Schirmeck is a small town in the Bruche valley of the Vosges mountains, midway between Strasbourg and the Col du Donon. It is an unassuming place, but it sits in beautiful hiking country and carries a weight of history that belies its size.
The Mémorial d'Alsace-Moselle on the hillside above town tells the story of Alsace's painful back-and-forth between France and Germany from 1870 to 1945. A few kilometres south, the former Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp — the only Nazi camp on French soil — is preserved as a memorial. Both sites are sobering and well worth visiting.
For lighter pursuits, the Bruche valley voie verte follows the old railway line through the valley, and the forested ridges above offer well-marked trails through beech and fir forest.