KESKASTEL-ALSACE-BOSSUE-L Archives

From: "Bruno PEIFFER" <>
Subject: ARTICLE of Schopperten
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 08:47:36 +0200

Hello,

I carried out a translation of an article published today (28 august 1999) in the regional newspaper " Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace " about the history of the village of SCHOPPERTEN (near Keskastel) and wish several REEB came from.

A have placed the photo of the villages article on my site :

http://www.fortunecity.com/littleitaly/piacenza/90/shopperten.jpg

The article :

One gives the nickname of " Sandhase " (sands rabbits) to the citizens of Schopperten because of the presence of sand at various places of the communal, which is still the case today

The origin of the name of Schopperten is very dubious. According to the oral tradition which undoubtedly goes up in the Middle Ages, the hamlet of Schopperten was made up ot two houses at the moment of its creation. The two buildings would have been hangars, in which fishermen put their catches to be dried. The name of Schopperten would be thus a derivative of the root " Schopf " (hangar, handing-over).

Thus the places where formerly ponds of fishing were are still perfectly visible nowadays in Schopperten. The buildings referred to above were protected besides using than one called of the " Tänch " or " Tänich " (coated?). At least three localities, Weiher, Strassenweiher and Tänchmatte come to support this thesis. The existence of the village probably goes back to year 1300. According to the register of the interests of the county of Sarrewerden of 1344, this last has a town hall (Meierei) with Schopperten, where 21 houses are counted. Knowledge which one could have of the Schopperten locality at the beginning of the Middle Ages is very incomplete, not to say non-existent.

1557 marked the beginning of the introduction of the Reform. In 1618, during the Thirty Year old war, there existed in Schopperten a " house of the good people ", a kind of leper-house with approximately 1 km of the village on the territory of the " Kesselbrunnen ", where vestiges of walls were still visible a few years ago. In 1641, the village counted nothing any more but widows and orphans.

At the 17th century, in the Fifties, in particular by 1651 to 1655, the population increased in a spectacular way because of the massive return of former prisoners of war. At the village, which in 1642 did not count probably any more that two families, the population had increased so much that in 1655 the commune had to call upon a cowherd. In 1743, the village counted 100 inhabitants divided in 37 houses, while 75 horses represented the richness of the locality.

A quite strange event is announced in the village of Schopperten in year 1673, namely a sorcery lawsuit. According to various information's which one has on this subject, this lawsuit did not show any torment of fire. In 1745, the village belonged to the county of Sarrewerden, before this one was not shared into two, so that it formed part of the dynasty of Nassau-Saarbrucken, whose Harskirchen was the chief town.

At the beginning of the 18th century, after the peace of Ryswick, agriculture recovered from its depression and of its stagnation and the life of the peasants was rather easy. The inhabitants of Schopperten devoted themselves to more or less happy experiments. Thus in 1717 they introduced the tabacole culture, culture which, because of the nature of the ground, remained only a few years.

At a given time of its history, the commune of Schopperten also cultivated flax and hemp. During several centuries and this until worms the end of the 19th century, these plants constituted the main part of the cultures. Gradually, the inhabitants forsook fishing to devote themselves to weaving, an art in which many inhabitants of Schopperten excelled, in particular at the 18th century. Thus the inhabitants wove themselves their clothes and sold their more beautiful productions on the markets. Names of localities such as " Hanfgarten " (garden of hemp) or " Hanfröste " (steeping of hemp) evoke this period when weaving was the trade more spread, a trade which was preserved besides until the end of the 19 E century.

The year 1869 saw the construction of the Protestant church which was inaugurated the 2è Sunday after Pentecost. It is in 1885 that the locality of Schopperten recorded its stronger population, that is to say 326 inhabitants divided out of 56 houses. From there, the population decreased quickly, since considerable inhabitants left for Lorraine to find there work in the collieries, so that the number of inhabitants was 280 in 1900, of 254 in 1962 and 228 in 1980.

At the time of the Second World War, 65 % of the dwellings were damaged by shells, in particular the school and the town hall, while the Protestant church, victim of a shooting of shell in the night from the 2 to December 3, 1944, ignited and was completely destroyed. In years 54 to 56, the buildings of the town hall and school were rebuilt and inaugurated in 1956. And in the Sixties to 63, it was with the tower of the to be rebuilt church, while the inauguration took place in 1963. According to the recent census of 99, the commune, which saw flowering a new allotment, counts its 300 inhabitants.

Best regards

Bruno PEIFFER

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• ARTICLE of Schopperten by "Bruno PEIFFER" <>