The Destruction of Soufflenheim Church Records
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I thank Christian Study, a fellow descendant of the Voegele family of Soufflenheim, for sending the following brief history of Soufflenheim in December, 2000. I had asked Christian why so many of the church records are missing. This is his reply.
First I give his answer in French, as Christian sent it to me. Then follows my amateur attempt at English translation. If any of you can understand French better than I, a better translation would be welcome.
Après la guerre de trente ans (1618-1648 Guerre de religion entre les Catholiques et les Réformés) Soufflenheim était détruite et ses habitants étaient quasiment tous assassinés,il ne restait quasiment personnes dans le village ainsi que dans toute la région. Aprés cette guerre les villages de la plaine d'alsace furent repeuplés par des familles allemandes et surtout Suisse, c'est pourquoi ,c'est quasiment certain que nous avons des Suisses et des Allemands dans nos ascendances. Aprés la révolution française 1789 ,il y eu une période de terreur où tout ce qui appartenait à l'église fut proscrit et c'est durant cette terreur que les églises furent pillées et en partie détruitent .A coté de Soufflenheim il y avait un couvent qui fut totalement détruit, aujourd'hui il n'en reste rien du tout.C'est pendant cette période que les registres manquants furent détruits, c'est dommage car dans la plupart des autres communes on arrive beaucoup plus loin en arrière dans les recherches.
After the Thirty Years War (the 1618-1648 religious war between the Catholics and the Protestants) Soufflenheim was destroyed and its inhabitants were almost all murdered. There was almost nobody remaining in the village, as it was in all the region. After this war the villages of the plain of Alsace were repopulated by German families and especially Swiss, which is why it is nearly certain that we have Swiss and German within our ancestries. After the French Revolution of 1789, there was the period of the Reign of Terror, where many of those who belonged to the church were ostracized, and it is during this Reign of Terror that the churches were plundered and in part destroyed. It is said of Soufflenheim that it had a monastery which was totally destroyed; today nothing very much of it remains. It is during this period that the missing records were destroyed. It is a pity because in the majority of other communities one can travel much farther back in the research.
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