Obernai

Obernai
Commune
Place du marché
Coat of arms
Location of Obernai
Obernai Show map of France Obernai Show map of Grand Est
Coordinates: 48°28′N7°29′E / 48.46°N 7.48°E / 48.46; 7.48
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Department	Bas-Rhin
Arrondissement	Sélestat-Erstein
Canton	Obernai
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Guillaume Rocaud [1]
Area 1	25.78 km2 (9.95 sq mi)
Population  (2021) [2]	12,216
• Density	470/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	67348 /67210
Elevation	156–572 m (512–1,877 ft) (avg. 185 m or 607 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Imperial City of Obernai Reichstàdt Owernah(gsw) Reichsstadt Oberehnheim(de)
ca 1283–1648
Coat of arms
Status	Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire
Capital	Obernai
Government	Republic
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Founded	778
• Gained town rights	1240 the 13th century
• Gained Reichsfreiheit	ca 1283
• Joined Décapole	1354
•  Lost Reichsfreiheit	1648
• Annexed by France	1679
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Swabia Early modern France

Obernai (Alsatian: Owernah; German : Oberehnheim) is commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It lies on the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains.

Obernai is a rapidly growing city, its number of inhabitants having gone up from 6,304 in 1968 to 11,279 in 2017. ^[3]

History

A neolithic necropole has been uncovered ^[4] dating between 5,000 and 4,600 BC; 27 individuals were buried there in wooden coffins. This appears to be a continuation of groups from the Linear Pottery culture who were located also on the eastern side of the Rhine. ^[5]

The Obernai region, which was the property of the dukes of Alsace in the 7th century, is the birthplace of St. Odile, daughter of the Duke, who would become the Patron Saint of Alsace.

The Obernai name first appears in 1240, when the village acquires the status of town under the tutelage of the Hohenstaufen family. The town then prospered. It became a member of the Décapole in 1354, an alliance of ten towns of the Holy Roman Empire in Alsace. Obernai's status reaches its apex in the 15th and 16th century. In 1562, Emperor Ferdinand I visited the prosperous town of Obernai.

The Thirty Years' War (1618–48) damaged the town, which was occupied by the Imperial troops, then by the Swedes. The town was ransomed and ceded to France in 1679, and started to recover some of its prosperity, without totally recapturing its former glory.

The town was annexed by Germany in 1871 with the rest of Alsace, then returned to France after World War I in 1918. During the German occupation in the Second World War, the Nazi authorities set up the Reichsschule für SS Helferinnen Oberenheim, a Waffen-SS women's training centre, which opened in May 1942 upon the order of Heinrich Himmler. ^[6]

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	6,304	—
1975	7,902	+3.28%
1982	8,907	+1.73%
1990	9,610	+0.95%
1999	10,471	+0.96%
2007	10,947	+0.56%
2012	10,822	−0.23%
2017	11,279	+0.83%
Source: INSEE [3]

Economy

Obernai is an important center of wine and beer production, as well as a touristic destination. The industrial activity features the following companies: Hager, Kronenbourg, Triumph, Sobovia, Supra and Stoeffler. The historical wine of the city is called the Vin du Pistolet in reference to a local legend.

Education

During the mid-1800s, Obernai was home to a Marianist primary school. ^[7]

Sights

• Domaine de la Léonardsau (19th century – early 20th century): current museum of the horse and the horse carriage.
• Truttenhausen abbey (in ruin): old monastery of the regular canons of St-Augustin (15th century).
• Gail Castle (1826–27): Currently the Freppel High School
• Oberkirch Castle: rebuilt between 1843 and 1846 with the characteristics of an older fortified castle of the 16th or 17th century.
• El Biar Castle: Built between 1864 and 1865 on the site of an old flour mill, by General de Vives (1802, 1884); it is named after a residential section of Algiers.
• Old six-bucket well (1579)
• Clocktower (Kappelturm)
• Wheat Market (Halle aux Blés)
• Romanesque house in the rue des Pèlerins
• Old Synagogue ^[8]

Notable people

Born in Obernai

• Nicolas Léonard Beker
• Jean-Victor Hocquard (1910–1995), musicologist
• Charles-Émile Freppel
• Thomas Murner
• André Neher
• Charles Pisot
• René Schickele
• Morgan Schneiderlin

Active in Obernai

• John Stintzi, Marianist brother and academic, taught in the village during the 1840s ^[7]

See also

• Klevener de Heiligenstein, a wine style produced in Obernai
• Communes of the Bas-Rhin department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
2. "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
4. Découverte d'une nécropole du Néolithique et d'une ferme gauloise à Obernai, inrap.fr, 31 July 2013
5. Maïté Rivollat et al., Ancient mitochondrial DNA from the middle neolithic necropolis of Obernai extends the genetic influence of the LBK to west of the Rhine, onlinelibrary.wiley.com, 22 July 2016
6. Gerhard Rempel, Hitler's Children (University of North Carolina Press: 1989) pp. 224-232.
7. Garvin, John E. (1917-01-01). The Centenary of the Society of Mary. Brothers of Mary.
8. (in German) Zur Geschichte der jüdischen Gemeinde und der Synagogen in Oberehnheim

External links

• Official website