Gemmenich
Gemmenich is a district of the Belgian municipality of Plombières (Bleiberg) on the border triangle of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands . The place is located in the Walloon Region . Gemmenich, with 2500 inhabitants, is located around five kilometers west of Aachen and belongs to the province of Liège .
Gemmenich lies at the foot of the Vaalserberg , on the summit of which is the triangle of three countries, which is also the highest point in the European Netherlands.
language
Gemmenich is located directly on the German-French language border and is one of the so-called Low German communities . The dialect spoken here is Gemmenicher Platt , a transitional dialect between German and Dutch with both Limburg and Ripuarian influences. A large part of Gemmenich's population is at least bilingual today and the local secondary school offers immersion classes in German and French.
history
In 850 Gemmenich was mentioned as a royal villa (manor). The parish church of Gemmenichs was consecrated to St. Hubertus and has an altar from the 12th century. On the night of August 1 to August 2, 1914, the First World War began on the Western Front when German troops occupied Luxembourg. On the morning of August 4, 1914, German troops crossed the Belgian border for the first time near Gemmenich and advanced to the Meuse without a fight . Gemmenich was overrun by the Wehrmacht on the morning of May 10, 1940, the first day of the western campaign . It was liberated by US troops in autumn 1944 before the Battle of Aachen .
Gemmenich was an independent municipality until 1977, to which the district Völkerich belonged. It became the district of Plombières as part of Belgian municipal mergers .
tourism
One of the sights of Gemmenich is the altar of the Hubertus Church. The tourist infrastructure of the place offers, among other things, the two campsites Kontiki and Vieux Moulin (old mill), the holiday village Drei Grenzen and the holiday home Home Franck .
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c Tourist Office Three Limits: Information about Gemmenich
- ↑ www.cndgem.be: Website of the Secondary School Notre-Dame ( Memento of the original of February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 4, 2014
- ↑ Herbert Ruland: Refugee movements on the German-Belgian border and in Innerbelgien against the background of the contemporary development 1914-1945. ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 281 kB)
Web links
- Gemmenich Tourist Office at www.gemmenich.be: information on the history of the village
Coordinates: 50 ° 45 ' N , 6 ° 0' E