- L'Hôpital is a municipality of Lorraine, located in the department of Moselle, in the region of Grand Est. It is located in the natural region of Warndt, in the basin of life of the Moselle-Est. It depends on the Community of Agglomeration Saint-Avold Synergie. Its inhabitants are called the Spittellois.
- A little history :
- L'Hôpital is located on the passage of the old great Roman road of Metz-Mainz-Worms. A very old occupation is likely. When Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, an ambulance (a mobile hospital that followed troops in the field) was established on the site of the village of L'Hôpital. Excavations carried out in 1856 on the site of the city Bois-Richard have highlighted a necropolis of Gallo-Roman origin. In 1950, Cité Colline, are found ancient cobblestones Gallo-Roman.
- Around 1210, Luccarde de Leiningen, the widow of the Count of Saarbrücken Simon II and his brother-in-law Henry, first Count of Zweibrücken, donated land to the Cistercian Abbey of Villers-Bettnach. a hospital. This hospital, which would give its name to the locality, is cited in 1214 and placed under the protection of Saint Nicolas. It was on the site of today's St. Nicholas Church, along the old Roman road Metz-Mainz-Worms. The locality is then called Merle and takes its name from the Merle (brook). The hamlet spreads rapidly and has two parts: the part of Saarbrücken and the Lorraine part, attached to the duchy. Little by little, a village is built on the edge of the Warndt Forest.
- The village was long shared between the Duchy of Lorraine and the possessions of Nassau-Saarbrücken and the terrible Thirty Years War (1618 to 1648) cruelly ravaged L'Hôpital.
- In 1760, Jean Charles de Wendel had a blast furnace and a forge built at L'Hôpital. They will operate until the mid-nineteenth century. The big industry is starting to settle in the area.
- From October 26, 1770, the name L'Hôpital was officially used to denominate the village which was better known under the name of Spittel.
- In 1817, L'Hôpital has 92 houses and 396 inhabitants.
- Following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the municipality of L'Hôpital was attached in 1871, like all Alsace-Moselle, to the German Empire. The name L'Hôpital becomes Spittel in Lothringen. During the annexation of the Moselle to the German Empire, the development and industrialization of L'Hôpital continued.
- First World War: The Spittellois, like the other Mosellans, fight for the German Empire. 640 Spittellois are sent to the front in 1914 and in this first year alone, 17 soldiers will fall. In 1915, 23 Spittellois will fall to the front. 17 others died in the fighting of 1916. Four will fall in 1917 and 7 in 1918. On November 11, 1918, at 5:15 am, the Armistice is signed between Germany and France. On November 21, 1918, the first French troops entered L'Hôpital. In the winter of 1918-1919, L'Hôpital is affected by the Spanish flu pandemic. L'Hôpital is reinstated to France after the Treaty of Versailles, in 1919, and takes back his French name.
- Second World War: On September 1, 1939, the entire population was evacuated by the French government in the department of Vienne, on foot and in carts. The town hall is folded in Lusignan, in the district of Poitiers. After a very long and painful march, the inhabitants are loaded on trains that transport them to the center of France. The Spittellois find refuge, after a painful journey of three days and three nights, homestay in Lusignan. L'Hôpital is emptied of its inhabitants and is partly occupied by German troops (late 1939). The Moselle is again annexed in July 1940. The name of L'Hôpital is Germanized in Spittel (Westmark). Germanization is forced, the use of French is prohibited and is verbalized in public places. The teaching is done in German by teachers from the Grand Reich. During the fighting of the Lorraine campaign, L'Hôpital is bombed by the Americans from November 26, 1944 to December 5, 1944. As Sarreguemines and Bitche, the population takes refuge in the cellars converted into makeshift shelters. Gas masks are distributed by the German authorities. From 4 to 6 December 1944, the city of L'Hôpital is finally released by the Americans and takes its name from "L'Hôpital".
- On May 29, 1959, an explosion at the Sainte-Fontaine well caused 26 deaths. Another mining disaster will take place on August 1, 1961. On May 26, 1966, the Miners' Society of L'Hôpital will erect a memorial to the victims of mining disasters.
- In 1975 the last farm of L'Hôpital disappeared.
- On July 12, 1978, some gardens and orchards located on Carling Street were swallowed up by a stream of water and ash mud from the breakwater of the sedimentation basin of the Émile-Huchet thermal generating station.
- On November 7, 2010, a charter of friendship was signed between the communes of Lusignan and L'Hôpital in order to perpetuate the memory of the 1939 exodus and the reception in Lusignan of many inhabitants evacuated in the Vienne.