Lower Alsace (, also spelled ; ) was the northern part of the historical region

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

. From 1871 to 1918, ''Bezirk Unterelsaß'' was the name for the central district (''Bezirk'') of the imperial territory of

Alsace–Lorraine Alsace–Lorraine (German language, German: ''Elsaß–Lothringen''), officially the Imperial Territory of Alsace–Lorraine (), was a territory of the German Empire, located in modern-day France. It was established in 1871 by the German Empire ...

in the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

Administrative and political organization

According to the census 1886 the district of Lower Alsace comprised: * 8 subdistricts ("Kreise") * 31 cantons * 560 municipalities * area * 612.078 inhabitants (Males 299.456 Females 312.622) * Catholics 381.748 Protestants 209.199 Jews 19.848 Other faiths 1.220

Capital and subdistricts

The capital of the district was

Straßburg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin department and the official seat of the European Parliament. The cit ...

. There were the 8 subdistricts ("Kreise") of #

Erstein Erstein (, ; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department, in the region of Grand Est, France. History An important necropolis from the Merovingian era (6th-7th century) has been excavated near Erstein in 1999–2000. Erstein was known in Alsa ...

Hagenau Haguenau (; or ; ; historical ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Département in France, department of France, of which it is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg ...

(Haguenau) #

Molsheim Molsheim (; ) is a Communes of France, commune and a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bas-Rhin Departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.Schlettstadt (Sélestat) # Straßburg, Land (county of Straßburg) (Strasbourg) # Weißenburg (Wissembourg) # Zabern (Saverne) # Stadtkreis Straßburg

The official flag

The flag is a white bar in a red field decorated on each side with a white lace motif. The union of this flag with that of Oberelsaß forms the flag of modern Alsace.

Annexed municipalities from the neighbor department

The district of Unterelsaß corresponds exactly to the current ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

, but not to the Alsatian territory before 1870. Under the terms of a particular agreement that was signed in Berlin July 21, 1871, and in Paris July 31, 1871, 18 municipalities of the Vosges department were integrated into the new imperial district of Lower Alsace, subdistrict of Molsheim, canton of Schirmeck. #Barembach #Bourg-Bruche #La Broque # Colroy-la-Roche #Grandfontaine #Natzvillers # Neuviller-la-Roche #Plaine # Ranrupt # Rothau #Russ # Saales #Saint-Blaise-la-Roche #Saulxures #

Schirmeck Schirmeck () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is the location of the Alsace-Moselle Memorial museum. The name of the town means "protected place". In Lorraine dialect it is called "Chermec". ...

#Waldersbach #Wildersbach #Wisches In earlier times Rothau, Wildersbach, Waldersbach, Neuvillers belonged to the principality of

Ban de la Roche Le Ban de la Roche () is the name of an ancient fief, seigneurie, later a county. It is situated in Alsace, France, Bas-Rhin (département), Département du Bas-Rhin. This small region is referred by its old Ancien régime name because of its stron ...

before they joined the département of the Vosges in 1790. The other ones were located in the former Duchy of Lorraine. The inhabitants of these municipalities didn't and still don't speak any German dialect (Lower Alemannic) such as their neighbors. The linguistic boundary runs between Wisches and Lutzelhouse. The people of the annexed towns speaks a Romance language from the

Langues d'oïl The ''langues d'oïl'' are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest relatives historically spoken in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands. They belong to the larger category of Gallo- ...

, Lorraine family, such as some municipalities in the district of

Upper Alsace Upper Alsace (southern Alsace) was a landgraviate of the Holy Roman Empire centred on Ensisheim and Landser, north of the County of Ferrette (Pfirt). The counts of Habsburg ruled the territory from the 1130s down to its cession to France in ...

. This cultural particularity stresses the fact that the annexation of French territories by the German Empire not always referred to the pan-nationalist political idea (

Pan-Germanism Pan-Germanism ( or '), also occasionally known as Pan-Germanicism, is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanism seeks to unify all ethnic Germans, German-speaking people, and possibly also non-German Germanic peoples – into a sin ...

trying to unite all German-speaking people. When Alsace was recovered by France in 1919 it was decided not to return the 18 annexed municipalities to their former Department(

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

). Thus in terms of departmental boundaries, the mountain region remains administratively separated from the western portion of the

Vosges mountains The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian (linguistics), Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its France–Germany border, border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the bor ...

. Nowadays the inhabitants of the Bruche valley basically identify themselves with Lower Alsatians regardless of their cultural identity.

First German federal elections 1874

The subjects of the Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine could exercise their right to vote for the deputies at the Reichtstag in Berlin February 1, 1874. Among ten deputies for Alsace, six were catholic clerics and most of the deputies belonged to the French protest party.Fernand L'Huillier, Histoire de l'Alsace, Collection Que sais-je?, P.U.F. Paris 1965, Pages 94-95 The name of the deputies for Lower Alsace were as follows: *Hartmann, Ludwig, factory owner, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 10 (Hagenau, Weißenburg), Elsaß-Lothringer *Lauth, Ernest, mayor of Strasbourg, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 8 (Straßburg), Französische Protestpartei *Philippi, Joseph, priest, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 7 (Molsheim, Erstein), Elsaß-Lothringer *Räß, Andreas, bishop of Strasbourg, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 6 (Schlettstadt), Elsaß-Lothringer *Schauenburg, Alexis von, landowner, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 9 (Straßburg-Land), Elsaß-Lothringer *Teutsch, Eduard, landowner, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 11 (Zabern), Französische Protestpartei

Third German federal election, 1877

In the third election of January 10, 1877, the Alsatians of the District Lower Alsace elected the following deputies: *Gustav Adolf Bergmann, Straßburg-Stadt Els.-Lothringer *Louis Heckmann-Stintzy, Schlettstadt Els.-Lothringer *Xaver Joseph Nessel, Hagenau, Weißenburg Els.-Lothringer *Jean North, Straßburg-Land Els.-Lothringer *Achille Rack Molsheim, Erstein Els.-Lothringer *Carl August Schneegans, Zabern Els.-Lothringer

Fourth German federal election, July 30, 1878

The Lower Alsatian deputies for the next legislative period 1878-1881 are as follows: * Goldenberg, Alfred, factory owner, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 11 (Zabern), Elsaß-Lothringer * Heckmann-Stintzy, Louis, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 6 (Schlettstadt), Elsaß-Lothringer *Kable, Jacques, director of an insurance company, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 8 (Straßburg), Elsaß-Lothringer *Rack, Achille, Mayor of Benfeld, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 7 (Molsheim, Erstein), Elsaß-Lothringer *Schmitt-Batiston, Alfred, land owner, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 10 (Hagenau, Weißenburg), Elsaß-Lothringer *Schneegans, Carl August, Director of Elsässer Journal, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 11 (Zabern), Elsaß-Lothringer

Fifth German federal elections 1881

The elections for the fifth legislative period (1881-1884) of the Imperial Diet took place October 27, 1881. These are the results of the elections for Lower Alsace: Hugo Zorn von Bulach

*Dietrich, Eugéne de, ironmaster, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 10 (Hagenau, Weißenburg), Elsaß-Lothringer *Goldenberg, Alfred, factory-owner, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 11 (Zabern), Elsaß-Lothringer *Kablé, Jacques, director of an insurance company, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 8 (Straßburg-Stadt), Elsaß-Lothringer *Lang, Irénée, manufacturer, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 6 (Schlettstadt), Zentrum *Quirin, Michael, landowner, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 9 (Straßburg-Land), Elsaß-Lothringer *Zorn von Bulach, Hugo, WK Elsaß-Lothringen 7 (Molsheim, Erstein), Elsaß-Lothringer

References

External links

For all deputies of the Imperial Diet see databaseLes députés "protestataires" d'Alsace-Lorraine (French)

Sources

For the federal elections

*Georg Hirth (Hrsg.): Deutscher Parlamentsalmanach 13. Ausgabe, September 1878. Leipzig, 1878 (Digitalisat) *Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstags. 4. Legislatur-Periode, I. Session 1878. 1. Band, Berlin 1878, S. VII–XXVII (Digitalisat) *Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstags. 4. Legislatur-Periode, II. Session 1879. 1. Band, Berlin 1879, S. IX–XXIX (Digitalisat) *Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstags. 4. Legislatur-Periode, III. Session 1880. 1. Band, Berlin 1880, S. XXIX–XLIX (Digitalisat) *Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstags. 4. Legislatur-Periode, IV. Session 1881. 1. Band, Berlin 1881, S. XXXIII–LIII (Digitalisat) *Georg Hirth (Hrsg.): Deutscher Parlamentsalmanach 14. Ausgabe, November 1881. Leipzig 1881, daten.digitale-sammlungen.de *Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstags. 5. Legislatur-Periode, I. Session 1881. 1. Band. Berlin 1881, reichstagsprotokolle.de *Wilhelm Heinz Schröder: Sozialdemokratische Reichstagsabgeordnete und Reichstagskandidaten 1898–1918. Biographisch-statistisches Handbuch. (= Handbücher zur Geschichte des Parliamentarismus und der politischen Parteien, Band 2). Droste, Düsseldorf 1986, *Bernd Haunfelder: Reichstagsabgeordnete der Deutschen Zentrumspartei 1871–1933. Biographisches Handbuch und historische Photographien. (= Photodokumente zur Geschichte des Parliamentarismus und der politischen Parteien, Band 4). Droste, Düsseldorf 1999, *Bernd Haunfelder: Die liberalen Abgeordneten des deutschen Reichstags 1871–1918. Ein biographisches Handbuch. Aschendorff, Münster 2004, *Bernd Haunfelder: Die konservativen Abgeordneten des deutschen Reichstags von 1871 bis 1918. Ein biographisches Handbuch. Aschendorff, Münster 2009, {{DEFAULTSORT:Unterelsass History of Bas-Rhin

Lower Alsace Lower Alsace (northern Alsace) was a landgraviate of the Holy Roman Empire held ''ex officio'' by the Bishop of Strasbourg. Prior to is acquisition by the bishopric, it was held by the counts of Hüneburg. In 1174 Count Gottfried of Hüneburg wa ...