french book inscription - help wanted - verdun? 1916

[derek bloggs]

Hello,

I recently aquired an old Jules Verne book that had the following (French)
inscription written inside it.

"To Lieutenant Schoon.

Could this humble testimony of my strong friendship remind you of our
long chats when time was running out so quickly that they were the
only good moments of our captivity.

Weissenbourg, 24/6/16

H Séguéla"

Very grateful if anyone can provide any further information. (i.e.
where Weissenbourg is and what was happening [WW1 is a given of
course] and is it possible to trace the names.)

Another forum has given me further information:
" Following a little googling I can tell you that Weissenburg ('Wissembourg' in French) is in the Alsace region, about 40 miles north of Strasbourg. Alsace was of course a hotly contested region in 1916, as it's on the Franco-German border (and has changed nationalities numerous times over the centuries). In 1916 it was part of Germany, but ceded to France under the Treaty of Versailles after the war. The Battle of Verdun, one of the longest in history, was fought some 60 miles to the west between February and December 1916. I've got no idea who Schoon and Seguela are, but Seguela appears to be a French name, whereas Schoon is almost certainly German (though could be Dutch, or even Belgian). Interesting! "

Thank you for any help or information.

 

[kato]

Actually, this is not necessarily the Wissembourg in Alsace.

There are a couple more (several dozen, probably) Weißenburg/Weissenburg towns in Germany (e.g. in Bavaria), several of which probably hosted prisoners of war during 1916.

I think there was also some sort of camp for French (ex?) PoWs in Weissenburg in the Simmental region in Switzerland.

 

[derek bloggs]

Verdun 1916

Hi,

I rechecked the inscription and it says "Weissenbourg les Bains".

Wikipedia also gives 23rd June (i.e. day before inscription was written) to be the furthest advance of the Germans to Fort Souville (just outside Verdun).

Speculation on my part:- Seguela (French?) captive, befriending Schoon (German?), giving French book on the day the Germans start retreating and possibly leaving French POWs behind in France?

I know very little about WW1 - any help appreciated.

Derek

 

[kato]

Names:

Schoon is a Frisian name. Hence, he's probably either North-German (East Frisian) or Dutch (West Frisian). More likely East Frisian, i'd say.

Séguéla is a French name primarily spread in the very South of the country; for people born in that time, anyway, with about a third of all Séguélas at the time being from Ariège Département by the Pyrenees.


Timeframe:

Around the end of June, the Battle of Verdun was going back and forth, mostly around Hill 321 as well as Fleury during the 20th to 24th. Germany continued trying to break through the French lines almost successfully until early July, which is when the Battle of the Somme started to take some pressure off Verdun.

The French never got close to Wissembourg around that time (or later). By the end of the Battle of Verdun (December), they had retaken the area around Fort Douaumont (which is maybe 3-4 miles from their farthest retreat). Other than that, the lines remained very static - from the February lines to the farthest French retreat they only moved 5 miles at most.

 

[derek bloggs]

verdun 1916

Hi,

Thanks for the further information. As is usually the case with these things nothing is straight forward. It's sometimes difficult to find answers - only more questions! I really appreciate all your help.

One thing that is puzzling me is the phrase "our captivity". Obviously Schoon and Seguela spent a lot of time together, possibly both as "prisoners" of some sort. Of course this may not mean they were under lock and key, they could have been prisoners in the sense that they are prevented from leaving where they are because of some outside influence.

Why was "time running out" ? Was Seguela shot? What happened to both of them? What was the relationship between them? What did they talk about? Unanswerable questions I know.

Amazing isn't it. Here are two people who I don't know who were around 90 years ago, one of whom gave a book to a friend for some reason. Yet it's possible to talk to a complete stranger about it and find out quite a bit of information as who they might have been and were they came from.

The other amazing thing is how the book managed to get to the UK into a small bookshop in Lincolnshire, and in a 3 for £1 clearance section, in a place just where I (a fan of Jules Verne) could see it. Who has had it in the meantime for the last 80 - 90 years and have they ever tried finding out about who the two gentlemen were.

I find all this sort of stuff really fasinating.

Any more information appreciated. Thanks again.

 

[kato]

Some further consideration... i'm actually suspecting that the Weissenburg in Switzerland is meant here.

Reasoning: "Weissenbourg-les-Bains" would translate to "Bad Weissenburg" or "Weissenburgbad" in German. Meaning there are mineral springs there.

"Bad Weissenburg" is/was a spa near the town of Weissenburg in Simmental. Was because the old hotel there (built in 1604, extended 1837) burned down for the second time in 1974 - it had already burned down in 1898, but was rebuilt immediately. From the 19th Century up till the Second World War, that hotel was a well-known as a health spa throughout Europe. Nowadays, a new hotel was built about a mile away from the original spot, and the ruins of the original hotel are still around

During the First World War that hotel was closed to the public.

Speculation: Might be that both of those people were refugees or to-be-exchanged PoWs (maybe injured soldiers that were captured) which were interned there for a short while before being delivered to their original countries; other spa hotels were used for the same reasons in both WW1 and WW2.

 

[derek bloggs]

Google Earth = Erlenbach im Simmental, Switzerland.

Weissenburg not so far away to the left.

Google and Wikipedia gives translations as White Castle Bath.

If you look on Google Earth tilt the angle down to get good feel for terrain. Quite impressive.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[kato]

There's actually this postcard being sold on ebay Switzerland depicting, according to the caption, "French PoWs at Weissenburg ca. 1916".

According to this site, Switzerland between 1916 and 1918 received some 12,000 Prisoners of War of all sides (French, British, Germans, Belgians) that were captured when injured, and interned them at various sanatoriums and spas to recover.

So my speculation probably isn't that far off. Perhaps these two met at Weissenburg where they were put for convalescence, and were both transferred off to some different (nationality-segregated) PoW camps later on.