Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Romanian cemetery of Soultzmatt, classified as a historical monument in 2017, was built in 1920 in the Val du Pâtre (Schaefertal), a forest of the Upper Rhine. This place was initially a German rest camp during the First World War, transformed in 1917 into a prisoner camp for Romanian soldiers captured after their country entered the war alongside the Allies. The conditions of detention were extreme: cold, starvation and exhausting work caused the death of 125 prisoners in one night (27-28 January 1917), among the 2,344 who died in Alsace-Lorraine.

The site was offered by the commune in 1919 to bury the remains. Built between 1919 and 1920 with the help of 25 Chinese workers, the cemetery was consecrated in 1922 in the presence of King Ferdinand I and Queen Mary of Romania. A bronze statue representing a woman in prayer, melted in Bucharest, was added in 1933, followed in 1936 by a statue of Queen Mary. The commemorative plaques recall both the prisoners' ordeal and the discreet help of the Alsatians, like the 27 families of Soultzmatt who smuggled food into them.

The cemetery remains a place of active memory, with annual commemorations in the presence of Romanian and local authorities. In 2018, for the centenary, Princess Margareta of Romania and Prince Radu planted two trees there in tribute to the victims. The Schaefertal chapel now hosts bilingual liturgies (French Romanian), such as that of 19 June 2021. The site, labeled "Heritage of the 20th Century", today embodies Franco-Romanian ties and the construction of a "Europe of Peace", according to the words of Prince Radu.

The architecture of the cemetery includes wooden crosses replaced in 1933, and poignant epitaphs, such as that of Queen Mary: "Romanian soldiers, [...] rest in peace, with glory, in this land that is not foreign to you. The municipal archives keep traces of food donations and photo booklets of Chinese workers, whose fate after 1920 remains mysterious. The 2017 ranking protects the entire site, communal property.

The historical context reveals the inhumanity of the German camps: the prisoners, hungry, searched the village dumps to survive, while their rations were diverted by the guards. Evidence of 1919 (Benjamin Vallotton, French Alsace) and press articles (like Le Temps, 1924) document these abuses. The Kronprinzlager camp, originally intended for German soldiers in rest, thus became a symbol of the atrocities of the war, contrasting with the silent solidarity of the inhabitants, despite the risks involved.

External links