Netzwerk Geschichtsvereine

On October 11, Red Baron took the train to Lörrach. Lörrach is a small town south of Freiburg on the Swiss border. The Netzwerk Geschichtsvereine (network of history societies) had invited him to their annual meeting at the Dreiländermuseum (Museum of three countries). The network encourages writing a shared history of the Upper Rhine region by promoting collaboration between historical societies in France, Germany, and Switzerland. 

More than 430 local associations in the three countries deal with (in particular) regional history. At the meeting, many people stressed that the Trinationale Metropolregion am Oberrhein (Metropolis of three nations on the upper Rhine) is a region with a shared history. At the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, this common heritage, which had existed for centuries, was replaced by national borders. The Rhine River became the dividing line instead of symbolizing common roots in culture and trade.

Today, 35 exhibitions in the region commemorate the Great War. The Dreiländermuseum in Lörrach has conceived an appropriate exhibition showing the impact of the war on the people who had lived together, crossing the existing borders without showing passports or other documents before 1914. 

When Germany closed its borders shortly after the war outbreak, thousands of Alsatians in the Reichsland* were suddenly cut off from their work in neutral Basel. The border between France and Germany, running along the crest of the Vosges mountains and loosely patrolled before, became the front line between the two countries. Despite significant efforts and enormous losses on both sides in men and materials, the front did not move until the end of the war.
* The German-speaking part of France that Germany had annexed in 1871 following France's defeat in the War of German Unity

Here are some examples of how the region felt before and during the war:

Warding off the danger of drinking La Menthe-Pastille (©DLM)

The French producer of the liquor intended to publish an advertising poster for the Third Hague Conference of 1914. 

When the Conference was postponed to 1915 and therefore did not take place, the firm withdrew the poster. On the left, Kaiser Wilhelm II tries to feed the "sick man on the Bosporus" (Turkey) with liquor while the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph dreams behind the scenes. King George V stands on the right in the back with a glass in one hand and his navy in the other. Tsar Nicholas II caresses Serbia's Premier Nikola Pašic, who tries to bring the smaller Balkan states under Serbian rule, while the Belgian King raises a warning finger. Finally, French Prime Minister Aristide Briand proposes a toast on the left.

The free circulation of persons between France, Germany, and Switzerland before 1914
 is demonstrated in the postcard above.
Military personnel pose at the border stone marking the Three Country-Point ...(©DLM)

... that is not located near Basel
 but at Pfetterhausen, deep in the former French Upper Alsace (©DLM)

Six friends from the three countries met in Porrentruy, Switzerland, in 1910,
posing for a photo wearing their French, German, and Swiss uniforms.
They were no comrades in arms ... (©MP)

... in particular when four years later the Pickelhaube fought the képi ... (©DLM)

... and Swiss soldiers were protecting their border (©DLM)

Nevertheless, wounded soldiers from both camps
were treated in neutral Switzerland in the spirit of the Red Cross (©DLM)

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