Sarreguemines

Sarreguemines Saargemünd
Subprefecture and commune
View of the Saar River and the casino
Coat of arms
Country	France
Region	Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine
Department	Moselle
Arrondissement	Sarreguemines
Canton	Sarreguemines
Intercommunality	CA Sarreguemines Confluences
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Marc Zingraff (LR)
Area1	29.67 km2 (11.46 sq mi)
Population (Jan. 2018)2
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 [zaːɐ̯ɡəˈmʏnt], 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, 79 kilometres (49 mi) east of Metz, 107 kilometres (66 mi) northwest of Strasbourg by rail, and at the junction of the lines to Trier and Sarrebourg. Sarreguemines station has rail connections to Strasbourg, Saarbrücken and Metz. Traditionally Sarreguemines was the head of river navigation on the Saar, its importance being a depot where boats were unloaded.

Population

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 2,402 —     1800 2,529 +0.74% 1806 2,972 +2.73% 1821 3,608 +1.30% 1836 4,113 +0.88% 1841 4,243 +0.62% 1861 6,075 +1.81% 1866 6,802 +2.29% 1871 6,863 +0.18% 1875 8,466 +5.39% 1880 9,573 +2.49% 1885 10,719 +2.29% 1890 13,076 +4.06% 1895 13,888 +1.21% 1900 14,685 +1.12% 1905 14,919 +0.32%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1910 14,253 −0.91% 1921 14,197 −0.04% 1926 13,812 −0.55% 1931 14,371 +0.80% 1936 16,001 +2.17% 1946 13,375 −1.78% 1954 14,947 +1.40% 1962 17,866 +2.25% 1968 24,284 +5.25% 1975 25,684 +0.80% 1982 24,763 −0.52% 1990 23,117 −0.86% 1999 23,202 +0.04% 2007 21,835 −0.76% 2012 21,605 −0.21% 2017 20,783 −0.77%
Source: EHESS and INSEE (1968-2017)

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, faience and porcelain, and was a centre for making 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 :

• Jean-Pierre Bachasson, comte de Montalivet (1766–1823), Peer of France and a French statesman
• Auguste Hilarion Touret (1797 – 1858 ) - French philhellene officer and a participant in the War of Independence of Greece
• Hans Traut ( 1895-1974), general
• Marianne Oswald (1901-1985), singer
• Karl Ullrich (1910-1996), Knights Cross holder
• Eugen-Ludwig Zweigart (1914-1944), pilot
• Céleste Lett (born 1951), politician
• Michel Roth (born 1959), chef
• Eric Hassli (born 1981), French footballer
• Lucien Schmitthäusler (1935–2020), writer and educator
• Matthieu Sprick (born 1981), French cyclist
• Erza Muqoli (born 2005), French singer

See also

• Communes of the Moselle department

External links

• Official website
• http://realtravel.com/sarreguemines-lorraine-travel-guide-d1772892-1.html
• http://www.travelpost.com/EU/France/Lorraine/Saargemund/6224215
• http://www.voyage-scolaire.com/france/sarregms/index.html
• http://www.sarreguemines-museum.com
• Médiathèque d'Agglomération Sarreguemines Confluences