Picture the year 1130. A small village nestled in the Breisgau region is mentioned for the first time. It’s Schlatt a name that echoes through centuries. The Zähringen dukes owned this place then called Slatha. Its name derives from an Old High German word meaning a swampy area.
Schlatt was more than just a soggy spot. It held a strategic importance. The Zähringen dukes stationed their officials here. For centuries Schlatt boasted a simple local nobility. Regional monasteries and the Lords of Staufen held influence. A knight Werner von Staufen a likely crusader and Vogt of St Trudpert Monastery in Münstertal is recorded as a co-founder of the House of Saint Lazarus in Schlatt. This was a military and hospital order.
Sadly poverty struck the Lazarites in Schlatt. In 1362 they sold their monastery church mill bathhouse and leper house to the Johanniter Order of Freiburg. This order later moved their German Maltese Grand Priory to Heitersheim.
Schlatt remained under the rule of Further Austria until 1805. A special landmark stands as a testament to its past: St Sebastian Church built in 1275. St Sebastian is the patron saint of lepers. The church also honors St Apollinaris and St Fridolin.
St Apollinaris is closely linked to Schlatt’s powerful spring also called the Lazarite Spring. This is the strongest surface spring in the upper Upper Rhine plain. It flows even today down the southwestern slope of the Schlatter Berg. Until the 18th century people would immerse newborns in this spring entrusting them to St Apollinaris’s protection.
Agriculture thrives in Schlatt even now. Asparagus strawberries and wine continue to define its economic life. In 1974 Schlatt became part of Bad Krozingen as part of an administrative reform. Yet Schlatt retains its distinct identity its history etched into the very ground it stands on. Its story is one of swamps saints and steadfast communities. Remember Schlatt when you think of Freiburg’s rich tapestry.