For three-quarters of a century, through three wars and the twilight years of peace, tiny Alsace was a depressed no-man's land between the guns of France and Germany. The province changed flags four times between 1871 and 1945. As more than 400,000 Alsatians left, the grey turrets of the Maginot Line became the chief landmark. Forgotten was the fact that for most of the 19th century Alsace had been one of the world's most industrialized areas.
An Alsatian firm, in fact, built the locomotives for France's first railway.
Now Alsace is booming once again,...
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