The Alsace-Moselle Memorial at Schirmeck, in the Vosges Mountains south west of Strasbourg is one of the most poignant reminders of European conflicts that have taken place during the last 140 years. The Memorial, opened last year, is expected to attract many visitors in the next two months as Remembrance Day (November 11) approaches.
The Memorial is built on a site overlooking what was a Nazi internment camp. The 3,000 sq metre cultural facility recounts through sight and sound, the history of the Alsace region from 1870 onwards, a period during which it has changed nationality four times. It puts particular focus on WW2 and Alsace’s annexation to the Third Reich.
The architecturally stunning memorial, designed to be an attractive and detailed educational facility for visitors from all over the world, looks over a valley to the site of the former internment camp where the European Centre for Transported Wartime Resistance Fighters is being established.
Military history enthusiasts will also be interested in Alsace’s many remains of the famous Maginot Line, built between 1920 and 1940. The 700 kms line of fortifications was designed, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to keep invaders out of France and nearly 200 kms of The Line ran through Alsace. There are many remains to be seen, including blockhouses, forts, bunkers and underground communication headquarters, some of which have been restored. Amongst the most impressive is the fort at Lembach open everyday until the middle of November.
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