Sondernach is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is th ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety- ...

'' in

Grand Est Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten; Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administ ...

in north-eastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Geography

Located in the parc naturel régional des Ballons des Vosges, the village of Sondernach shares with

Mittlach Mittlach is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geog ...

the benefit of being situated on the slopes of a large valley watered by one of the streams forming the river Fecht. The altitude of the centre is between 500 and 600 metres. Its only immediate neighbour is the commune of

Metzeral Metzeral () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin département The following is a list of the 366 communes of the French department of Haut-Rhin. The communes ...

to the north.

Origin of name

The origin of the village's name is unclear. It could be from ''der Sonne nahe'' meaning "near the Sun", or ''zum sundern Ach'' meaning "near the south stream", Sondernach being the furthest south village in the valley.

History

Sondernach first appears in archives in the 12th century. Around 1240, the Benedictine

Abbey of Munster An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conc ...

owned lands in the village. From 1287, the village was made part of the valley community grouping

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

and the ten communes of the Fecht. It was destroyed during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, during the battle of

, in June 1915.