Berstheim
Details
The village is located at a height between the Zorn and Moder valleys, 25 kilometers north of Strasbourg. On the road from Berstheim to Wintershouse, the Strasbourg Cathedral can be clearly seen in clear weather. Former imperial village then royal village administered by the great bailiffs until 1713. In 1793 the village was the centre of the fighting between the Republic's troops and emigrants. It's the Battle of Berstheim. The village is in ruins. Out of sixty houses, only four remain standing. The church, the presbytery, the guard house and the school are devastated. The farms were rebuilt a few hundred meters west of their original location. In the 20th century, Berstheim was the first town where oil was exploited in France. The first deposits were discovered in 1914. Berstheim was connected by an underground oil pipeline to Pechelbronn. In those years, Berstheim was the largest oil field in the Pechelbronn network, which at that time was the largest oil exploration area in France.
