Vittel

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This article is about the French municipality. For the Russian journalist, see Igor Vittel.
Vittel
Commune
General view of the town
General view of the town
Coat of arms of Vittel
Coat of arms
Location of Vittel
Vittel is located in France
Vittel
Vittel
Coordinates: 48°12′09″N 5°57′01″E / 48.2025°N 5.9503°E / 48.2025; 5.9503Coordinates: 48°12′09″N 5°57′01″E / 48.2025°N 5.9503°E / 48.2025; 5.9503
CountryFrance
RegionGrand Est
DepartmentVosges
ArrondissementNeufchâteau
CantonVittel
IntercommunalityTerre d'eau
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Franck Perry
Area
1
24.13 km2 (9.32 sq mi)
Population
 (Jan. 2018)[1]
4,951
 • Density210/km2 (530/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
88516 /88800
Elevation322–457 m (1,056–1,499 ft)
(avg. 335 m or 1,099 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Vittel (French pronunciation: [vitɛl] (About this soundlisten); archaic German: Wittel) is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France.

Mineral water is bottled and sold here by Nestlé Waters France, under the Vittel brand.

History[]

In 1854, after visiting the baths at nearby Contrexéville, lawyer Louis Bouloumié purchased the Fontaine de Gérémoy, site of the modern-day town of Vittel. Two years later, Bouloumie built a pavilion from which developed the grand, luxurious architecture which characterises the site.[2] The town was also a recognized spa, bottling and exporting its waters.[3]

In 1968, the Club Med was opened.

Mayors of Vittel[]

Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) of Vittel during the 2009 Tour de France.
Start End Name
1882 1903 Ambroise Bouloumié
1903 1919 Henri Gérard
1919 1945 Jean Bouloumié
1945 1947 André Gérard
1947 1952 Charles Villeminot
1952 1953 André Gérard
1953 1977 Guy de la Motte-Bouloumié
1977 1995 Hubert Voilquin
1995 2001 Guy de la Motte-Bouloumié
2001 2017 Jean-Claude Millot
2017 2026 Franck Perry

World War I[]

Home to U.S. Army Base Hospital 36 from Detroit, MI, from November 1917 until February 1919. This unit was formed at the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery now Wayne State University, School of Medicine. They occupied the five resort hotels in the city plus the casino.

World War II[]

During the Battle of France in the summer of 1944, a small grass airstrip north of the town was used for light liaison aircraft by the United States Army Air Forces. The Twelfth Air Force headquartered several fighter wings in Vittel during their drive east into Germany. In 1945, that flat, grassy area of land (now a racetrack for horses) was used as a holding area for captured Luftwaffe aircraft before their shipment to England and the United States for evaluation (Operation Lusty).

Vittel served as an internment camp for enemy aliens of the German Reich during World War II. Hundreds of American and British families were interned there from September 1942. A few hundred Jewish people, citizens of German enemies, were also sent there by the Germans who hoped to use them to exchange for German prisoners or nationals held elsewhere. Most of Vittel's Jewish detainees were deported to Auschwitz and murdered there in 1944.[4] The order of Catholic nuns, Soeurs du Sainte Esprit, were charged with looking after Jewish girls who were interned there.

The town was liberated by the US Army on September 10, 1944. In October 1944, the Hotel Continental was then used as part of U. S. Army Base Hospital Number 23.[5]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Populations légales 2018". INSEE. 28 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Vittel -- son histoire". Retrieved 2011-04-26.
  3. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vittel" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 151.
  4. ^ Vashem, Yad. "Institute for Holocaust Research".
  5. ^ "U. S. Army Base Hospital Number 23, Vittel, France: Hotel Continental, part of hospital - Digital Collections - National Library of Medicine". collections.nlm.nih.gov. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 7 July 2020.

External links[]



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