French military training area (Trier)
The military training area of the French garrison in Trier was in the Mattheiser Forest area above the former Castelnau barracks in the Trier district of Feyen and became the property of the BImA ( Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks ) after the French garrison withdrew in 1999 .
For the first time in the 20th century, Trier was occupied by French forces on August 11, 1919 . They took over military administration from the United States after the First World War . Even after the Second World War, France replaced the Americans as the occupying power in July 1945. In the following decades Trier became the most important French military base in Germany. At times, 21,000 soldiers lived in the city - making it the second largest French garrison in the world after Paris. The soldiers stationed in Trier were housed in several large barracks : the Castelnau quarter in Feyen, directly below the military training area, Castelforte , the Feuvrier barracks and the Casablanca quarter in Trier-Nord, the Pi-Park, the Bertard quarter in Euren, the quarter Finat Duclos in Trier-West and the Belvedère district on the Petrisberg (76 hectares). In addition, there were many institutions (schools, kindergarten, pension office, site administrations, Economats, a large hospital, casino, officers' mess, airfield, bridge building school) of the French army spread over the whole city.
After the French military withdrew in 1999, the barracks and the training area became available as a conversion area. Most of the area, which was only used for exercises and which was largely accessible in principle, was placed under protection as a nature reserve and FFH area Mattheiser Wald . In the ponds, a fishing club breeds pond clams and crayfish. The 30-hectare former maneuvering area with a training village and tank ramps, located on Pellinger Strasse, was initially intended as a commercial area for craft businesses (as a so-called craft park ). However, these plans were abandoned in 2009 due to the changed economic situation. A large part of the site has been owned by EGP GmbH (Society for Urban Project Development) since the beginning of 2011. Some buildings and barracks have been demolished, but a large number of the existing buildings are being modernized by being converted into apartments and integrated into the district. It is forbidden to enter the site.
literature
- Elisabeth Dühr: Under the tricolor: Trier in France - Napoleon in Trier; 1794-1814. Exhibition catalog. Municipal Museum Simeonstift, Trier 2004, ISBN 3-930866-20-X .
- Hans Petzholdt: Trier - garrison in the border region under changing rulers. In: Hanns Hubert Hofmann among others: City and military installations. Schroedel, Hannover 1977, ISBN 3-507-91407-7 , pp. 279-284. (Publications of the Academy for Spatial Research and Regional Planning: Research and Meeting Reports 114)
Web links
- Occupiers left as friends. In: Trier Town Hall newspaper. May 26, 2009.
- That's it: No artisan park in Trier. In: Trierischer Volksfreund. September 29, 2009.
Coordinates: 49 ° 42 ′ 52.4 " N , 6 ° 37 ′ 57.9" E