Hoffen
Encyclopedia
Hoffen is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin is a department of France. The name means "Lower Rhine". It is the more populous and densely populated of the two departments of the Alsace region, with 1,079,013 inhabitants in 2006.- History :...

 department in Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

 in north-eastern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

On January 1, 1975 the commune merged with those of Hermerswiller and Leiterswiller.

Geography

The village is within easy walking distance of departmental road RD 263 which links Wissembourg
Wissembourg
Wissembourg is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in northeastern France.It is situated on the little River Lauter close to the border between France and Germany approximately north of Strasbourg and west of Karlsruhe. Wissembourg is a sub-prefecture of the department...

 and Haguenau
Haguenau
-Economy:The town has a well balanced economy. Centuries of troubled history in the buffer lands between France and Germany have bequeathed to Haguenau a rich historical and cultural heritage which supports a lively tourist trade. There is also a thriving light manufacturing sector centred on the...

 as well as the local railway line following the same route.

History

The village first appears in surviving records in 1052 as Hoffen. Hof is a Germanic
Alsatian language
Alsatian is a Low Alemannic German dialect spoken in most of Alsace, a region in eastern France which has passed between French and German control many times.-Language family:...

 word denoting a farm, a homestead or a settlement.

The village coat of arms comes from the Trautwein family who founded Hof: the family died out in 1664. The story of Hof has been a turbulent one. In the fourteenth century there were two settlements: Hoven comprised a dozen farms and Buren just four houses. These were the property of "St Peter the Younger" in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

. However, in 1450 the villages were surrendered to the lords of Hohenbourg
Château de Hohenbourg
The Château de Hohenbourg is a ruined castle in the commune of Wingen, in the Bas-Rhin département of France.-History:The Pullers appeared in 1236, calling themselves from 1262 the Pullers of Hohenbourg. According to T...

 and Fleckenstein
Château du Fleckenstein
Château du Fleckenstein is a castle in the commune of Lembach, in the Bas-Rhin département of France. This fortress, built in the shape of 52 m long boat, has a long history. The castle was built on a sandstone summit in the Middle Ages...

. Then from the end of the fifteenth century possession of these settlements passed into the hands of the Counts of Zweibrücken
Alexander, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken
Alexander of Zweibrücken was Count Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken and of Veldenz in 1489–1514.He was the son of Louis I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken and his wife Johanna of Croÿ...

. During the seventeenth century Hoffen became attahced to the bailiwick
Bailiwick
A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of...

 of Cleebourg
Cleebourg
Cleebourg is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...

. The Thirty Years War was devastating for many villages in Alsace, and in 1633 the hamlet of Buren disappeared following the passing of imperial catholic
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

 troops. There were further destructive wars for much of the eighteenth century, but 1748
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...

 probably marked the end of the most deadly of them all for Alsace. Many villages were left depopulated and were subsequently resettled by migrants from Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, higher up the River Rhine or from other parts of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 which emerged from the war in possession of most of the major towns and cities in Alsace
Décapole
The Décapole was an alliance formed in 1354 by ten Imperial cities of the Holy Roman Empire in the Alsace region to maintain their rights, it was disbanded in 1679....

, and controlled the whole province by the time of Louis XIV's death in 1715.

In September 1939 the population of Hoffen was evacuated to Haute Vienne as the government reluctantly planned for another territorial struggle with Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

With effect from 1974 the communes of Leiterswiller, Hoffen and Hermerswiller merged.
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