafting all unmarried men aged 18-25. As the French Revolutionary Army reached Alsace, many area residents fled eastward. Some returned later in the decade, only to find their property had been confiscated.
From 1815-1818, following the Battle of Waterloo, border regions of France were continuously occupied by foreign armies, including almost 300,000 troops in Bas-Rhin, where Hatten is located. This was associated with economic hardship in the region, and it was shortly after this that significant numbers of Alsatians began to emigrate to North America.
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Political divisions of France
The political divisions of France can be confusing to Americans, and perhaps more so because of the major consolidation of regions that went into effect in January 2016. There was also consolidation of many lesser districts, all with the goal of reducing administrative costs.
Prior to that time, Alsace was one of 22 administrative regions of France, as shown on the previous map. As the smallest region in the country, it was not surprisingly among those chosen for consolidation. The following map shows the new larger regions and their départements.
Alsace was combined with Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne to form an administrative region called Grand-Est, with Strasbourg, the former capital of Alsace, as the capital. This restructuring is apparently not popular in Hatten; its official website lists its region not as Grand-Est, but as Alsace-Lorraine-Champagne-Ardenne. Fortunately for those already familiar with Alsace, the two départements - Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin - have stayed the same.
Additional details are shown in the chart below. While there's no need to sort this data, if you accidentally do so, click "Hierarchy" to reorder.
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Hatten
The Département of Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin is the northernmost portion of Alsace where Hatten is located. It's name literally means "Low Rhine", but it is low only as compared to the adjacent Haut-Rhin or "High Rhine." In fact, the entire region is usually considered part of the upper Rhine, far from the river's mouth in the North Sea. For this reason, the names of the two areas are usually translated "Lower Alsace" and "Upper Alsace."
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Bas-Rhin is both a historic and present-day département of Alsace, having been created at the time of the French Revolution. More than halfway surrounded by Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate, and Baden-Wuerttemberg) it's culturally the most German and most Protestant area in continental France. Agriculture, especially wine production, and tourism are important to its economy.
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The present-day town of Hatten, Bas-Rhin
Hatten is located just north of the Hagenau forest in gently rolling country about 6 mi (10 km) west of the Rhine River. Hatten is best known as the site of a fierce and locally devastating battle late in World War II.
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Because the Nazis avoided the nearby Maginot Line in their invasion of France, Hatten went relatively unscathed throughout most of the war. In December 1944, the town was officially liberated by American forces; however, in January 1945, Germany launched a last-ditch effort to take Strasbourg, resulting in 12 days of tank warfare in and around Hatten. By the end of January almost everything in town had been leveled.
Hatten was rebuilt and is home to a museum about the Maginot Line, as well as preserved sites and equipment related to the war.
The coat of arms of Hatten
How we traced the Schmitts to Hatten
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My Schmitt research began with Friederich (1800-1880), the most distant ancestor my father could recall. Early on I found Friederich's oldest son, Frederick (1823-1905), buried coincidentally in the town where I live. A visit to the local library to look at old newspapers turned up a lucky find. Frederick was well enough known in town to be honored in a way few were at the time - with a rather detailed obituary, part of which is shown below (click for entire).
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At the time I wasn't sure what to make of this, since there is no town of Harten in Alsace. In 2005, however, I was contacted by Harold Habein who had independently identified Hatten as the family's hometown. Harold had also uncovered a highly informative obituary - that of Christian's second son, George, who was killed while on guard duty for the Union Army in the Civil War (1864). This document also gives Hatten as the family's hometown (we will post a copy when it's available). By studying Hatten records on microfilm at Family History Centers, Harold was able to learn that his g-g grandfather Christian Schmitt and my g-g grandfather Friederich Schmitt were indeed brothers who came together on the Ship Sully.
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Alsace Resources
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Bas-Rhin Archives (be sure to read our helpful hints HERE
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Official website of Hatten (in French)
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The communities of Alsace A-Z
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History of Alsace (Brian Smith)
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Get Alsaced!
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Hatten and the French Administrative Divisions
* Numbers refers to continental France plus Corsica
** Because the political divisions are so different, the comparison to United States institutions is very approximate. In terms of size rather than governance, Arrondisements and Cantons are somewhat like American cities.
*** While this term is often translated simply as "commune" in English, this is clearly misleading to most English speakers, who envision something entirely different