The German Question, Part Eighty-Seven

 "The Aftermath of the Great War & The Weimar Republic"/PartThree/B
"Alsace-Lorraine"

As the war ended, Alsace and Lorraine were still part of Germany, but were much desired by France, which had lost them to the newly created German national state in 1871, after taking them, pretty much in bits and pieces, over a period of the previous century or two. Alsace was heavily German, but with very definite French influences, in some areas more than in others. The smaller, but heavily French area of the province had been left as part of France in 1871. Lorraine had been carved out of a much larger province of France in 1871; much, but not all, of the carved out portion being determined by German ethnicity. It too was heavily German, but not so much so as Alsace, and French influence was a bit more common, although not universal. When incorporated into the newly formed German Reich in 1871, the two provinces were united into "Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen;" that is, "Imperial Land Alsace-Lorraine." Unlike the other German states, there was no noble family in charge of the province, and it was directly subordinate to Berlin (through an appointed governor) and to the Kaiser; thus the title "Reichsland."*

During the war, the people of the province (or provinces, if you choose to separate them) were in a terrible situation, as many French people saw them as "the enemy," but many in the German government saw them as not being "German enough," or worse, of being French sympathizers. Some people had relatives living on the opposite side of the border, prompting arrests, interrogations, and even seizure of property or possessions. On the German side of the border, the use of French was restricted by law, and in what had been very "mixed" areas of French and German speakers, where street and traffic signs (and even city/town names) had been in both languages, the signs were put only into German.

In the waning days of the war, just as in other parts of Germany, demonstrations took place in Alsace-Lorraine, aided by returning military personnel. Political representatives declared Alsace-Lorraine to be an independent "republic," but in a matter of days French troops moved in to occupy and "re-annex" the area to France. Now the tables were turned on the "pro-German" elements, as they and family members were arrested and then deported to Germany. Also deported (eventually) were any Germans who had moved into the region after it had become a part of Germany in 1871.

As I noted about Luxembourg in the previous installment, Alsace and Lorraine too have been troubled areas going back in history to the time of the division of Charlemagne's empire into three kingdoms. The western area became very "French" in character, and indeed, it is the basis of much of modern France. The eastern area remained very "Germanic," later specifically "German," which is the basis of this entire series here on "The German Question;" that is, "who is a German?" The third area ran BETWEEN the two developing (over time) powerhouses of Germany and France, with a mixture of both French and German characteristics, but for quite some time tilted more German in many areas. For a variety of reasons, including the weakness of a centralized government of the Old German Empire (known as "the Holy Roman Empire," and later with "of the German Nation" tacked on), France began to expand eastward into this German-leaning area. No question about it, initially the French were not terribly concerned that the population was heavily German, as the waterways and natural resources of the region (coal and especially iron ore) were really what interested them. Over time, and after gaining bits and pieces of the region at the expense of the Old German Empire, French settlers and business interests moved into the area, gradually adding more than a "touch of Frenchness" to the region.** Eventually France got all of the the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, and a brisk trade relationship developed between France and Germany, with Germany providing coal, from western Germany, to France in exchange for iron ore, which was largely from Lorraine. The German defeat of France in 1871 and the annexation of most of Alsace and a big chunk of Lorraine, including the iron ore area (by no coincidence), only made the French seethe with anger and desire revenge. For Germany the situation was economically great, as they then controlled large supplies of both coal and iron ore. We are not yet finished with this hotly contested region, and more about Alsace-Lorraine will come later.

*For example, Hessen (often rendered as "Hesse," in English) was a grand duchy and, therefore, was ruled by a grand duke. In this case, the ruling family was coincidentally, the family of the Tsarina of Russia, Alexandra, as she was born there. In Prussia, the government was a "kingdom," and therefore ruled by a king, who was simultaneously the German Kaiser, by law. So Kaiser Wilhelm was both German Kaiser (Emperor) and King of Prussia.

** To be fair here, the French rulers were no different than other rulers of those times, including Germans; that is, the "ethnicity" of an area was of little or no concern to them. Remember, these were nobles, and they wanted lands to expand their own power and wealth. (Hmm, sounds a lot like some American business people and members of our "productive class," the "investor class," who have no trouble sending plants, equipment, and jobs to other countries, or of devising schemes that brought about the financial and foreclosure crises, or who would sell their own mothers to the highest bidder, all for wealth and power.) Especially during the 1800s, "ethnicity" began to take on more significance, as people of various ethnic groups began to desire rule by people of their own background (for better or for worse), and for those who have been following this series, you have seen that idea grow among "Germans;" although Germans did not always see the other side of the coin, as for example, with the Polish people in the eastern part of German controlled territory.

WORD HISTORY:
Thatch-This word goes back to Indo European "(s)teg," which meant "cover." The "s" is in parentheses because some Indo European dialects emphasized its sound (modern Lithuanian, for instance, has "stogas" for "roof"), while Old Germanic emphasized the "t" sound (or "d" in some dialects). This gave Old Germanic "thakan," which also meant "cover, covering." This then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) the verb "theccan," "to cover," and the noun "thaec," "roof," which often back then were made of straw; thus giving the word its attachment to "straw used for a roof." At some point in Old English the verb altered to "thacchan," notice the "ch" which has become the "t" in the modern spelling, or "thacchan" could have already existed as a dialect form which then became prevalent. Later still, it became "thacche," before acquiring the modern form. The other Germanic languages have related forms, the noun forms are: standard German has "Dach," Low German has "Dack," Dutch and West Frisian have "dak," Swedish and Norwegian have "tak," Danish has "tag," and Icelandic has "thak."