54 Erdkunde Band XV
The Saarland,AN INTERNATIONAL BORDERLAND Social Geography from Field Study of nine Border Villagesl)
with 8 Figures Robert S. Platt
The Saarland, a small area of international been given to social aspects of occupance than to concern, has been studied previously by geogra the others and this is understandable: social geo ? phers from various viewpoints physical, cul graphy is not a highlydeveloped branchof field tural, economic, political2). Less attention has research; social order is less obviously connected with the natural and the cultural landscape than are economic and political features; social pheno J) Herbert Lehmann was responsible at the opening mena are less to field observation and so for the field in this subject stage launching study represented pa more intimate A per. The author was first introduced to the natural and require inquiry. primary pur of this is to examine of cultural landscapes of middle Germany in field excursions pose study possibilities with Professor Lehmann and seminar sessions at the Geo field investigation in social geography and parti Institute of the Frankfurt am graphical University, Main, cularly to consider an areal pattern of social in 1951, 1952 and 1953. order in association with patterns of economic The specific study of the Saarland here presented was a and order within a of nature made possible by Fulbright Research Grant in the Fede political background ral Republic of Germany under the auspices of the Geo and culture. graphical Institute of the University of the Saarland. Reconnaissance of the area has taken account Acknowledgements are due to Prof. Dr. Carl Rathjens, Di of the general patterns indicated here in two rector of the Geographical Institute; and also to Dr. Henri sketch Detailed has Hiegel of Sarreguemines, Dr. Gotz and Herren Adam, maps (Figures 1?2) study Werner and Lauer, Statistisdies Amt des Saarlandes; covered nine villages (Fig. 1) selected in view to Herrn Schmittbauer, Stadt-Bucherei, Saarbriicken; and of the distribution of settlement, the localization and tavern parish priests, teachers, burgomasters keepers of the subdivision of the in the nine For assistance in the field thanks are industry, political area, villages. and the natural and cultural features of the land due to Dr. Friedrich Fischer, Manfred Dewes, Josef Klein are and Manfred Schonsiegel of the Geographical Institute, scape. The villages viewed particularly with to Gates University of the Saarland; Margaret and Kay respect to their social order as component and to Platt. For assi of Seattle, Washington; and Harriet units into the whole com stance after field thanks are due to Prof. Dr. Wil representative fitting study of areal a of helm Groteluschen of Oldenburg. The original sugge plex patterns, geographic synthesis stion for the study came from United World Federalists. elements outlined briefly in the following para and sketch 2) See P. Vidal de la Blache, et L. Gallois: Le Bassin graphs accompanying maps. de la Sarre, Paris 1920. F. Das seine seine Kloevekorn, Saargebiet, Struktur, Regional Structure of the Saarland Saarbriicken 1929. Probleme, The Saarland is a German state on O. Rixecker: Die Bevolkerungsverteilung im Saargebiet. bordering Diss., Berlin 1930. France, in transition at the time of this study an der A. Schorr: Zur Soziologie der Industriearbeiter (1958?1959) from postwar association with Saar. Diss., 1930. Hamburg France to full incorporation into Germany. This H. Overbeck and G. W. Sante: Saaratlas, Gotha 1934. and piece of territory, parts R. Capot-Rey: La Region Industrielle Sarroise, Paris irregular complex 1934. of several regions and landscapes, has emerged L. Martin: ?Kulturgeographische Untersuchungen in only recently as a distinct and definitely recogni und im in: Deutsch-Lothringen Saargebiet", Forschungen zed unit and its present form has appeared only Zur Landes- und vol. 30 Deutschen Volkskunde, (1934), since the Second World War. pp. 255?382. The area consists of a mid-section of the K. Pauli: Der Arbeiterbauer im Saarland. Wurzburg 1939. Saar Valley from Sarreguemines to Mettlach. C. C. Held: Political Geography of the Saarland, Clark University 1950. Saar-Nahe-Raumes. Rhein. Vierteljahresblatter 1953. F.Roy: Le Mineur Sarroix. Paris 1954. H. Overbeck: ?Das Industriegebiet an der mittleren L. Champier: ?La Sarre, Essai d'Interpretation Geopoli Saar". Geogr. Taschenbuch 1956/57, S. 351?364. 4 zur tique", in: Annales Universitatis Saraviensis, vol. (1955), F.Fischer: ?Beitrage Morphologie des Flufisystems pp. 3?74. der Saar", in: Arbeiten aus dem Geographischen Institut, H. Overbeck: ?Die Stellung und natiirliche Einordnung Universitat des Saarlandes, vol. 2 (1957), pp. 3?92. der Lande an der mittleren Saar", in: Geographische Rund H. Ried: ?Die Siedlungs- und Funktionsentwicklung der aus schau, vol. 8 (1956), pp. 1?8. Stadt Saarbriicken", in: Arbeiten dem Geographischen 3 H. Overbeck: Der kulturgeographische Bedeutungswan Institut, Universitat des Saarlandes, vol. 3 (1958), pp. 185. del am Beispiel der Kulturlandschaftsgeschichte des Mosel bis Robert S. Piatt: The Saarland: An international borderland 55
considered to be old in itself. The core of it was a domain of the Counts of Saarbriicken, with their castle overlooking the Saar. This was con solidated as a compact body of land and, after the Reformation, became distinguished as a small domain of Lutheranism standing between the Berg-und KUgXlandl J^lt larger Catholic units of Lorraine to the south and Trier to the northwest, and the Calvinistic Pala tinate to the east. - But the modern Saarland is the expression of _\y\ .?e -tLJ \ ^afy Berg-u.HOaetgnd Jm4u \ von St. IngbfiFt a different phenomenon, associated only fortuit <
Figure 2: New Pattern of Economic Order. some Other categories of bus lines in the Saarland not shown; categories of manufacturing, mainly non-metal, not included. are not mo lings, with a barn door never used and a flower men and women here where farms an garden in place of themanure pile. Grocery stores dernized and where old-fashioned small-scale mo provide food brought from elsewhere. fragmented farm layout makes mechanized dernization very difficult. The boundary of the Saarland approximates Another alternative would seem to be the the divide between places where people live who easy choice of to a near mines go to work daily in the mines and industries of moving dwelling place and where there is of for the coalfield and the river, and those places factories, plenty space or new houses. But of the Saarland are de where people devote themselves to farming people attached to their home and travel to work in an opposite direction. The votedly community feel secure there: children and to work boundary is emphasized by different regulations grow up go and continue to live with the or or currencies on opposite sides as hindrances to family nearby. Rows of laborers' houses are indeed built near crossing to work, but these hindrances are slight mines and factories and are new and people do cross, in every direction: from the occupied by comers. But new houses for miners and German Pfalz to work in the Saarland, or from factory workers are built also in far-off the Saarland to work inGermany or France. This villages throug hout the Saarland. is made increasingly possible by ever greater mobility of modern transportation and flexibi Pattern Social in the Saarland lity in choice of employment. of Life The of social life reflects a cultural So hours of travel are taken for granted as pattern conditioned the circumstances incidental to a satisfactory way of life: six hours heritage by special of industrial work and leisure of travel everyday for some people in outlying village residence, time. Miners and workers of the Saar communities, for a total of 15 hours away from factory land have very little time at home, but what home, from daylight to after dark through much may little time have is free to as of the year. Eleven or twelve hours away from they spend they please and is not committed to the endless chores of home is taken as normal. A question may be Members of a who are not asked as to why people who have available farm farming. family from home may even more land and ability to farm it commonly choose such employed away gain freedom to time as a life.Young men answer that miners and factory spend they please. seems to be no more workers have specified hours while farmers have Accordingly social life no was to work all the time and that girls don't want to centralized and less active than it before marry farmers. Farmwork is indeed hard for both the change in working life. Almost all dwelling Robert S. Piatt: The Saarland: An international borderland 57
houses are within villages or towns and the social For young men Sunday afternoon is the time centers are village institutions. The very fact that for sports, especially soccer football. A social workers prefer to continue living in the old home center second only to the church is the football community suggests a continuance of social ties field. There is one in almost every village, com and activities. Inhabitants of the Saarland are monly a township enterprise improved with public fairly homogeneous in culture and their social funds. Leagues are organized under local govern life proceeds in habitual ways. Their working life ment auspices, and games are played with teams has been revolutionized from small scale farming of other villages in the same districts. at home to scale from home. large industry away Football goes on throughout the year on Sunday on more But their social life goes conservatively, afternoon and spectators come out to watch in on as small a scale as and with as much time ever, winter snow or rain as well as in sunshine. Playing for it as or more. The distribution of formerly, in snow or mud is considered better than playing villages represents the pattern of social life, in extreme summer heat. now as in the dispersed past. Late Sunday afternoon and evening are times Much of the spare time is spent at home quite for the cinema, for dancing, for club meetings men apart from sleeping and eating. Both and and for informally meeting friends and talking women do part-time farming or gardening, for together. The most numerous social centers in home supply and sometimes formarket sale. Time every village are the taverns. Grouped under the is spent also in family work to improve the house, heading of taverns are all the establishments generally less in artistic handicraft than inmodern which serve liquid refreshments. A few of these mechanical handiwork, at least on the part of are restaurants serving meals and a few are cafes men. specializing in afternoon coffee rather than beer Family ties are strong and are maintained not and wine. But in general there is similarity in only within the household but between house and around the Saarland. Most of them are family holds and among scattered relatives. Visiting with affairs connected with a family dwelling, kept relatives is one of the most common social acti by a sociable senior member of the community vities, and goes on within and between villages with his wife and sometimes with the help of and across every boundary. The times for visiting daughters and sons. Most of them have a bar and and other activities away from home are espe tables in one or two rooms. Some of them have cially Sundays and sometimes other evenings. private rooms for club meetings and some have a small hall for dances or other The most prominent social center in almost entertainments, sometimes for every village is the church. On Sunday morning moving pictures. Here the secular social of church-going is the most popular activity, espe sedentary life the on. Men cially among Roman Catholics, who are now in community goes congregate in the taverns more a majority in and around the Saarland. The much than women, in late after domain of the Counts of Saarbriicken was Protes noon, working men after work and old men for tant after the Reformation, but the Saarland as longer periods, to drink a little, to talk a great to cards. now delimited includes adjacent areas which have deal, play Perhaps the popularity of taverns is due in to fact are warm always been Catholic, and in the past hundred part the they and are years there has been immigration into the indus friendly everyday and that winters cold trial district from Catholic areas of the Pfalz and and living rooms at home are often unheated. the Rhineland. Most of the secular clubs meet in taverns. These The social program of the church is not confined include in all villages a volunteer fire company to Sunday morning but goes on during some or and inmany villages a musical club, a sports club, all of the evenings of the week, especially in the a fisherman's club and several others. larger villages where there is a parish hall. There Among social events mention should be made is a a a regularly choir, young people's society, of weekly markets, inmost villages. These are still to a womens' club devoted charity and working held in the market place summer and winter, men's club. of the come from the even Many priests where local farmers have disappeared and and themselves with the com vicinity identify been replaced by dealers selling produce brought munity. from distant areas. After Sunday morning services secular social Finally mention should be made of the annual activities the rest the generally occupy of day, fair, held for three or four days between May afternoon and as well as other at Sunday evening, and November each village in turn, each visited of the week. In addition to evenings visiting by people from all the villages around. In origin relatives, many people take long walks in the these are religious festivals on the day of a patron with or A country family friends. few go motoring. saint, and this aspect generally survives, but 58 Erdkunde Band XV
attention now is directed largely to secular enter only loosely organized, particularly in the border tainment in a street carnival4). zone between them. Local jurisdictions over lands So much for the overall pattern of life in and and people were first on a small scale and local around the Saarland. Differences from place to boundaries were like property lines today. On place and especially differences across the bound the banks of the Rossel jurisdiction over several aries of the Saarland can better be discussed in separate establishments and tracts of land was held and after a specific description of the nine border by different members of the secular nobility or villages taken as examples. by ecclesiastical authorities. This was a matter of local overlords in castles and monasteries in the and had little if of The Nine Villages vicinity any implication national connections with faraway larger centers The villages chosen for study after preliminary of power. reconnaisance are distinctively located in the political The Rossel cuts a district known general pattern of economic and political order. valley through as the an area of and They are in four pairs or groups, all on political Warndt, steep slopes sandy soils Buntsandstein. The Warndt has borders of the Saarland. The first pair is in the overlying remained wooded and for a time was mining district. The other three groups are all at largely long a distance from the area of mining and industry, sparsely populated (Figure 1). a on the borders of the three political neighbors: The Counts of Saarbriicken had hunting southeast on the border of France, far west on lodge in the woods not far from the Rossel valley course the border of Luxemburg (and France), and far and in of time, in the 17th Century, they north on the border of the German state of Rhein consolidated their jurisdiction over the left bank stream at the land-Pfalz (Figure 1). of the Grossrosseln. Meanwhile, Lords of Forbach, gaining control of the country a Grossrosseln and Petite Rosselle around about their castle few miles upstream on the side of the valley, held jurisdic The first two are named from the small opposite villages tion over Petite Rosselle. Forbach in turn came Rossel or on sides of stream, Rosselle, opposite under the influence of theDukes of Lorraine. But which lie: Grossrosseln and Kleinrosseln, they thus far there was still no sign of an international the old German names; or Grosse Rosselle and boundary between Grossrosseln and Petite Ros Petite the modern French names, or Rosselle, selle. was still vested in sepa Grossrosseln in the German Saarland and Petite Separate jurisdiction rate branches of German nobility all within the Rosselle in French Lorraine (Figure 3). loose and nominal structure of the Holy Roman In spite of its name, Grossrosseln on the left Empire. (southwest) bank of the stream, in the Saarland, The only distinction was that Forbach is smaller than Petite Rosselle on the (north major ? right and Lorraine were Catholic while Saarbriicken bank in France smaller by half. Gross east) became Protestant. So for a time Grossrosseln rosseln has about 5,000 inhabitants and Petite had a Protestant while Petite Rosselle Rosselle about 10,000. Grossrosseln is older and pastor remained within the Catholic parish of Forbach. at first presumably was larger5). In the course of the Thirty Years' War the coun The boundary here following the little river is trywas devastated and the on the Rossel sometimes said to be very old, and in a way it villages were abandoned. is, but only in a complex and uncertain way. some sort After the war Grossrosseln was resettled under Perhaps it was a boundary of in the the of Saarbriicken in default of old ninth century after the partition of Charlemag auspices and, inhabitants to be found and emi ne's empire. But it was not an international brought back, was from the were there. The new boundary between great states. In fact there grants Tyrol put inhabitants were Catholic and since the former no fixed boundary between France and Germany were some of whom were still then, and the incipient states themselves inhabitants, returned, Catholic at heart, the church became Catholic so. The between Saar 4) Schools and hospitals have been given consideration again and remained border as in reconnaissance social institutions but have been omitt briicken and Forbach was practically ignored. ed from discussion here as irrelevant to the topic. In this Throughout the 18th century Grossrosseln and paper attention is directed mainly to adult leisure-time areas Petite Rosselle were in one with activity outside of the home. Maps of the service of together parish social institutions would seem relevant here but could one parish church. Life went on in the two villages areas are the show only insignificant details. The service and between them, little notice being taken of the themselves in most cases. villages stream as a between separate local See E. Ennen: zur Geschichte von Grofi boundary 5) ?Beitrage even in the meanwhile Lor rossein, Klarenthal und Fenne", in: Rheinische Vierteljahr jurisdictions, though with the blatter, Bonn, Vol. 5 (1935), pp. 15?69. raine had clearly become associated Robert S. Piatt: The Saarland: An international borderland 59
Kings of France and Saarbriicken with the states ing in France reflects a well established habit of Germany. developed through the years of little or no bound and continued without In theNapoleonic era both villages were within ary separation any major the limits of French control. Then in 1815 the disadvantages up to now. There is in fact a French allowance which some to Rossel assumed more fully than before the role family gives advantage miners children. of boundary between Germany and France, and having are so continued until 1871. During that period min The other 20?/o of the working population taverns ing and industry began to develop and the rural employed in stores, and offices in Gross a villages of peasant farming began to be mining rosseln, and few of them in the township offices towns. in a neighboring village. There are no longer the last within this In 1871 both villages came under German con any farmers, having given up decade. trol, where they remained until the First World Of the inhabitants of Petite Rosselle War. Mining and manufacturing grew and flour 10,000 ished. After 1919 both were under French control about 5,000 are employed. Eighty per cent of these work in the mines in the and again until 1935, when by plebiscite the Saarland village itself, most of the others work also in the in with Grossrosseln was returned to Germany while village Lorraine with Petit Rosselle remained in France. stores, taverns and offices. There are no longer and no workers cross the The border reappeared as a line of greater inter farmers, currently to work in the Saarland. has been national separation and strain than ever before. boundary There in Petite Rosselle not At the beginning of the Second World War employment enough only for the inhabitants but also for commuters people were evacuated from a zone along the daily German side of the border and so Grossrosseln from Grossrosseln and for some labor ? imported about a hundred Italians and a few was once more depopulated. But the next year Algerians. the German army advanced into France, the people of Grossrosseln were allowed to return, So much for the pattern of employment in the two on and the boundary disappeared as a significant villages the Rossel. What of the pattern line. of social life? A center is the church. Each of the vil At the end of the war, France took over again major has a Catholic each on a on both sides. Then again there was a plebiscite lages large church, hilltop in the midst of its other in the Saarland in favor of Germany and now settlement, facing each on sides of the A of the Grossrosseln returns to Germany while Petite opposite valley. majority Rosselle remains in France. people on both sides of the valley are Catholics, a of the to No wonder that the of Grossrosseln and and majority church members go people So is a series of crowded on Petite Rosselle do not look forward with church. there services pleasure In Grossrosseln all the sermons to a new period of Their Sunday morning. boundary separation. are in in Petite Rosselle there are three social and economic relations have been German; together; sermons in German and two in French. they have shared a common life in a common The of Grossrosseln is older with a environment of nature and a common heritage of parish back to the 13th and a culture including language. Living and working history going century church in from the 18th and playing in their valley has been more dear building dating part but cen and real to them than the national affairs of century, largely rebuilt in the late 19th tury in classified as Germany and France. International rivalry has simple village style, possibly Gothic in form but with rounded arches and de been a disturbance in their lives and not a primary concern for which to live and die. coration of plain Baroque style. The Catholic parish of Petite Rosselle has had a What of the pattern of work and social life in short history but now under the stimulation of Grossrosseln and Petite Rosselle? Of the 5,000 large population and full employment a 19th church a inhabitants of Grossrosseln about 2,500 are gain century building has been replaced by mid-20th church a fully employed, 80?/o of them in mining and century designed by Parisian architect and some most heavy industry. There being no mine nor heavy adorned with of the beautiful of manufacturing within the village itself, 40% of modern stained glass from Chartres the workers cross the boundary to work in Petite (Figure 3). Rosselle in a French mine, 25 % go to work in a There is also a small Protestant church in each Saarland mine which is close by (Figure 4), and of the towns. Protestants are about 8% of the 15% work in the Saarland steel mills of Volk population inGrossrosseln and 5% of the popula in the Saar five miles lingen, Valley away (Fig tion in Petite Rosselle, a minority representing ure 8). The large number, half of the total, work the old Protestant population of the Saarland, ONo a. to X
CoalinFigure4:RosselmineValley,Saarland. Figure 6: View from Castle of Blies Valley to Habkirchen. across
Frauenberg
FiguremarketfrornGrossrosseln,place,acrossRosselValleyto
housesPetiteRosselle.ofandchurch Figure5: Steelmill, Volklingen, Saarintheon coalfieldnear Saarbriicken. the
* ?(
.ii^^8!B8wBa Robert S. Piatt: The Saarland: An international borderland 61
not recent immigrants. Both churches are served by non-resident pastors, one coming to Gross rosseln from a nearby village in the Saarland and the other to Petite Rosselle from Forbach in France. The social activity of the churches includes several societies or clubs. In each of the Catholic churches there is: a choir, a young people's society, a women's charitable society and a working men's club, each meeting once a wreek or less regularly in the parish hall. Apparently the churches are similar in organi zation and activity, though their formal structure is separated to coincide with political jurisdiction. Grossrosseln belongs to the Diocese of Trier in Germany and Petite Rosselle to the Diocese of Metz in France. So both serve their parishioners in the same way while operating under different ecclesiastical hierarchs on opposite sides of the boundary. Each town has an athletic field and a gymna sium as another sort of social center, particularly for young men, and most active on Sunday after noon. Soccer football is the chief sport. Each town has one or more teams, playing scheduled games throughout the winter. In this also there is simi larity on opposite sides of the border but formal ^ separation of leagues on a national basis. Gross ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^?? rosseln teams are matched with other Saarland teams, and Petite Rosselle with other French teams. Taverns are the most numerous social centers: fifteen of them in Grossrosseln and about the same number in Petite Rosselle (Figure 6). After every shift in the mines taverns are filled with men. In each of the villages there is a volunteer fire company, a fisherman's club and a sports club, meeting regularly in a tavern. In Grossrosseln there is also a musical club, a glee club, a shooting club, a chess club, and a carnival club. In Petite Rosselle there is a motoring club, a dog club, and a flower club. In most cases the membership is from one or the other side of the boundary in conformance with political affiliations. ^ o One social institution has a strong appeal across the border. This is the moving picture theater in Grossrosseln, where German moving pictures are ^3^ shown. The theater in Petite Rosselle shows French pictures. But both communities are predo minately German-speaking and people from Pe tite Rosselle patronize the theater in Grossrosseln in large numbers. Finally to be mentioned among social institu tions are markets and fairs. There is a market on one day a week in each of the villages and since these are on different days people often go mar keting in the other village (Figure 3). For two or 62 Erdkunde Band XV
three days every year there is a fair in each of the Blies with Habkirchen was included in the the villages, and these are at different times and domain of Blieskastel, a petty German state, and draw patronage from across the border. the left bank with Frauenberg was included in In view of the ease of crossing the border by the domain of Sarreguemines under the Dukes bridge on the main street (Figure 3), generally of Lorraine, associated with France. without even the of official formality any check, Major events touched the villages in the Blies also in view of the number of large people living valley in about the same way as they did the in Grossrosseln and in Petite working Rosselle, villages on the Rossel. There was devestation in and in view of the in finally similarity language the Thirty Years' War: Habkirchen was depo and of life on both it be way sides, may surprising pulated and later repopulated; the castle of that formal social is so activity largely separated Frauenberg was evacuated, then taken over by a at the the more boundary. Apparently conspicu band of outlaws, then demolished by a French ous forms of are hierarchical group organization Army, then rebuilt late in the 17th century. Dur and not lines of freely formed, following political ing the 18th century both villages were in the structure. Grossrosseln is in the Kreis of Saar same parish with the church inHabkirchen. Both briicken and Petite Rosselle in the Arrondisse sides of the valley were in the French Empire ment of St. Avoid. Informal social is not activity under Napoleon. The Blies was f ixed as the bound so forth divided and extends easily back and ary between France and the German states in between the villages. 1815. Both sides of the valley came under Ger man control in 1871. Both sides were put under Habkirchen and Frauenberg French control after the First World War. Hab was over to Ger Habkirchen in the Saarland and Frauenberg in kirchen in the Saarland turned was France are on opposite sides of the River Blies, a many in 1935, and Frauenberg in Lorraine were occu tributary of the Saar somewhat larger than the left in France. Both sides of the valley Rossel. This is the second pair of villages, taken pied by the German army in 1940. Both sides to represent the Saarland border, at a distance were put under French control after the Second southeast of the coal basin and industrialized World War. Now Habkirchen returns to Ger valley (Figure 1). The Bliesgau is a districtof many while Frauenberg remains in France. hills underlain Muschelkalk rolling by limestone, Unlike the villages of the Rossel, these have (Figure 1). The valley itself is fairlydeep and not found themselves in the midst of mining and but bordered fields and rounded winding by open industry, and still remain rural in appearance. less broken than the of the Rossel slopes valley But here again the common life of villages, simi where it cuts the wooded through sandy uplands lar in culture and connected by family ties as well of the Warndt. On one side is Habkirchen do as by a bridge across a small stream, has been minated a church and on the other is Frauen by disturbed by international rivalry in ways that a berg dominated by castle ruin6) (Figure 6). are unwelcome and unreasonable from the view The name Habkirchen, to the church, referring point of the inhabitants. has been traced back to the 9th century, making The on the Blies are much smaller than this the oldest in the Saarland. The name villages parish on the Rossel the of work is not as to the hill with but pattern Frauenberg, referring literally different as be Habkirchen is a the of Our at its foot, has been ap might expected. chapel Lady of about 500 and a since mediaeval times to the castle on the village people Frauenberg plied of about 400. hill and the village below it.The castle of Frauen village 300 of the of Habkirchen are berg is not so old as the church of Habkirchen. Nearly people Of these a about 60 work Probably it did not exist before the 13th century. employed. majority, %, of and The river was a boundary between separate local in the Saarland district mining industry. late Middle these work in Saarland mines about 20 jurisdictions much of the time in the A few of castle a in the nearest Ages. But sometimes the church and the miles away; larger number work one and much on miles belonged together under jurisdiction steel mill, at Brebach the Saar, about 10 of the time they performed complementary func away; and a still larger number, including women, and secular tions as twin foci of ecclesiastical work in light industry and clerical occupations in order in the area. or near Saarbriicken, 12 or 15 miles away. A were and consoli near As jurisdictions crystallized minority are employed home, about 20% of dated into larger political units the right bank of the total in the small stores and offices of the vil and about 20 % as farmers and farm work M. Thilloy: in: Memoires de la lage, 6) See ?Frauenberg", ers. There are seven full-times farms with farm societe d'Archeologie et d'Histoire de la Moselle, Metz, steads in the as well as a number of vol. 7 (1865), pp. 159?204. village, part Robert S. Piatt: The Saarland: An international borderland 63
are more time farms, remaining from the time when the Unorganized social activities preva on whole village was a community of farms. lent in both villages: visiting relatives either side of the in the woods and About 200 of the people of Frauenberg are border, walking meadows on a little employed, and a large majority of these, about Sunday afternoon, drinking and a deal in the taverns. 85%, go to work in or near the French industrial talking great Neither has a market. It has been custom and railway town of Sarreguemines in the Saar village for of both to to market valley less than five miles away. A few, 3 or 4%, ary people villages go work in French mines at the south end of the once a week in Sarreguemines, to sell garden stuff, and visit with friends. It is not coalfield about 25 miles away. A minority, 10 or buy supplies yet known whether this old and cherished custom will 12%, work in the village itself in small places of be interfered with the establishment of a cus business and in the four remaining full-time farms. by toms boundary at the river for the people of Habkirchen. What of the of social life in Habkir pattern Each of the has a fair for three or four chen and In Habkirchen the old villages Frauenberg? once a ? in Habkir church is a center. None of the build days year Frauenberg July, major present chen inNovember. Both of these are social events ing dates from the original founding in the 9th for both villages and for people from other near century as far as is known. The church tower was by villages on both sides of the border. built in the 12th century and is Romanesque in So in these villages also the boundary is a line style. A chapel near the church, dedicated to of separation in formal organization but not in St. Anne, has for generations been a place of pil spontaneous informal activity. grimage from the countryside 'round about, espe for for whom St. Anne is cially mothers, patron and saint. Perl, Apach, Schengen A third group of villages selected for specific Frauenberg with its castle formerly had no observation is at the western extremity of the church. For long periods it was included in the Saarland, far from the coal field and from the parish of Habkirchen and generally was served Saar valley itself. In this 'Dreilanderecke', Three by the church there. Now with its castle a pic Land Corner, is Perl in the Saarland on the east turesque ruin Frauenburg has a church and a side of the Mosel, Apach in France on the same priest. A new church building in modern style is side of the river, and Schengen in Luxemburg on being completed in 1959. the opposite side7) (Figures 5 and 10). In both most of the are Catho villages people The valley is wider and deeper and the river lic, and there is no Protestant church or school. much larger than the Saar tributaries previously is almost at least inHab Church-going universal, described, or than the Saar itself. Perl and Schen kirchen with its tradition. Church social strong gen were connected by a bridge built just after activities other than the services are There sligth. the First World War but destroyed in the Second are no church clubs for men, women or children. and just now being rebuilt (1959). Habkirchen has a choir; has none. Frauenberg The valley was well occupied in prehistoric The of Habkirchen is in the Diocese of parish and Roman times, as indicated by the findings in and the of Speyer Germany parish Frauenberg of numerous remains, but the recorded history of is in the Diocese of Metz in France. So as in here, the villages themselves is not so long. The present the on the the are villages Rossel, parishes sepa boundaries, as in the cases previously discussed, rate in in of a as organization spite past history of began mediaeval property lines between juris belonging together. dictions of local gentry, which later by chance In each of the villages there are two taverns as selection in the history of consolidation, happened to secular social centers, well patronized in the late separate larger units. Perl became an outpost of the afternoon and evening, especially by men and powerful Archbishop of Trier lower down the was occasionally by people from across the border valley. Apach held by the Lords of Sierck the who to in either direction. Organized clubs are few and higher up valley, became subject the small. There is a motor club in Habkirchen and Dukes of Lorraine, who became subject to the a a of France. The castle of south touring club taking vacation trip once a year Kings Schengen, eastern of the came in Frauenberg. Each village has a volunteer fire outpost Spanish Netherlands, under control of the company. Grand Dukes of Luxemburg at the end of their Mosel River Habkirchen has a football field and a team upper frontier, and so it remains. which plays other Saarland village teams on Sun afternoon. no day Frauenberg has See organized 7) N. Etringer, Schengen: Chronik einer Pfarrei, sports program. Luxemburg 1956. 64 Erdkunde Band XV
were same Perl, Apach, and Schengen all in the majority working near home and a minority com parish before the Reformation, with their parish muting to distant factories. church at Perl. The population is about 800, and about 400 events Great of history touched these villages are employed. Of these nearly 50% work in the as as well those previously discussed, and in simi workshops and freight yards of Apach, and 10% lar ways, which need not be again repeated. Here in the village business establishments and offices. common also neighborhood friendship and inter About 5% are engaged in farming or horticul est have normally prevailed and international ture. There is no wine growing, although the rivalry has come from outside as an unwelcome vineyards of Perl occupy the slope just north of intrusion. the village down to the international boundary. In the 19th century there were vineyards in Apach, but after out the Consider the pattern of working and living in being nearly wiped by Phyl loxer a the were not restor Perl, Apach and Schengen. The three villages are disease, vineyards fully ed and now have with no likelihood located at a place where political influences from disappeared ? three directions reach their limit or from four of reestablishment in competition with French wines more farther south. After directions: France, Luxemburg, Germany and the cheaply produced the First World War was Saarland. They happen to be also at a negative strawberry growing taken as a and has continued success pole economically, where influences from three up specialty with carried on in or four directions reach their limits: midway fully together cherry growing, time and for the market in the between the Saar valley to the east, the Luxem part by women, Saarland. burg mining and industrial district to the west, French industry of the upper Mosel to the south, The minority of workers commuting to a di and German wine production of themiddle Mosel stance, about 35%, go mainly to mills of the to the north. there are economic as French industrial district to the south, in and Accordingly ? well as political interests facing in four directions, around Thionville both men and women, to and there are also local interests of this small heavy and light industries. A few miners travel community, itself relatively isolated. to French mines at the south end of the coalfield 40 miles the same district to which a few Perl has a population of about 1,100 people. away, miners travel from on the far Of these nearly 600 are gainfully employed. A Frauenberg Blies, off on the side of the coalfield. majority of nearly 60% work near home. Among opposite these home-workers, 20% are employed in the Schengen, on the other side of the Mosel from stores and small business establishments of the Perl and Apach, has a population of about 350, of village, which is a small shopping center for local whom 150 are employed. Here the pull of indu even conserva people of the Saarland and the French country stry is less and the continuance of side nearby over the border; 25 % are employed tive rural economy somewhat greater. About or in government offices of this political outpost of 70% are winegrowers vineyard workers. Vine the Saarland; 10?/o are wine growers or workers yards occupy the slopes everywhere above the an street. in vineyards and orchards around the village, village, and wine cellars line the This is upstream outpost of the middle Mosel wine the main interest and the pride of the village. An are district. On the upland spur above the village additional 10% employed in small business or customs at vineyards spread over the south facing slope, and establishments in the office the bor a of 20 % com cherry orchards and strawberry fields occupy the der. On the other hand, minority to to Luxem north slope. mute work; the heavy industries of off to the west or to work in the On the other hand a large minority, 40% or burg light city to more, go to work in one or another of the indu of Luxemburg the northwest. strial districts: workers in heavy industry to Consider the pattern of social life in Perl, French iron and steel mills farther south up the Apach and Schengen. In all three villages the pop Mosel valley; workers in light industry, especially ulation is largely Catholic, and each has a Ca women, to the nearest towns of the Saar valley, tholic church as a major center. The church in where light industry prevails below the coal and Perl is ancient, or at least contains remnants that steel district; a few workers to a nearby town in are ancient, and has an old Romanesque tower, a Luxemburg, and a few miners to the nearest mines Gothic choir and a Baroque altar. This was the was in the Saarland. parish church of all three villages when Perl a a theMosel of the Arch Apach, across the line in France, is smaller distinguished outpost up Trier. A near the church has shopping center but has larger working etablish diocese of chapel been a of ments: railway shops and an international freight mediaeval traditions and has place pil too a for centuries and the focal of an yard (Figure 7). Accordingly here there is grimage point Robert S. Piatt: The Saarland: An international borderland 65
annual fair. Now Perl has also a small new Pro Wolfersweiler and Gimbweiler testant to which a comes once a church, pastor Along the northern side of the Saarland is the week from Trier. highland ridge of the Hunsriick and for a consi no Apach was included in the Catholic parish of derable distance there are villages near the on Perl until modern times, even when a political boundary opposite sides. But in the northeast are boundary intervened. But now it is a separate there hills and valleys in an area of sedimen parish or subparish of Sierck and has a simple vil tary rocks and igneous intrusives younger than are lage church in the French diocese of Metz, served the old slates of the Hunsriick. The valleys by a priest from Sierck. open and covered with fields and meadows: tihe hills of rock are wooded. In the val Schengen has a Catholic church formerly attached steep igneous are headwater streams of the River to the castle, old in its present site but newly leys Nahe, which flows northeastward from the Saarland rebuilt in the old style, following destruction by the Pfalz to the fire after the war. The parish is in the Diocese of through Rhine8). Here another of has been selected Luxemburg. pair villages for examination: Wolfersweiler in the Saarland Church is habitual in all three going villages, and Gimbweiler in Rheinland-Pfalz. are and there are also church social activities other These not on sides of a stream, as in than the services; in each, a church choir, a young opposite boundary but at and lower on and a women's charitable previous cases, higher points people's society society. the same small and the Guts In Perl there is also a men's club and a commu stream, boundary across the valley between the (Figures 1 nity hall under the direction of the parish priest, villages and 8). used for various social gatherings. In all three vil The two villages indicate their names, en lages there are volunteer fire companies. In Perl by ding in -weiler, that they belong to a of there is a musical club, a shooting club and a ? period settlement that was not the earliest not so drama club; in Schengen a fishing club. early as the first settlements along the Mosel or Schengen has no sports program; Perl has a ? the Blies but a fairly early period of settle football field and a team playing in a Saarland ment-expansion. Their history otherwise record league. Apach has a handball court and a team ed is not so long. Wolfersweiler was a mediaeval playing in a French league of nearby villages. farm village with an important parish church, are more com Unorganized social activities first mentioned in the 13th century; and Gimb mon: and cards in the talking playing evenings weiler was a farm village in the parish of Wol coun in taverns; visiting relatives, walking in the fersweiler. In fact, until the 20th century the two or to a town. of this is try motoring larger Much villages were always in the same political as well without crossing an international boundary; but as the same ecclesiastical unit. crossing is easy in any direction and is common: After the Reformation the parish became Pro to visit relatives, especially between Apach and testant, together with the neighboring parishes a a Perl; and boys date girls and marry them without within small domain under Protestant ruler. In the 19th was to regard to boundaries. These comings and goings century this domain attached the Grand of an are in addition to crossings on business, due not Duchy Oldenburg, outstandingly Protestant division of North The old only to daily employment but to land holdings, Germany. church of Wolfersweiler is still Cal especially of Schengen people in France and the Protestant, vinist Reformed and not Lutheran. The rearran Saarland, and of Apach people in the Saarland gement of the and of around the and Luxemburg. sanctuary pews pulpit is like that of Reformed churches inNorth There is a weekly market in Perl visited by Germany and the Netherlands. people from the vicinity in the Saarland and Only after the Second World War was a bound France. Also each of the three has a fair villages ary drawn between Wolfersweiler and Gimbwei at least once a year, all of them visited by people ler, placing Wolfersweiler within the Saarland, from across the borders. The fair in Perl especial under French control as an international territory draws visitors from far and wide, from the ly of the European Council and leaving Gimbweiler Saar to the east and theMosel far valley valley in the French zone of Occupied Germany. This ther downstream in as well as from Germany, division has been temporarily significant as the France and nearby Luxemburg. customs boundary between France and Germany, but in 1959 the customs is moved So in these villages there is a three-way divi boundary being to include the Saarland in the sion in formal organization and a fairly intimate Germany economy, mixture in informal as well as overall activity 8) See W. Muller-Wille: Die Ackerfluren im Landes cultural similarity. teil Birkenfeld, Bonn 1936, pp. 33?35. 66 Erdkunde Band XV
and the boundary between Wolfersweiler and establishments and offices, including a now Gimbweiler has become only an internal bound vanishing customs service and boundary patrol. ary between German states: the Saarland and The minority of about 30% who work else Rheinland-Pfalz. The inhabitants are little con where scatter to the same areas as the commuters cerned about this boundary which crosses their ofWolfersweiler: southward tomining and heavy parish, and their work and social life go on as industry in the Saar coal basin, westward to light usual. industry in the Saarland, and northward to light and office work in It is appar What of the pattern of work and life inWol industry Germany. ent that Gimbweiler is near the extreme limit for fersweiler and Gimbweiler? Wolfersweiler is a such under pre of about 1,000 of whom about long-distance daily commuting, village people, sent conditions of In 500 are A of about 60% transportation. stormy employed. majority weather when motor or are not work in or near the 20% of them in vil cycles bicycles village: usable for the first of the men who and offices, the erstwhile leg journey, lage shops including work in the coal field leave home at 3:00 customs office and and 40% A.M., boundary patrol; hours before walk for a half hour to as full-time farmers or farm laborers. daylight, Farming ride in a bus for a half hour to has declined and the farms do not now Wolfersweiler, provide St. and there take a train to Neunkir to feed the Groceries and Wendel, enough community. in time to startwork at 5:00 A.M. meats are from outside the Saar chen, arriving imported regions After the work return home the land. day's they by same route, arriving after dark, with time to eat A of 40 % of the workers commute to minority and sleep for a few hours before the next day's mines and factories elsewhere. Here is an again repetition. area of rural occupance near the labor divide What of the pattern of social life under such between industrial districts. Some of the workers circumstances inWolfersweiler and Gimbweiler? living inWolfersweiler travel southward tomines Understandably there is less leisure and less social and heavy industries of the coal basin in the Saar activity in this area of farming and long-distance land, principally to Neunkirchen, the northern commuting. most coal and steel town. A smaller number, The are 85% Protestant and have more women than men, travel to villages outlying light their old church inWolfersweiler. On Sun industries in the Saarland, or northward across parish day morning people from Gimbweiler walk to the boundary to light industries in Idar-Oberstein, church across the border and join the congregation the leading town of jewelry manufacturing in as they always have. In the church there is a choir Germany, or to county government offices in and young women's and men's societies Birkenfeld, the seat of the county to which Wol people's, in the and fersweiler used to before transferred meeting occasionally parish house, belong being attended more than to the Saarland. by people living nearby by those from a distance on either side of the border. Gimbweiler has been called a forgotten village For the Catholic minority, there is an active ? as been when Wolfersweiler having forgotten church also inWolfersweiler and also including was into the Saarland. Its road put only good Gimbweiler in its parish. In this there is a similar led into and has Wolfersweiler, only recently array of social organizations: choir, and young a road been built in the direction good opposite people's, women's and men's societies, similarly to connect it with the seat without cross county attended more by people living nearby. The ing the boundary. Catholic church is in the Archdiocese of Trier, and the Protestant church is from Bir The work pattern of Gimbweiler is similar to supervised the old seat across the border. that of Wolfersweiler but with a larger majority kenfeld, county on In this case the division between Pro working in or near the village, particularly obviously testant and Catholic is than farms. The population is about 500 and about congregations greater % that between the 200 are gainfully employed. A majority of 60 villages. are farmers and farm workers. A number of Secular activities are not lacking. There are more men in refugee families from Eastern Germany have been for than for women, conservative received in Gimbweiler and have gone into farm rural style. In Wolfersweiler there are seven taverns men ing, producing milk for a dairy in Birkenfeld. and inGimbweiler two, where gather com to a and Such planned resettlement is characteristic of in the evening talk and drink for while, munities inWest Germany and not characteristic where clubs meet occasionally. Both villages have of the Saarland, which has not been fully incor volunteer fire companies and musical clubs, and a field and a football team. The porated into Germany till 1957. About 10% of each has football are state lines: the the workers are employed in village business football leagues divided along Robert S. Piatt: The Saarland: An international borderland 67
as teams do not play against each other, butWolfers cently have been given new functions inter weiler against other teams in the Saarland and national lines between extensive political and Gimbweiler against other teams in the Pfalz. Here economic systems of organization. Parts of the is a case of formal organization separated on state boundary have been shifted even after becoming lines along with informal activity unlimited by international and in some places have been newly the boundary. imposed where no boundary of any kind existed Wolfersweiler has a weekly market to which before. Accordingly most parts of the present people have gone habitually from Gimbweiler, boundary separate systems of areal organization though slightly hampered recently by the customs only as politically conditioned and do not coin barrier (Figure 1). Each village has a yearly fair cide with boundaries of cultural uniformity. and each of these is a social event for both vil on sides of the have the fair in the Villages opposite boundary lages, particularly larger larger in an com of Wolfersweiler. commonly belonged together single village munity, at some times or always in the past, and The case of these is different from any villages are still considered so. The boundary has of the others in an international locally having boundary of course separated them in systems of political only recently and in less temporarily, being organization, local as well as national. In addi directly affected France and in Pro by having tion systems of ecclesiastical organization have testantism. But in important respects they are commonly a national political frame; like the others: at or near the traffic divide for adopted and other formal features of organization like Saarland industrial labor, the bound ? observing wise adopt the same convenient frame leagues ary in some forms of hierarchical organization, for football and other competitive sports, for ignoring the boundary in less formal local con example. tacts, and prevailingly similar in culture. But local politics, church going and ball playing go on on sides, and informal Political Boundary and Social Structure similarly opposite social relations are carried on freely across the Nationality, Subnationality and Super nationality boundary in every direction. Intermarriage over the border is as a familiar From reconnaissance of the Saarland and study recognized everywhere and business goes on even where of the nine villages some generalizations can be phenomenon, there is a customs barrier. made. The relations of the region in general and Between the Saarland and Rheinland-Pfalz it of the villages in particular are by no means is difficult to detect cultural differences. Between simple. The inhabitants look out in several direc the Saarland and Lorraine there are a few clear tions to things nearby and far away. In local official differences street in a affairs they are concerned with their neighbors (different signs different a few different dif on every side, in national affairs they are linked language, holidays, ferences of clothes and of as a result of with some neighbors and separated from others, way life) the of Lorraine in the French state in international affairs they are connected or membership on a and its and some and uncertain separated wider scale. civilisation, vague indications of other cultural differences The political boundary is a feature of occu slight social and confor pance imposed on the landscape at some time in (slightly greater homogeneity in the Between the Saarland and the distant or the recent past, with specific mity Saarland). functions intended to limit the extension of cer Luxemburg similarly there are vague indications tain activities across from either side to the other of slight differences (less-conservative and less rural interest in the or to condition the interaction of organizations Saarland). which meet there. The functions may be of any Generally for inhabitants of the boundary the local nature sort or of any degree of strength or weakness. area, uniformities of culture and and the local of areal are The boundary does not necessarily separate features organization as real and vital as national systems of areal organization except as explicitly elements of culture and are at required, and it does not tend to separate dif systems of organization. People home ferent uniformities of culture unless it has re in the local environment of culture and organi and from mained fixed and has functioned strongly for zation; pressures divisions imposed or outside alien forces come as generations centuries. by unwelcome intru sions into communities. Most parts of the present boundary of the friendly Saarland not nor have remained fixed functioned At the same time local people have come to strongly for a long period of time. Even those identify themselves and their ways of life with parts that are considered ancient had formerly one or another of the national states. Formal local and limited as only functions dividing lines organization separated at the boundary encour between small units of and re jurisdiction only ages this. Inhabitants of the Saarland right up 68 Erdkunde Band XV
to the border commonly identify themselves with only a massive undivided Europe. Inhabitants of Germany, not with France to which they have the Saarland voted to belong to Germany and been attached economically, and not with any not to the Saarland as a separate unit in Europe, potentially distinct unit called "the Saarland" but they want Germany and France to be friendly separate from both France and Germany. For members of a united Europe and not to be sepa employment they look to the industrial district rated by a barrier boundary. Inhabitants of Lor but this is not somuch a separate object of loyalty raine want to be in France and to have France in as an extension of the local community within the a united Europe. Inhabitants of Luxemburg have nation. Inhabitants of Lorraine up to the border an even greater desire to see Europe united, re commonly identify themselves with France even cognizing the weakness of their own national though they may habitually speak German9). unit in major international rivalries. Inhabitants of Luxemburg identify themselves both sides of each frontier have with the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, not yet People along an almost desire to see united commonly with Benelux and not with France or pathetic Europe the Saar-French Germany, even though habitually speaking a immediately, especially along as a new customs barrier. the German dialect and using French as an official boundary Along border between the Saarland and Rheinland-Pfalz language. Inhabitants of Rheinland-Pfalz identify this desire is not so since there the themselves simply with Germany. keen, boundary becomes a line between German states. In Accordingly it is evident that people are inter only ested in their local communities on both sides of the forgotten village of Gimbweiler there is even a lack of interest in the old bound the boundary and also in the nations separated by having county restored to the church into the boundary. On every border it is apparent ary bring parish again the same state. that people do not want strife but friendship in their local and want inter communities, they So in villages on the borders of the Saarland course without interference across their borders, feel and devotion to their national ? people express an absence of barrier functions politically, homelands separated by the boundary, and at economically and socially. At the same time they tachment to the local homeland where uniform do not want the nations to dissolve and leave ities of nature and culture spread across the boundary, and desire for a united Europe trans 9) In Lorraine some people speak in German and write cending the boundary. Thus nationality is recog in French as a of a difference in home and consequence nized and embraced, subnationality or locality is school Now children in Lorraine are training. increasingly real and vital and ever present in life, French, greater cultural everyday learning only perhaps portending and or is wish differentiation and social separation at the political boun supernationality internationality as a dary in the future. fully hoped for larger stabilizing frame.
BERICHTE UND KLEINE MITTEILUNGEN
BEMERKUNGEN ZUR GLIEDERUNG UND theater des Gardasees wegen der Ausdehnung und des PALAOKLIMATOLOGIE DES OBERITALIENI Reichtums der Ablagerungen sowie der Fiille seiner von SCHEN PLEISTOZANS, INSBESONDERE DES Formen entscheidender Bedeutung. Es nimmt da GARDASEE-GEBIETES') her auch bei Penck (1894, 1909) eine Schlusselstellung Mit 5 Fig. imText ein.Auf Grund morphologischer und bodenkundlicher er mit Otto Franzle Kriterien stellte alle Endmoranen insWurm Ausnahme der flachen und verwaschenen Ziige am Fiume der das imWesten be and Paleoclimate the Pleistocene Chiese, Moranengebiet Summary: Stratigraphy of diese sah er als rifieiszeitliche an in Northern Italy, with Special Reference grenzt; Bildungen Abb. 1 to the Garda-Region (in gestrichelt dargestellt). a True first part of this paper gives a critical analysis of Demgegenuber kamen italienischeGeologen (Corti, recent article on the Garda-Region by K. A. Habbe. Here 1895; Cozzaglio, 1900/1902; Nicolis, 1899) zu der after some highly important fossil soils in Wiirm and Riss Auffassung, dafi die PENCK5c/?e? Rifimoranen ins loesses are described and paleoclimatologically interpreted. Mindel und dafi ein erheblicher Teil seiner not the tem gehorten The examples dealt with indicate that only perature but also, and in a high degree, the drainage is of A recon importance for the development of frost wedges. *) Nachstehender Beitrag enthalt eine Stellungnahnie struction of the stadial paleoclimate with the aid of these zur Arbeit von K. A. Habbe: Zur klimatischen Morpho an consideration of ? structures implies, therefore, adequate logie des Alpensudrands Untersuchungen in den Mora the respective soil properties. nenamphitheatern der Etsch und des Gardasees. Nachr. Fiir die zeitliche Gliederung der gesamten siidalpi Akad. Wiss., Gottingen, II. Math.-phys. KL, Jg. I960, Nr. 10. nen Pleistozanablagerungen ist das Moranenamphi