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The Geisberg

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Did you enjoy the tour of the Geisberg battlefield, and would you like to extend it? Or simply (re)discover the Geisberg, a corner of Wissembourg with a unique history? Enter the hamlet, following the map opposite!

What is the Geisberg, anyway? Quite a story…

  • A hill to the south of Wissembourg, rising to 243m from a viewpoint near the ‘3 poplars’, offering impressive panoramic views of the Northern Vosges and its German extension, the Pfälzerwald, as well as the Lauter valley, the Bienwald forest, the Rhine plain and, in the background, the Black Forest.
  • A landed estate was established in 1692 by Jean Gaspard de Hatzel, a royal bailiff ennobled under Louis XIV, on which he had a castle built in the 1710s. Although most of the castle’s buildings were damaged during the fighting of 1940 and had to be razed to the ground, vestiges can still be seen in the hamlet. So, old stone lovers, keep your eyes peeled!
  • A strategic site, the scene of several battles, the best documented of which is that of August 4, 1870 – a French defeat by Prussian troops, resulting in the loss of more than 3,800 soldiers, and extensive damage to the castle, which was stormed and the estate ravaged by the fighting. Few traces of the battlefield remain, apart from the monuments erected nearby, and the many postcards that testify to military tourism in the early 20th century.
  • For 300 years, this has been one of the living quarters of a very special community: the Mennonites. These Swiss immigrants, persecuted – although non-violently – for their commitment to a baptism freely chosen at adulthood, and their refusal to bear arms, were settled here by De Hatzel in the 1720s, to run his castle farm, as they were reputed to be hard-working and innovative farmers. The history of this community, well established in Northern Alsace and the Palatinate, is little-known, but not without interest in understanding local history. An unsuspected heritage to discover…
  • A hamlet (re)built around the ruins of the castle after 1945, attached to Altenstadt, now associated with Wissembourg, and now home to around a hundred inhabitants. Among them are many descendants of the “historic” Mennonite families, but they are no longer the only ones, as they have been joined over the last 20 years by newcomers charmed by the peacefulness of the area.
  • It is also the name of the Evangelical Mennonite Church, which is based here, and whose services are held on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. and are open to all: regulars from the hamlet and surrounding areas, as well as day visitors!

 

Illustrations :

  1. The three poplars – « Lord, you have been a refuge for us from generation to generation. […] Strengthen the work of our hands! » Psalm 90.1,17
  2. « Château du Geissenberg »: detail of an illustrated calendar dated 1860 and published by Jean-Frédéric Wentzel (1807-1869), Wissembourg. Collections of the Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire (BNU), Strasbourg.
  3. « Aus grosser Zeit »: the French surrender at the Geisberg, August 4, 1870. Painting by Hermann Huisken (1861-1899).
  4. At a double wedding at Geisberg Castle in 1921: Marie Hirschler and Daniel Ehrismann; Emma Hirschler and Philippe Hege. Guests pose on the monumental staircase overlooking the garden (Private collection, Jean Hege).

 

Enjoy your visit!

 

Further information :

  • RAPHAËL (Freddy), SÉGUY (Jean) et al. Les Anabaptistes Mennonites d’Alsace, destin d’une minorité », in Saisons d’Alsace n°76, Strasbourg, 1981. p. 207.
  • HEGE Eric, “Les fermes anabaptistes de la région de Wissembourg”, in Souvenance Anabaptiste (bulletin annuel de l’AFHAM) n°4 (1985), p.13-17.