Sermlings

Sermlinger Hof on the Prussian general staff map from 1893

The gallows tree. Murder and violence in the Thirty Years' War (etching by the Lorraine illustrator Jacques Callot (cycle Les Misères et les Malheurs de la guerre ; 1633))

The place Sermlingen is a disappeared village ( desert ) in the Saargau , in the neighborhood of Kerlingen . According to archival sources, sermlingen existed as early as 1154 AD and was destroyed to the ground in 1635 in the course of the Thirty Years War and its consequences. This happened both by the imperial troops under General Gallas, as well as by French troops, but also by marauding mercenaries of different nationalities (including Swedes, Croats, Hungarians). Epidemics like the plague and the effects of the witch hunt did the rest to decimate the starved rural population.

Only a building complex around a former farm building, the Serlinger Hof survived until the 20th century, but fell victim to the war events in the final phase of the Second World War.

Only a few remnants of the wall remain from the former place.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Theodor Liebertz: Wallerfangen and his story . 1953 ( worldcat.org [accessed January 13, 2020]).
2. ^ Johann Klein: Villages on the Muschelkalk . Publishing house 'After the Shift', Wiebelskirchen / Saar 1970, p. 75/123 .