Lasauvage

Lasauvage (Luxembourgish: Zowaasch) (German: — notionally only — Rohrbach) is a small town in the commune of Differdange, in south-western Luxembourg.

Lasauvage was known as one of the few French-speaking towns in an otherwise Luxembourgish-speaking country. Unlike many German alternatives to place names in Luxembourg, Lasauvage's German equivalent, Rohrbach, has been little-used because of its perceived Nazi associations.

Shortly before the Second World War, there were plans drawn up by the Luxembourg government for Grand Duchess Charlotte to reside in Lasauvage, given its proximity to France, which would enable her to escape over the border easily, but they did not come to fruition.

As of 2001^[update], the town has a population of 387.

The place name goes back to a legend of a wild woman, who is supposed to have only eaten raw meat and who lived under a rocky promontory, where she was buried by a landslide. It is assumed that the valley was not inhabited before the 17th century. In early chronicles, it is referred to as Val de la sauvage femme (French for "Valley of the wild woman").

Around the year 1623 in the Valley of the Wild Woman, a water-powered hammerworks with blast furnace was erected, where the primary school is now, owned by the Longwy citizen, Gabriel Bernard. The small works had a turbulent history.

As early as the 16th century, a smithy with water-powered hammerworks existed in Lasauvage at the river "La Croisière". The highly ferrous surface ore was collected from fields. It was melted down using charcoal, taken from the surrounding forest. The works had a turbulent history and belonged, amongst others, to the families dHuart and Giraud. By marriage, in the late 19th century Count Fernand de Saintignon took over the reins of the "Société des Hauts-Fourneaux de Longwy et de La Sauvage -- F de Saintignon et Cie". With him, the high point as well as the beginning of the decline of the Lasauvage works start. At this point, it had a population of 1,000.

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