Saint-Gingolph
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint-Gingolph is a small town situated on the south bank of Lake Geneva. It sits at the Franco-Swiss frontier, and is administratively divided into Saint-Gingolph, Switzerland (Switzerland) and Saint-Gingolph, Haute-Savoie (France).
Saint-Gingolph is located 20 minutes from Évian-les-Bains, Monthey and Montreux. It is accessible by road, rail or boat. Built on an alluvial cone of the Morge, a frontier mountain stream, St.Gingolph is surrounded by majestic mountains [Grammont, Blanchard] and has the longest banks [8km] along Lake Geneva.
The town played an important role during World War II when Haute Savoie was occupied first by the Italian and then by the German Army. The fact of large-scale intermarriage and business and family connections across the frontier made it possible for the Resistance to smuggle goods, arms and refugees (including many French Jews) across the border, often using a secret tunnel. The history of this is documented in a book privately published in 1994 by André Zénoni, "Saint-Gingolph et sa région frontière dans la Résistance 1940-1945".
The Swiss railway line from Martigny terminates at Saint-Gingolph (Switzerland), the French line from Evian to Saint-Gingolph having been abandoned in the late 1980s. There is now discussion of resuscitating the line by 2012. The old, unelectrified, tracks remain in place.
