Wingen-sur-Moder (; ;

Rhine Franconian __NOTOC__ Rhenish Franconian or Rhine Franconian ( ) is a dialect chain of West Central German. It comprises the varieties of German spoken across the western regions of the states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, northwest Baden-Württember ...

: ''Winge'') is a commune in the

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 ...

department in

Grand Est Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...

in north-eastern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The name, literally translated as "Wingen on the Moder", is often shortened to ''Wingen'', although this is the name of a small commune in the Haguenau-Wissembourg arrondissement.

History

The location of Wingen-sur-Moder was the site of a village of the

Triboci In classical antiquity, the Triboci or Tribocci were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people of eastern Gaul, inhabiting much of what is now Alsace. Name Besides the forms Triboci and Tribocci, Schneider has the form “Triboces” in the accusative ...

tribe. Part of the borders of the village are marked by

menhirs A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Bro ...

, including three named menhirs which still exist: Spitzstein, Drei-Peterstein, and Breitenstein. The first known mention of Wingen is in 718, when ''Wingibergus'' is mentioned in documents donated to Weissenburg Abbey. The village is also mentioned in 742 as ''Wigone Monte'' and in the twelfth century as ''Winchenhoven''. The fourteenth century saw many conflicts affect the town. In 1314, soldiers of the Imperial City of Strasbourg burned Wingen and several nearby towns during their march towards La Petite-Pierre, a nearby village that was home to one of the lords aligned against Strasbourg. In 1382, the Count of Linange made Wingen a

fiefdom A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

and granted it to the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

. The town lies along an important travel route between the Moder and Eichel valleys during this period and the emperor began to toll travel through the town. The

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, whil ...

and an outbreak of plague devastated Wingen and the surrounding region in the early seventeenth century, leaving the town uninhabited. In the wake of the war, the town was repopulated primarily by Swiss immigrants. The eighteenth century brought the introduction of Wingen's most important industry:

glassmaking Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass. Glass container ...

. Master glassblowers from neighboring

Rosteig Rosteig () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Bas-Rhin department The following is a list of the 514 communes of the Bas-Rhin department of France. The communes coopera ...

built shops in the hamlets of Neuhütte in 1708 and Hochberg in 1715. However, it was not until 1922 that the largest and most famous glassmaker arrived in Wingen. In that year, famous French glass designer

René Lalique René Jules Lalique (; 6 April 1860 – 1 May 1945) was a French jeweller, medallist, and glass designer known for his creations of glass art, perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, chandeliers, clocks, and automobile hood ornaments. Life Lalique ...

opened the ''Verrerie d'Alsace'' (Alsace glassworks) glassworks in Wingen; it became the ''Cristallerie Lalique'' (Lalique Crystal Works) in 1962. It is the only glass production facility of the ''

Lalique Lalique is a French luxury glassmaker, founded by glassmaker and jeweller René Lalique in 1888. Lalique is produced glass art, including perfume bottles, vases, and hood ornaments during the early twentieth century. Following the death of ...

'' company, which he founded.

Battle of Wingen-sur-Moder

In early January 1945, Wingen was the location of a minor, but strategically important battle between German and American forces. On New Year's Eve, Germany launched a surprise offensive—

Operation Nordwind Operation Northwind () was the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. Northwind was launched to support the German Ardennes offensive campaign in the Battle of the Bulge, which by late December 1944 had decisively ...

—in northern Alsace. At the start of the offensive, Wingen was controlled by Allied forces and a modest number of soldiers from the

Seventh United States Army The Seventh Army was a United States army created during World War II that evolved into the United States Army Europe (USAREUR) during the 1950s and 1960s. It served in North Africa and Italy in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations and Fra ...

were positioned near the town. At dawn on 4 January, two

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

s of the German 6th SS Mountain Division ''Nord'' managed to quickly capture Wingen. Over 200 American soldiers positioned in the town were caught off guard, captured, and held captive in the Catholic church and a nearby house without food or water until they were liberated on 7 January. The two sides fought house-to-house for the ensuing three days until the Germans retreated in the early hours of 7 January. The fighting damaged nearly every building in Wingen.

Heritage sites

Two national heritage sites (''monuments historiques'' or MH) are located in Wingen-sur-Moder. The Teutsch house (French: ''Château Teutsch'') was constructed by the Teutsch family between 1860 and 1866. Starting in 1816, the Teutsch family owned and operated the Hochberg glass factory, which was in decline at the time the house was built and closed in 1868. The house was restored in 1990 and its exterior facade and roof have been registered as a monument historique since 1996. The interior has been completely redesigned and now serves as a summer camp. The former Hochberg glassworks (French: ''Verrerie du Hochberg''; also known as ''Hanauer-Glashütte'') was founded in 1715 by Jean-Adam Stenger. The site was registered as a monument historique in 1996 and consists of workshops, two large residences, and worker housing. The glassworks also include the Teutsch House, which is registered as a separate historic monument. The Lalique Museum, opened in 2011, is located on the site of the former Hochberg glassworks.

Geography

The town of Wingen-sur-Moder lies in the upper valley of the Moder at an elevation of . The commune covers , of which more than 80% is covered by forest. It is one of many communes that are located within the

Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park The Northern Vosges Regional Natural Park ( French: ''Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord'') is a protected area of woodland, wetland, farmland and historical sites in the Grand Est region in northeastern France. The area was officially d ...

. The commune includes the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

s Huhnerscherr, Kohlhutte, and Stauffersberg.

Population

Transport

Wingen-sur-Moder has a railway station, which is located along the Mommenheim-

Sarreguemines Sarreguemines (; German: ''Saargemünd'' ; 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 o ...

railway line, which connects the cities of

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, France and

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

, Germany. The rail line was built during German rule by the General Division of the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine; the section through Wingen-sur-Moder opened 1 May 1895.

TER Grand Est TER Grand Est, operating under the brand TER Fluo, is the regional rail network serving the region of Grand Est, northeastern France. It is operated by the French national railway company SNCF on behalf of the region. It was formed in 2016 fro ...

, a ''Train Express Régional'' operated by

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

, serves the Wingen-sur-Moder station. The town lies along Route D919, which runs from

Haguenau 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 ...

to Sarreguemines and connects Wingen to other communities along the Moder Valley. Route D256 runs north from the town through the northern part of the commune to the Moselle border, where it continues north as D37 to

Bitche Bitche (English pronunciation: , ; German and Lorraine Franconian: ) is a commune in Moselle department, in the region of Grand Est in northeastern France. It is the Pays de Bitche's capital city, and the seat of the Canton of Bitche and the ...

. Route D135 travels south from the town to La Petite-Pierre.

Twin city

The town is a

twin town A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

Burgkirchen an der Alz Burgkirchen an der Alz is a municipality in the district of Altötting, in Bavaria, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north ...

, in southeastern Germany.