WEISWEIL is in BADEN-WUERTTEMBERG
and belongs to the german region BREISGAU
, which stretches along between the
RHINE river and the hills of the
BLACK FOREST.The biggest city of the region Breisgau is
FREIBURG
(with more than 200000 inhabitants)
Our town is actually a village of 1900 inhabitants, situated beneath the shores ( and forests ) of the RHINE river which is also the french border. In the south framed by the hills of the KAISERSTUHL mountain, which was a volcano in ancient times and is now covered with some of the best vineyards of germany .In the north by the mountains of the famous BLACK FOREST, where is also the spring of the Donau (DANUBE) river.
Our village had its 1225 years anniversary in 1995. In the past the inhabitants
had to endure many hardships.
Situated at the border, most of them were caused by wars.
Only 3 older persons survived the war from 1618-48.
Since early times the settlement was always endangered by floodings of the RHINE
river, until between 1842 and 1876 the river was aligned and regulated.
Due to several floodings and bad harvests between 1816 and 1895 more then
380 people emigrated, mostly to north-america. Maybe the names of families
are still traceable in the USA. People by the name of KOECHLIN in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania ,HAAG in Erie/Penn., SCHANDELMAIER and GLOECKLER in Altoona/Penn.
ECCARD and SACKMANN in Warren/Penn., STOECKLIN in Columbus/Ohio. Several
families by the names of HAAG, STEINHAUSER, KLIPFEL, HENNINGER, MAIER, MATTHIS,
KARCHER and ENGLER emigrated to St.Louis/Mississippi. Many more names can
still be found in the chronicle of our village.
By 1889 the numer of inhabitants had dropped to 1627.The in the WW I. from 1914-18 many young men were lost the village however remained undamaged. The greatest toll was taken in WW II when due to the border position of the village over 90% of the buildings were destroyed by the french forces and the inhabitants were evacuated and scattered all over the country. Between 1948 and 1952 nearly 300 houses were rebuild. Small industrial plants followed and the number of inhabitants gradually increased. Since the year 2000 we have more than 2000 inhabitants.
 |
Back to the Main-Page.... |