Why is the 'La Petite France' area of Strasbourg so called when it looks so Germanic?

Question

Why is the 'La Petite France' area of Strasbourg so called when it looks so Germanic?

Answer 1

My family is french since 1648 - the rest is bla-bla to nurture

  the gogo speakers - My family paid the price for being

  french - And still today after my grand father had to escape

  the Irakisation of Alsace in 1870, I am fiercely french -

  Most of Napoleon's french Marshalls were from this

  PROVINCE which is not much more FANATICALLY clean

  than anywhere else -

  Mind your words, and don't tickle our flag ( three stripes blue

  white- red )

Answer 2

The name "Petite-France" (Gerberviertel in German) was conferred by the former German inhabitants not for architectonical reasons, but because of the numerous prostitutes working there in the Middle Ages — prostitution used to be known in Germany as "the French business". Also, syphilis often contracted in that specific area was then known as Franzosenkrankheit ("French disease").

Answer 3

the above answer has this spot on. however, you may be interested to know that the Strasbourg area of France, was in fact part of Germany originally, hence its Germanic style. i believe it got handed over after WW1, although it had changed hands many times before that. its a bit like Calais, which used to be English.

Answer 4

There are actually a number of different theories. The one in the first answer was simply copied from Wikipedia. Here's another one;

"A hospital was located in the district in the 1500’s to care for patients with veneral disease. Alsatians blamed the French for spreading it--particularly their military campaigns in Italy. So, the area was referred to disparagingly as “Little France,” a place where veneral disease was rampant."

I've also heard that simply, it was where the "French" workers hung out in town. They were considered a little less clean (Alsatians are fanatically clean so don't take this as too harsh a judgement) so they were happy to keep them apart. This I learned on a tour of the area.

Alsace was originally handed over to France in 1648 after the 30 years' war. It went back to being German in 1870 after the Franco-Prussian war. After WWI, it briefly became French again only to have the n***s take it back during WWII. Many Alsatians were forced to fight for the Germans. Alsace has been French since 1945.

http://www.visit-alsace.com/librairie/in...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace

Alsatians still talk about "France" or interior France when refering to the rest of the country and "the French" are non-Alsatians. The dialect is based on German, with a few French words and is only about half understood by standard-German speakers.

By the way, for anyone British reading, there is no dog from here. It's a GERMAN shepard.