Oyonnax
Oyonnax
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Oyonnax

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Oyonnax

Oyonnax (French pronunciation: [ɔjɔna] ) is the second most populated commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France.

Oyonnax lies in a valley of the Jura Mountains in the far north of Ain. It is near the Parc naturel régional du Haut-Jura. The city is on the river Ange.

Its prominence in the plastics industry has earned it the name Plastics Valley.

One of the outstanding achievements of the French Résistance occurred here on 11 November 1943, when the Maquis de l'Ain et du Haut-Jura defied the German occupiers to hold an 11 November parade and memorial service in honour of French soldiers from World War I.

The town was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance on 16 June 1947.

The name Oyonnax possibly derives from the Celtic ivos, and the Latin -acum, meaning 'place of the yew'.

In 630, Clovis II, the son of Dagobert I king of the Franks, travelled to Geneva to meet the king of Burgundy. He met a young slave there, the daughter of a captured Saxon king, and wished to ask for her as his wife. So Dagobert I sent a delegation including Léger d'Autun to ask the king of Burgundy for her hand and bring her back to Paris.

Near Oyonnax, at a place called Sous-Nierme, the litter of Léger d'Autun broke and wounded the head of his escort. Inhabitants of Oyonnax cared for him and repaired the vehicle. The delegation set out again with gifts made by the inhabitants of Oyonnax. In recognition, Léger d'Autun, become a bishop and counselor to queen Bathilde, gave the town the privilege of manufacturing wooden combs. Saint-Léger also became the patron saint feast of Oyonnax.

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