Alsace

qas: question: When did Stadtrepublik become a part of Alsace?
answers: text: 4 January 1798

question: What years did Germany hold possession over Lorrain-Alscace?
answers: text: 1871–1918

question: Which other country had control over Alsace?
answers: text: France

question: How many times did Germany and France switched and had control of Alscace?
answers: text: four times

question: When did the Holy Roman Empire begin?

question: When was Lorraine voted into Alsace?

question: What was the former duchy of Alsace?

question: How many times did Germany and the Holy Roman Empire exchange Lorraine?

question: What is another name for Alsace?
context: The region, as part of Lorraine, was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and then was gradually annexed by France in the 17th century, and formalized as one of the provinces of France. The Calvinist manufacturing republic of Mulhouse, known as Stadtrepublik Mülhausen, became a part of Alsace after a vote by its citizens on 4 January 1798. Alsace is frequently mentioned with and as part of Lorraine and the former duchy of Lorraine, since it was a vital part of the duchy, and later because German possession as the imperial province (Alsace-Lorraine, 1871–1918) was contested in the 19th and 20th centuries; France and Germany exchanged control of parts of Lorraine (including Alsace) four times in 75 years.

qas: question: Which three territories make up the Upper Rhine?
answers: text: Alsatian, Alemannian, Swabian, Swiss

question: Who forced Christianity upon the Alsace people?
answers: text: Clovis' Merovingian

question: What occurred at the treaty of Verdun?
answers: text: Oaths of Strasbourg of 842, was formally dissolved in 843

question: In what year did Lothar past away?
answers: text: 855

question: What languages were common in the Roman Empire?

question: When did the Alemanni conquer the Franks?

question: Who did Alemanni ally with to defeat Clovis?

question: Who was the leader of the Franks?

question: When was Lothar I born?
context: With the decline of the Roman Empire, Alsace became the territory of the Germanic Alemanni. The Alemanni were agricultural people, and their Germanic language formed the basis of modern-day dialects spoken along the Upper Rhine (Alsatian, Alemannian, Swabian, Swiss). Clovis and the Franks defeated the Alemanni during the 5th century AD, culminating with the Battle of Tolbiac, and Alsace became part of the Kingdom of Austrasia. Under Clovis' Merovingian successors the inhabitants were Christianized. Alsace remained under Frankish control until the Frankish realm, following the Oaths of Strasbourg of 842, was formally dissolved in 843 at the Treaty of Verdun; the grandsons of Charlemagne divided the realm into three parts. Alsace formed part of the Middle Francia, which was ruled by the youngest grandson Lothar I. Lothar died early in 855 and his realm was divided into three parts. The part known as Lotharingia, or Lorraine, was given to Lothar's son. The rest was shared between Lothar's brothers Charles the Bald (ruler of the West Frankish realm) and Louis the German (ruler of the East Frankish realm). The Kingdom of Lotharingia was short-lived, however, becoming the stem duchy of Lorraine in Eastern Francia after the Treaty of Ribemont in 880. Alsace was united with the other Alemanni east of the Rhine into the stem duchy of Swabia.

qas: question: What was considered a common practice in during the Holy Roman Empire?
answers: text: fragmentation and reincorporations among a number of feudal secular and ecclesiastical lordships

question: Under who's rule did Alsace thrive under?
answers: text: Hohenstaufen emperors

question: Was was the name given to the Alsace provincinal court?
answers: text: Landgericht

question: What was the name of the route that linked Germany,Switzerland , Netherlands, and England
answers: text: Paris-Vienna-Orient trade route

question: Which other two cities also started to grow economically?
answers: text: Colmar and Hagenau

question: What emperors were responsible for the increased fragmentation?

question: During which century did Frederick I make Alsace a province?

question: What noble class ruled Alsace?

question: What was the name of the central administration at Hagenau?

question: Who questioned the authority of Count Rudolf?
context: At about this time the surrounding areas experienced recurring fragmentation and reincorporations among a number of feudal secular and ecclesiastical lordships, a common process in the Holy Roman Empire. Alsace experienced great prosperity during the 12th and 13th centuries under Hohenstaufen emperors. Frederick I set up Alsace as a province (a procuratio, not a provincia) to be ruled by ministeriales, a non-noble class of civil servants. The idea was that such men would be more tractable and less likely to alienate the fief from the crown out of their own greed. The province had a single provincial court (Landgericht) and a central administration with its seat at Hagenau. Frederick II designated the Bishop of Strasbourg to administer Alsace, but the authority of the bishop was challenged by Count Rudolf of Habsburg, who received his rights from Frederick II's son Conrad IV. Strasbourg began to grow to become the most populous and commercially important town in the region. In 1262, after a long struggle with the ruling bishops, its citizens gained the status of free imperial city. A stop on the Paris-Vienna-Orient trade route, as well as a port on the Rhine route linking southern Germany and Switzerland to the Netherlands, England and Scandinavia, it became the political and economic center of the region. Cities such as Colmar and Hagenau also began to grow in economic importance and gained a kind of autonomy within the "Decapole" or "Dekapolis", a federation of ten free towns.

qas: question: About when did Alsace lose its prosperity?
answers: text: 14th century

question: Why did Alsace decline has a prospering territory?
answers: text: harsh winters, bad harvests, and the Black Death

question: Which group of people were wrongly blamed for all the disasters that struck the region?
answers: text: blamed on Jews

question: What were the jewish people accused of in Alsace?
answers: text: accused of poisoning the wells with plague

question: When did the Rhine Rift earthquake occur?
answers: text: 1356,

question: During what year were Jews blamed for the poor harvest?

question: What administration brought ruin to Alsace at the end of the 14th century?

question: When was the Basel rebuilt?

question: What earthquake occured in 1336?

question: Who was aquitted of guilt for the Rhine rift earthquake?
context: As in much of Europe, the prosperity of Alsace came to an end in the 14th century by a series of harsh winters, bad harvests, and the Black Death. These hardships were blamed on Jews, leading to the pogroms of 1336 and 1339. In 1349, Jews of Alsace were accused of poisoning the wells with plague, leading to the massacre of thousands of Jews during the Strasbourg pogrom. Jews were subsequently forbidden to settle in the town. An additional natural disaster was the Rhine rift earthquake of 1356, one of Europe's worst which made ruins of Basel. Prosperity returned to Alsace under Habsburg administration during the Renaissance.

qas: question: What were the names of the first two rivers France aggressively went to while expanding eastward?
answers: text: Rhône and Meuse

question: The French proposed a marriage between which two people?
answers: text: Blanche and Albert

question: What was the name of the period when France was crushed military?
answers: text: the Hundred Years' War

question: In what year did the French reach Alsace?
answers: text: 1444

question: Who was Western Europe giving up their land to?

question: What rivers did Italy reach first?

question: Who was successfully wed in 1299?

question: When was Alsace charted by the Counts?

question: When did the French reach the Rhine?
context: Holy Roman Empire central power had begun to decline following years of imperial adventures in Italian lands, often ceding hegemony in Western Europe to France, which had long since centralized power. France began an aggressive policy of expanding eastward, first to the rivers Rhône and Meuse, and when those borders were reached, aiming for the Rhine. In 1299, the French proposed a marriage alliance between Philip IV of France's sister Blanche and Albert I of Germany's son Rudolf, with Alsace to be the dowry; however, the deal never came off. In 1307, the town of Belfort was first chartered by the Counts of Montbéliard. During the next century, France was to be militarily shattered by the Hundred Years' War, which prevented for a time any further tendencies in this direction. After the conclusion of the war, France was again free to pursue its desire to reach the Rhine and in 1444 a French army appeared in Lorraine and Alsace. It took up winter quarters, demanded the submission of Metz and Strasbourg and launched an attack on Basel.

qas: question: In what year was Upper Alsace sold to the Archduke Sigismund?
answers: text: 1469

question: Why did Frederick III use a tax and a marriage in Upper Alsace?
answers: text: to gain back full control of Upper Alsace

question: When did Mulhouse join the Swiss Confederation?
answers: text: 1515

question: What did Charles the Bold sell to Archduke Sigismund?

question: When did Frederick III become the Holy Emperor?

question: What is the name of one of the free towns?

question: What did the town of Mulhouse join in 1798?

question: When did Belfort join the Swiss Confederation?
context: In 1469, following the Treaty of St. Omer, Upper Alsace was sold by Archduke Sigismund of Austria to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Although Charles was the nominal landlord, taxes were paid to Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. The latter was able to use this tax and a dynastic marriage to his advantage to gain back full control of Upper Alsace (apart from the free towns, but including Belfort) in 1477 when it became part of the demesne of the Habsburg family, who were also rulers of the empire. The town of Mulhouse joined the Swiss Confederation in 1515, where it was to remain until 1798.

qas: question: When did Strasbourg accept Protestantism?
answers: text: 1523

question: Who was known as a reformer in Strasbourg?
answers: text: Martin Bucer

question: What were the names given for the two groups that heavily dominated Alsace during this time?
answers: text: Catholic and Protestant

question: When was Martin Bucer born?

question: When did Strasbourg convert to Catholicism?

question: What is southwest of Mompelgard?

question: What famous reformer was from Mompelgard?

question: What was Alsace's predominant religion?
context: By the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, Strasbourg was a prosperous community, and its inhabitants accepted Protestantism in 1523. Martin Bucer was a prominent Protestant reformer in the region. His efforts were countered by the Roman Catholic Habsburgs who tried to eradicate heresy in Upper Alsace. As a result, Alsace was transformed into a mosaic of Catholic and Protestant territories. On the other hand, Mömpelgard (Montbéliard) to the southwest of Alsace, belonging to the Counts of Württemberg since 1397, remained a Protestant enclave in France until 1793.

qas: question: When did the Habsburgs  sell the Sundgau territory to France?
answers: text: 1646

question: How much did France pay for Sundgau?
answers: text: 1.2 million Thalers

question: In 1685 Edict Fontainebleau by way of the French King ordered what to be done?
answers: text: the suppression of French Protestantism

question: When did the Spanish conquer Alsace?

question: How much did the Habsburgs buy Sundgau for?

question: When was the University of Strasbourg founded?

question: What was the name of the treaty between the French and the Germans?

question: When was Strasbourg Cathedral built?
context: This situation prevailed until 1639, when most of Alsace was conquered by France so as to keep it out of the hands of the Spanish Habsburgs, who wanted a clear road to their valuable and rebellious possessions in the Spanish Netherlands. Beset by enemies and seeking to gain a free hand in Hungary, the Habsburgs sold their Sundgau territory (mostly in Upper Alsace) to France in 1646, which had occupied it, for the sum of 1.2 million Thalers. When hostilities were concluded in 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia, most of Alsace was recognized as part of France, although some towns remained independent. The treaty stipulations regarding Alsace were complex; although the French king gained sovereignty, existing rights and customs of the inhabitants were largely preserved. France continued to maintain its customs border along the Vosges mountains where it had been, leaving Alsace more economically oriented to neighbouring German-speaking lands. The German language remained in use in local administration, in schools, and at the (Lutheran) University of Strasbourg, which continued to draw students from other German-speaking lands. The 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau, by which the French king ordered the suppression of French Protestantism, was not applied in Alsace. France did endeavour to promote Catholicism; Strasbourg Cathedral, for example, which had been Lutheran from 1524 to 1681, was returned to the Catholic Church. However, compared to the rest of France, Alsace enjoyed a climate of religious tolerance.

qas: question: In what year did the division of Alsace take place?
answers: text: 1789

question: Which song was played for the first time in Strasbourg that would later become the French national anthem?
answers: text: La Marseillaise

question: Who led the armies of the French Republic in Vendee and Westermann?
answers: text: Kellermann

question: What department was Rouget de Lisle part of?

question: What song did Philippe-Frederic de Dietrich compose?

question: What was the name of the city administrator that had to flee in July 1789?

question: Who led the crowd of people storming Strasburg city?

question: Where did Rouget de Lisle lead the French Republic armies to victory?
context: The year 1789 brought the French Revolution and with it the first division of Alsace into the départements of Haut- and Bas-Rhin. Alsatians played an active role in the French Revolution. On 21 July 1789, after receiving news of the Storming of the Bastille in Paris, a crowd of people stormed the Strasbourg city hall, forcing the city administrators to flee and putting symbolically an end to the feudal system in Alsace. In 1792, Rouget de Lisle composed in Strasbourg the Revolutionary marching song "La Marseillaise" (as Marching song for the Army of the Rhine), which later became the anthem of France. "La Marseillaise" was played for the first time in April of that year in front of the mayor of Strasbourg Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich. Some of the most famous generals of the French Revolution also came from Alsace, notably Kellermann, the victor of Valmy, Kléber, who led the armies of the French Republic in Vendée and Westermann, who also fought in the Vendée.

qas: question: Which two countries sought to crush the nascent republic?
answers: text: Austria and Prussia

question: What had happened to most of the people who fled Sungau during the war when they were allowed to return home?
answers: text: lands and homes had been confiscated

question: What was the name of the poem by Goethe?
answers: text: Hermann and Dorothea

question: Who was sympathetic to the Jacobins?

question: Where did the Austrian and Prussian armies make pilgrimages to?

question: When was the French Revolutionary Army victorious?

question: When was Hermann and Dorothea published?

question: How many residents made pilgrimages?
context: At the same time, some Alsatians were in opposition to the Jacobins and sympathetic to the invading forces of Austria and Prussia who sought to crush the nascent revolutionary republic. Many of the residents of the Sundgau made "pilgrimages" to places like Mariastein Abbey, near Basel, in Switzerland, for baptisms and weddings. When the French Revolutionary Army of the Rhine was victorious, tens of thousands fled east before it. When they were later permitted to return (in some cases not until 1799), it was often to find that their lands and homes had been confiscated. These conditions led to emigration by hundreds of families to newly vacant lands in the Russian Empire in 1803–4 and again in 1808. A poignant retelling of this event based on what Goethe had personally witnessed can be found in his long poem Hermann and Dorothea.

qas: question: What was the population of Alsace in 1846?
answers: text: 1,067,000

question: What were the reasons for people to begin leaving Alsace?
answers: text: hunger, housing shortages and a lack of work for young people

question: Between what years did Alatians begin to sail towards the United States?
answers: text: 1820 to 1850

question: What was the population of Paris in 1846?

question: When did Baron Haussmann move to Paris?

question: What famous Alsatian member lived in Russia?

question: What was the name of the ship that brought Alsatians to the US in 1820?

question: What were the settlers in Canada known for?
context: The population grew rapidly, from 800,000 in 1814 to 914,000 in 1830 and 1,067,000 in 1846. The combination of economic and demographic factors led to hunger, housing shortages and a lack of work for young people. Thus, it is not surprising that people left Alsace, not only for Paris – where the Alsatian community grew in numbers, with famous members such as Baron Haussmann – but also for more distant places like Russia and the Austrian Empire, to take advantage of the new opportunities offered there: Austria had conquered lands in Eastern Europe from the Ottoman Empire and offered generous terms to colonists as a way of consolidating its hold on the new territories. Many Alsatians also began to sail to the United States, settling in many areas from 1820 to 1850. In 1843 and 1844, sailing ships bringing immigrant families from Alsace arrived at the port of New York. Some settled in Illinois, many to farm or to seek success in commercial ventures: for example, the sailing ships Sully (in May 1843) and Iowa (in June 1844) brought families who set up homes in northern Illinois and northern Indiana. Some Alsatian immigrants were noted for their roles in 19th-century American economic development. Others ventured to Canada to settle in southwestern Ontario, notably Waterloo County.

qas: question: What was the population of Alsace in 1790?
answers: text: 22,500

question: Jews were banned from cities in Alsace, where were they forced to settle?
answers: text: in villages

question: in 1791 Jews were granted what by the French?
answers: text: full emancipation

question: Which country was Alsace merged into during  1871-1918
answers: text: Germany

question: Who decreased antisemitism in 1806?

question: What was the Jewish population in 1831?

question: What percentage of the population was anti-Jewish in 1790?

question: Who did Alsace separate from in 1871?

question: What was the primary job of rabbis?
context: By 1790, the Jewish population of Alsace was approximately 22,500, about 3% of the provincial population. They were highly segregated and subject to long-standing anti-Jewish regulations. They maintained their own customs, Yiddish language, and historic traditions within the tightly-knit ghettos; they adhered to Talmudic law enforced by their rabbis. Jews were barred from most cities and instead lived in villages. They concentrated in trade, services, and especially in money lending. They financed about a third of the mortgages in Alsace. Official tolerance grew during the French Revolution, with full emancipation in 1791. However, local antisemitism also increased and Napoleon turned hostile in 1806, imposing a one-year moratorium on all debts owed to Jews.[citation needed] In the 1830-1870 era most Jews moved to the cities, where they integrated and acculturated, as antisemitism sharply declined. By 1831, the state began paying salaries to official rabbis, and in 1846 a special legal oath for Jews was discontinued. Antisemitic local riots occasionally occurred, especially during the Revolution of 1848. Merger of Alsace into Germany in 1871-1918 lessened antisemitic violence.

qas: question: Which country defeated the French in 1871?
answers: text: Kingdom of Prussia

question: The end of the war led to which companies unification?
answers: text: Germany

question: Who annexed Alsace to the new German Empire in 1871?
answers: text: Otto von Bismarck

question: What war did Prussia start in 1870?

question: Who allied with France against Germany?

question: What was the population of Lorraine?

question: Who granted Alsace-Lorraine autonomy in 1911?

question: What did Elsässisches Fahnenlied mean in French?
context: France started the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), and was defeated by the Kingdom of Prussia and other German states. The end of the war led to the unification of Germany. Otto von Bismarck annexed Alsace and northern Lorraine to the new German Empire in 1871; unlike other members states of the German federation, which had governments of their own, the new Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine was under the sole authority of the Kaiser, administered directly by the imperial government in Berlin. Between 100,000 and 130,000 Alsatians (of a total population of about a million and a half) chose to remain French citizens and leave Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen, many of them resettling in French Algeria as Pieds-Noirs. Only in 1911 was Alsace-Lorraine granted some measure of autonomy, which was manifested also in a flag and an anthem (Elsässisches Fahnenlied). In 1913, however, the Saverne Affair (French: Incident de Saverne) showed the limits of this new tolerance of the Alsatian identity.

qas: question: What did Aslations do to avoid conflict amongst themselves during the first World War?
answers: text: served as sailors

question: Who was the mayor that proclaimed independence from the German Empire for  Alsace-Lorraine?
answers: text: Jacques Peirotes

question: Who entered Alsace just two weeks after they declared independence? 
answers: text: French

question: What was the name of the treaty that allowed Germany to ceded the land to France?
answers: text: Treaty of Versailles

question: During what war were Alsatians primarily ground units?

question: What was the name of the Kaiser in 1918?

question: How long did it take the US to enter Alsace?

question: Who was in charge of the League of Nations?

question: What treaty gave Alsace to Germany?
context: During the First World War, to avoid ground fights between brothers, many Alsatians served as sailors in the Kaiserliche Marine and took part in the Naval mutinies that led to the abdication of the Kaiser in November 1918, which left Alsace-Lorraine without a nominal head of state. The sailors returned home and tried to found a republic. While Jacques Peirotes, at this time deputy at the Landrat Elsass-Lothringen and just elected mayor of Strasbourg, proclaimed the forfeiture of the German Empire and the advent of the French Republic, a self-proclaimed government of Alsace-Lorraine declared independence as the "Republic of Alsace-Lorraine". French troops entered Alsace less than two weeks later to quash the worker strikes and remove the newly established Soviets and revolutionaries from power. At the arrival of the French soldiers, many Alsatians and local Prussian/German administrators and bureaucrats cheered the re-establishment of order (which can be seen and is described in detail in the reference video below). Although U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had insisted that the région was self-ruling by legal status, as its constitution had stated it was bound to the sole authority of the Kaiser and not to the German state, France tolerated no plebiscite, as granted by the League of Nations to some eastern German territories at this time, because Alsatians were considered by the French public as fellow Frenchmen liberated from German rule. Germany ceded the region to France under the Treaty of Versailles.

qas: question: What year was Alsace-Lorraine occupied by Germany?
answers: text: 1940

question: Approximately how many Alsace and Lorraine men were forced into the German army during World War II?
answers: text: 130,000

question: Which group of people were released by the Russians to Algiers?
answers: text: malgré-nous

question: When did Germany officially annex Alsace?

question: Baden and Saarland were merged to form what?

question: How many men from Alsace alone were conscripted into the German army?

question: 130,000 men were involved in what massacre?

question: How many soldiers managed to join the resistance?
context: Alsace-Lorraine was occupied by Germany in 1940 during the Second World War. Although Germany never formally annexed Alsace-Lorraine, it was incorporated into the Greater German Reich, which had been restructured into Reichsgaue. Alsace was merged with Baden, and Lorraine with the Saarland, to become part of a planned Westmark. During the war, 130,000 young men from Alsace and Lorraine were inducted into the German army against their will (malgré-nous) and in some cases, the Waffen SS. Some of the latter were involved in war crimes such as the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre. Most of them perished on the eastern front. The few that could escape fled to Switzerland or joined the resistance. In July 1944, 1500 malgré-nous were released from Soviet captivity and sent to Algiers, where they joined the Free French Forces.

qas: question: Which conservative leader in 2007 received the best score during the second round of elections?
answers: text: Nicolas Sarkozy

question: Who is the president of the regional counsel?
answers: text: Philippe Richert

question: Alsace was one of the few to vote for this measure from France, what was it?
answers: text: European Constitution in 2005

question: What was Philippe Richert's score in Alsace?

question: What constitution was voted on in 2010?

question: What was one of the few regions to vote against the European Constitution?

question: Alsace is anti- what?

question: Who was elected head of the Alsace Regional Council in 2007?
context: Alsace is one of the most conservative régions of France. It is one of just two régions in metropolitan France where the conservative right won the 2004 région elections and thus controls the Alsace Regional Council. Conservative leader Nicolas Sarkozy got his best score in Alsace (over 65%) in the second round of the French presidential elections of 2007. The president of the Regional Council is Philippe Richert, a member of the Union for a Popular Movement, elected in the 2010 regional election. The frequently changing status of the région throughout history has left its mark on modern day politics in terms of a particular interest in national identity issues. Alsace is also one of the most pro-EU regions of France. It was one of the few French regions that voted 'yes' to the European Constitution in 2005.

qas: question: Which group or religion dominates the Aslatian population?
answers: text: Roman Catholic

question: Which other large religion also exist in Alsace due to the once German presence?
answers: text: Protestant

question: What is the name of the Union created by France's second largest Protestant church?
answers: text: UEPAL

question: What is the name of the second largest Roman Catholic church?

question: When was the Calvinist EPRAL formed?

question: What religious faith does not get public subsidies?

question: When did Alsace split from Imperial Germany?

question: What did Germany enact in 1905?
context: Most of the Alsatian population is Roman Catholic, but, largely because of the region's German heritage, a significant Protestant community also exists: today, the EPCAAL (a Lutheran church) is France's second largest Protestant church, also forming an administrative union (UEPAL) with the much smaller Calvinist EPRAL. Unlike the rest of France, the Local law in Alsace-Moselle still provides for to the Napoleonic Concordat of 1801 and the organic articles, which provides public subsidies to the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist churches, as well as to Jewish synagogues; religion classes in one of these faiths is compulsory in public schools. This divergence in policy from the French majority is due to the region having been part of Imperial Germany when the 1905 law separating the French church and state was instituted (for a more comprehensive history, see: Alsace-Lorraine). Controversy erupts periodically on the appropriateness of this legal disposition, as well as on the exclusion of other religions from this arrangement.

qas: question: What were landowners also known as that had a right to decide which religion was allowed on their property?
answers: text: local lords

question: Which groups or religions were greatly accepted in Alsace?
answers: text: Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Jews and Anabaptists

question: Which group did Louis XIV tried push out of Alsace?
answers: text: Amish

question: When did the Anabaptists split?

question: Who tried to remove Jews from Alsace?

question: What was Napoleon's primary religion?

question: What was the name of the Amish reformer?

question: What edict by Louis XIV caused many to move to the US?
context: Following the Protestant Reformation, promoted by local reformer Martin Bucer, the principle of cuius regio, eius religio led to a certain amount of religious diversity in the highlands of northern Alsace. Landowners, who as "local lords" had the right to decide which religion was allowed on their land, were eager to entice populations from the more attractive lowlands to settle and develop their property. Many accepted without discrimination Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Jews and Anabaptists. Multiconfessional villages appeared, particularly in the region of Alsace bossue. Alsace became one of the French regions boasting a thriving Jewish community, and the only region with a noticeable Anabaptist population. The schism of the Amish under the lead of Jacob Amman from the Mennonites occurred in 1693 in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. The strongly Catholic Louis XIV tried in vain to drive them from Alsace. When Napoleon imposed military conscription without religious exception, most emigrated to the American continent.

qas: question: What is the name of the historical flag of Alsace?
answers: text: Rot-un-Wiss

question: What was the German flag that was similar to the Rot-un-Wiss replaced by?
answers: text: Union jack-like" flag

question: What does the "Union jack-like" flag represent?
answers: text: the union of the two déprtements

question: Which French city did not recognize the Rot-un-Wiss flag?
answers: text: Paris

question: Who created the Union-jack-like flag?

question: The Union Jack flag represented the union of what two departments?

question: Who has not recognized the Union-jack-like flag?

question: What flag has French origins?

question: When did protests against the super-region occur?
context: There is controversy around the recognition of the Alsacian flag. The authentic historical flag is the Rot-un-Wiss ; Red and White are commonly found on the coat of arms of Alsacian cities (Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Sélestat...) and of many Swiss cites, especially in Basel's region. The German region Hesse uses a flag similar to the Rot-un-Wiss. As it underlines the Germanic roots of the region, it was replaced in 1949 by a new "Union jack-like" flag representing the union of the two déprtements. It has, however, no real historical relevance. It has been since replaced again by a slightly different one, also representing the two départements. With the purpose of "Frenchizing" the region, the Rot-un-Wiss has not been recognized by Paris. Some overzealous statesmen have called it a Nazi invention - while its origins date back to the XIth century and the Red and White banner of Gérard de Lorraine (aka. d'Alsace). The Rot-un-Wiss flag is still known as the real historical emblem of the region by most of the population and the departments' parliaments and has been widely used during protests against the creation of a new "super-region" gathering Champagne-Ardennes, Lorraine and Alsace, namely on Colmar's statue of liberty.

qas: question: Around when did the Annexation of Alsace occur?
answers: text: 17th century

question: With education reforms in the 19th century what did this lead to in Alsace?
answers: text: middle classes began to speak and write French

question: What is now the German dialects of speech now referred as to?
answers: text: standard German

question: When did French become the most common language?

question: When did Germany annex Alsace?

question: When did writing French in the middle class fall out of fashion?

question: Standard Germany became policy during what revolution?

question: What helped German literacy in the 19th century?
context: From the annexation of Alsace by France in the 17th century and the language policy of the French Revolution up to 1870, knowledge of French in Alsace increased considerably. With the education reforms of the 19th century, the middle classes began to speak and write French well. The French language never really managed, however, to win over the masses, the vast majority of whom continued to speak their German dialects and write in German (which we would now call "standard German").[citation needed]

qas: question: Between what time period did the reannexation of Germany occur?
answers: text: 1940–1945

question: What were French families forced to do during the German reannexation?
answers: text: names were Germanized.

question: When did the suspension of German teaching in  schools happen?
answers: text: 1927

question: When did teaching German cease to be an issue?

question: What did the French government force French family names to become?

question: 1927 made what the language of education?

question: What did the French do contrary to their typical language policy?

question: What years did the Francization campaign run?
context: During a reannexation by Germany (1940–1945), High German was reinstated as the language of education. The population was forced to speak German and 'French' family names were Germanized. Following the Second World War, the 1927 regulation was not reinstated and the teaching of German in primary schools was suspended by a provisional rectorial decree, which was supposed to enable French to regain lost ground. The teaching of German became a major issue, however, as early as 1946. Following World War II, the French government pursued, in line with its traditional language policy, a campaign to suppress the use of German as part of a wider Francization campaign.

qas: question: What was the name of the Memorandum that allowed German teaching in Alsace schools to become more official?
answers: text: Circulaire sur la langue et la culture régionales en Alsace

question: What is the name of the memorandum that past on June 21, 1982?
answers: text: Circulaire Savary

question: What did the Circulair Savary introduce?
answers: text: introduced financial support, over three years, for the teaching of regional languages in schools and universities

question: When was the Vice-Chancellor elected?

question: How long did it take to introduce the Circulair Savary?

question: Who wrote the Circulaire Savary?

question: What was implemented with strict expectations?

question: What was another name for the Vice-Chancellor of the Academie?
context: It was not until 9 June 1982, with the Circulaire sur la langue et la culture régionales en Alsace (Memorandum on regional language and culture in Alsace) issued by the Vice-Chancellor of the Académie Pierre Deyon, that the teaching of German in primary schools in Alsace really began to be given more official status. The Ministerial Memorandum of 21 June 1982, known as the Circulaire Savary, introduced financial support, over three years, for the teaching of regional languages in schools and universities. This memorandum was, however, implemented in a fairly lax manner.

qas: question: Which two dialects were banned from public life?
answers: text: Alsatian and Standard German

question: What did the banning of the two dialects  include?
answers: text: street and city names, official administration, and educational system

question: Although Aslation is rarely used today, which region still uses their mother language of Aslation?
answers: text: Sundgau region

question: What other language besides French and German are part of the Aslation-French dialect of today?
answers: text: Yiddish

question: Which language is currently banned?

question: What is the name of the region where Yiddish is primarily spoken?

question: What area is primarily Standard German in culture?

question: Most young people speak what form of German?

question: What is Yiddish primarily influenced by?
context: Both Alsatian and Standard German were for a time banned from public life (including street and city names, official administration, and educational system). Though the ban has long been lifted and street signs today are often bilingual, Alsace-Lorraine is today very French in language and culture. Few young people speak Alsatian today, although there do still exist one or two enclaves in the Sundgau region where some older inhabitants cannot speak French, and where Alsatian is still used as the mother tongue. A related Alemannic German survives on the opposite bank of the Rhine, in Baden, and especially in Switzerland. However, while French is the major language of the region, the Alsatian dialect of French is heavily influenced by German and other languages such a Yiddish in phonology and vocabulary.

qas: question: What does the French constitution state for the language in Aslace?
answers: text: French alone is the official language

question: How many adult speakers speak Alsatian according the 1999 INSEE survey?
answers: text: 548,000

question: With Alsatian language on the decline, what is the ration of children using the language regularly today?
answers: text: one in ten children

question: What states that Alsatian is the official language?

question: How many adult speakers of Occitan are there?

question: What percentage of adults could not speak Alsatian in 1999?

question: How many children speak French?

question: There are 548,000 child speakers of what language?
context: The constitution of the Fifth Republic states that French alone is the official language of the Republic. However, Alsatian, along with other regional languages, are recognized by the French government in the official list of languages of France. A 1999 INSEE survey counted 548,000 adult speakers of Alsatian in France, making it the second most-spoken regional language in the country (after Occitan). Like all regional languages in France, however, the transmission of Alsatian is on the decline. While 39% of the adult population of Alsace speaks Alsatian, only one in four children speaks it, and only one in ten children uses it regularly.

qas: question: In Alsatian, what does Sauerkraut mean?
answers: text: sour cabbage

question: What can Sauerkraut be served with?
answers: text: poultry, pork, sausage or even fish

question: What is Sauerkraut typically served with in Alsace?
answers: text: Strasbourg sausage or frankfurters, bacon, smoked pork or smoked Morteau or Montbéliard sausages

question: What word does Choucroute come from?

question: What dialect is the Alsatian word for sauerkraut different from?

question: What meats is sauerkraut not served alongside of?

question: What does choucroute mean?

question: Pork products are left to ferment in what?
context: The gastronomic symbol of the région is undoubtedly the Choucroute, a local variety of Sauerkraut. The word Sauerkraut in Alsatian has the form sûrkrût, same as in other southwestern German dialects, and means "sour cabbage" as its Standard German equivalent. This word was included into the French language as choucroute. To make it, the cabbage is finely shredded, layered with salt and juniper and left to ferment in wooden barrels. Sauerkraut can be served with poultry, pork, sausage or even fish. Traditionally it is served with Strasbourg sausage or frankfurters, bacon, smoked pork or smoked Morteau or Montbéliard sausages, or a selection of other pork products. Served alongside are often roasted or steamed potatoes or dumplings.

qas: question: What is the meaning of the name Aslatia in English?
answers: text: a lawless place" or "a place under no jurisdiction

question: What was the meaning or term used for Aslace that was used by english people in the 20th century?
answers: text: ramshackle marketplace

question: Which nationalities still refer it to Alslace "ramshackle marketplace" as of 2007?
answers: text: English and Australian

question: What is Lord Justice Sedley's nationality?

question: Who coined the word "Alsatia"?

question: Alsatia is the English form of what?

question: When did the use of the word Alsatia fall out of practice?

question: What does UMBS stand for?
context: "Alsatia", the Latin form of Alsace's name, has long ago entered the English language with the specialized meaning of "a lawless place" or "a place under no jurisdiction" - since Alsace was conceived by English people to be such. It was used into the 20th century as a term for a ramshackle marketplace, "protected by ancient custom and the independence of their patrons". As of 2007, the word is still in use among the English and Australian judiciaries with the meaning of a place where the law cannot reach: "In setting up the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the state has set out to create an Alsatia - a region of executive action free of judicial oversight," Lord Justice Sedley in UMBS v SOCA 2007.

qas: question: What is currently being planed west of Strasbourg? 
answers: text: new dual carriageway

question: What would the use of a new carriageway do in Alsace?
answers: text: reduce the buildup of traffic in that area

question: What is the name the German Highway  that would of been crossed with the French Truck road?
answers: text: Karlsruhe-Basel Autobahn

question: The new line is (carriageway) would link which other intersections?
answers: text: Hœrdt to the north of Strasbourg, with Innenheim in the southwest

question: What plans have been canceled?

question: The dual carriageway would link what interchange to the left of the Rhine?

question: What is the name of the new carriageway?

question: What percentage of traffic used the Karlsruhe-Basel Autobahn?

question: How many vehicles crossed teh Karlsruhe-Basel Autobahn per day in 1950?
context: At present, plans are being considered for building a new dual carriageway west of Strasbourg, which would reduce the buildup of traffic in that area by picking up north and southbound vehicles and getting rid of the buildup outside Strasbourg. The line plans to link up the interchange of Hœrdt to the north of Strasbourg, with Innenheim in the southwest. The opening is envisaged at the end of 2011, with an average usage of 41,000 vehicles a day. Estimates of the French Works Commissioner however, raised some doubts over the interest of such a project, since it would pick up only about 10% of the traffic of the A35 at Strasbourg. Paradoxically, this reversed the situation of the 1950s. At that time, the French trunk road left of the Rhine not been built, so that traffic would cross into Germany to use the Karlsruhe-Basel Autobahn.