# Kutzenhausen, Bas-Rhin

Kutzenhausen is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
Kutzenhausen lies 15 kilometres (9 mi) to the south of Wissembourg, but still within the Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord.
This commune is located in the historic and cultural region of Alsace.

## Geography
### Location

The commune is 2.3 km from Soulz-sous-Forêts, 2.6 from Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, 5.8 from Lobsann and 6.5 from Surbourg.
The locality is part of the Outre-Forêt nature reserve.

### Geology and relief

Commune member of the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park.
Geological formations in the commune present at outcrop or subsurface level
Mountain: Grand Wintersberg.

### Seismicity

The commune is located in a moderate seismicity zone.

### Hydrography

The commune is located in the Rhine catchment area within the Rhine-Meuse basin. It is drained by the Seltzbach stream, the Froeschwillerbach stream and the Sumpfgraben stream.
The Seltzbach, which is 33 km long, rises in the commune of Gœrsdorf and flows into the Sauer at Seltz, after passing through 14 communes.

### Climate

In 2010, the commune's climate was classified as that of the Montargnard margins, according to a study by the French National Centre for Scientific Research, based on a series of data covering the period 1971-2000. In 2020, Météo-France published a typology of climates in mainland France in which the commune is exposed to a semi-continental climate and is in a transition zone between the ‘Vosges’ and ‘Alsace’ climatic regions.
For the period 1971-2000, the average annual temperature was 10.6°C, with an annual temperature range of 17.8°C. The average cumulative annual rainfall is 820 mm, with 10.6 days of precipitation in January and 10.2 days in July. For the period 1991-2020, the average annual temperature recorded at the nearest Météo-France weather station, ‘Preuschdorf’, in the commune of Preuschdorf, 4 km away as the crow flies, is 11.3°C, and the average annual total rainfall is 834.2 mm. The maximum temperature recorded at this station is 39.8°C, reached on 4 July 2015; the minimum temperature is -19.9°C, reached on 8 January 1985.
The commune's climate parameters have been estimated for the middle of the century (2041-2070) according to different greenhouse gas emission scenarios based on the new DRIAS-2020 reference climate projections. They can be consulted on a dedicated website published by Météo-France in November 2022.

### Communications and transport
#### Roads

Situated between Soultz-sous-Forêts and Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, it is crossed by the D 28 departmental road.
* D 52 towards Soultz-sous-Forêts.
* D 28 towards Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, Dieffenbach-lès-Woerth.

#### Public transport

* Transport in Alsace.
* Fluo Grand Est.

#### SNCF

* Soultz-sous-Forêts station,
* Hoelschloch station,
* Hoffen station,
* Walbourg station,
* Hunspach station.

#### Neighbouring communes

* Lobsann (North)
* Soultz-sous-Forêts (East)
* Surbourg (South)
* Merkwiller-Pechelbronn (South West)
* Lampertsloch (North West)

### Intercommunality

Commune member of the Sauer-Pechelbronn community of communes.

## Town planning
### Typology

As of 1 January 2024, Kutzenhausen is classified as a rural town, according to the new seven-level communal density grid defined by INSEE in 2022. It is located outside an urban unit. The commune is also part of the Haguenau catchment area, of which it is an outlying commune. This area, which includes 34 communes, is categorised as having between 50,000 and less than 200,000 inhabitants.

### Land use

The commune's land use, as revealed by the European biophysical land cover database Corine Land Cover (CLC), is characterised by the importance of agricultural land (67.7% in 2018), a proportion roughly equivalent to that of 1990 (68.5%). The detailed breakdown in 2018 is as follows: arable land (56.3%), forests (23.7%), urbanised areas (8.7%), grassland (6.3%), permanent crops (5%). The evolution of land use in the commune and its infrastructure can be seen on the various cartographic representations of the area: the Cassini map (18th century), the staff map (1820-1866) and the IGN maps or aerial photos for the current period (1950 to the present).
Commune covered by the Pechelbronn inter-municipal local planning scheme.

## Toponymy

From Goten hause, a possession of the nearby abbey of Wissembourg; another Kutzenhausen was located near Drusenheim and probably owes its name to the former abbey of Arnulfsau. In the past, the abbeys were also called Goten hause, an old form spelt Chuzichusi.

## History

The municipality of Kutzenhausen originated from the former bailliage and, at the beginning of the 19th century, included the towns of Niederkutzenhausen and Feldbach, now the village of Kutzenhausen, Oberkutzenhausen, Merkwiller and Hoelschloch. In 1888, these two districts formed the new commune of Merkwiller, and Kutzenhausen was transferred from the arrondissement of Wissembourg to the arrondissement of Haguenau-Wissembourg on 1 January 2015.
In France, the first oil wells (mainly oil sands) were sunk in Kutzenhausen. Oil production, together with a refinery, continued until the 1970s.

### Heraldry

| Coat of arms | Quarterly: First quarter: A gold field with a black saltire Second quarter: A green field with a gold sheaf of wheat Third quarter: A green field with three silver bars Fourth quarter: A black field with a gold ploughshare positioned diagonally (bend sinister) with the point facing upward |
| Details | |

## Politics and administration
### List of mayors

| Nº | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office; Electoral mandates | Term of office; Electoral mandates | Time in office | Political Party |
| 1 | Frédéric Roessel (1868–1927) | 1888 | 1895 | 7 years | Independent |
| Independent |||
| 2 | Georges Wagner | 1895 | 1906 | 11 years | Independent |
| Independent |||
| 3 | Georges Strohl (1849–1918) | 1906 | 1917 | 11 years | Independent |
| Independent |||
| 4 | Georges Mall (1859–1939) | 1917 | 1924 | 7 years | Independent |
| Independent |||
| 5 | Georges Mall (1891–1965) | 1924 | 1944 | 20 years | Independent |
| Independent |||
| 6 | Joseph Klein (1912–1976) | 1945 | 1945 | Less than a year | Independent |
| Independent |||
| 7 | Martin Heintz (1901–1983) | 1946 | 14 March 1971 | 25 years | Independent |
| Independent |||
| 8 | Georges Wagner (1920–2006) | 14 March 1971 | 12 March 1989 | 17 years, 363 days | Independent |
| Independent |||
| 9 | Edmond Fabacher (b. 1944) | 12 March 1989 | 23 March 2014 | 25 years, 11 days | Independent |
| Independent |||
| 10 | Pierrot Sitter (b. 1954) | 23 March 2014 | Ongoing | 10 years, 360 days | Independent |
| Independent |||

### Budget and taxation 2022

In 2022, the commune's budget was made up as follows:
* Total operating income: €596,000, i.e. €642 per inhabitant;
* Total operating expenses: €441,000, i.e. €475 per inhabitant;
* Total investment resources: €727,000, i.e. €783 per inhabitant;
* Total investment expenditure: €625,000, i.e. €672 per capita;
* Debt: €684,000, i.e. €736 per capita.
With the following tax rates:
* Council tax: 8.50%;
* Property tax on built-up properties: 25.67%;
* Property tax on non-built-up properties: 48.00%;
* Additional tax on non-built property: 0%;
* Business property tax: 0%.
Key figures Household income and poverty in 2020: median disposable income per consumption unit in 2020: €25,020.

## Economy
### Business and commerce
#### Agriculture

* Growing cereals, pulses and oilseeds.
* Associated crop and livestock farming.

#### Tourism

* Traditional restaurants.
* Restaurants and accommodation in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, Soultz-sous-Forêts.

#### Shops

* Shops and services in Soultz-sous-Forêts.

## Population
### Demographics

Source:
| Year | Population | Evolution |
| 1793 | 997 | N/A |
| 1800 | 1,156 | 159 |
| 1806 | 1,310 | 154 |
| 1821 | 1,444 | 134 |
| 1831 | 1,559 | 115 |
| 1836 | 1,487 | 72 |
| 1841 | 1,370 | 117 |
| 1846 | 1,391 | 21 |
| 1851 | 1,297 | 94 |
| 1856 | 1,063 | 234 |
| 1861 | 1,040 | 23 |
| 1866 | 1,038 | 2 |
| 1871 | 1,050 | 12 |
| 1875 | 1,049 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1,013 | 36 |
| 1885 | 1,062 | 49 |
| 1890 | 692 | 370 |
| 1895 | 730 | 38 |
| 1900 | 722 | 8 |
| 1905 | 754 | 32 |
| 1910 | 752 | 2 |
| 1921 | 756 | 4 |
| 1926 | 828 | 72 |
| 1931 | 922 | 94 |
| 1936 | 965 | 33 |
| 1946 | 958 | 7 |
| 1954 | 823 | 135 |
| 1962 | 806 | 17 |
| 1968 | 785 | 21 |
| 1975 | 719 | 66 |
| 1982 | 713 | 6 |
| 1990 | 740 | 27 |
| 1999 | 783 | 43 |
| 2006 | 830 | 47 |
| 2007 | 837 | 7 |
| 2008 | 874 | 37 |
| 2009 | 909 | 35 |
| 2010 | 906 | 3 |
| 2011 | 902 | 4 |
| 2012 | 899 | 3 |
| 2013 | 904 | 5 |
| 2014 | 927 | 23 |
| 2015 | 923 | 4 |
| 2016 | 919 | 4 |
| 2017 | 915 | 4 |
| 2018 | 912 | 3 |
| 2019 | 913 | 1 |
| 2020 | 917 | 4 |
| 2021 | 921 | 4 |
| 2022 | 924 | 3 |

### Education

Educational establishments :
* Primary school.
* Nursery school.

### Health

Health professionals and establishments:
* Doctors in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, Surbourg, Soultz-sous-Forêts, Goersdorf, Durrenbach, Woerth;
* Pharmacies in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, Soultz-sous-Forêts, Woerth, Lembach;
* Hospitals in Lobsann, Goersdorf, Wissembourg, Haguenau.

### Worship

* Catholic worship, Les Prairies de la Zorn parish community, diocese of Strasbourg.
* Protestant worship.

### Twin towns

* Kutzenhausen, Bavaria since 31 May 1987.

## Places and monuments
### Religious heritage

* Protestant church, rue de l'église, built between 1763 and 1765, used alternately by Protestants and Catholics until a Catholic church was built in 1905.
** Great organ on gallery.
* Catholic church, rue des Acacias, built to plans by architect Bruno Steller between 1903 and 1905. Consecrated in 1905 by the bishop-coadjutor Zorn von Bulach, the patron saint of the church is St George.
** Organ on gallery.
* Chapel Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix.
* The former synagogue. Destroyed in 1940 by the Hitlerjugend, the youth wing of the Nazi party, it was destroyed in 1957 because it was in danger of collapsing.
* War memorial: conflicts commemorated: Franco-German war of 1914–1918 - 1939–1945 - AFN-Algeria (1954–1962).
* Calvary.
* Protestant church (18th century)
* Saint George catholic church
* Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix chapel
* The Maison rurale de l’Outre-Forêt, now an interpretation centre of heritage
* Former bailiwick of the Sires de Fleckenstein, former presbytery (18th century)
* Remains of a former fortified farmhouse
* Ruins of a double-decker First Empire bench

### Other heritage

* Mining remains, including a wooded slag heap.
* The commune is home to a museum of folk arts and traditions, the Maison rurale de l'Outre-Forêt, now a heritage interpretation centre.
* Porch tower at no. 26 route de Soultz.
* Bench known as the King of Rome bench.
* Well known as the pendulum well.

## Personalities linked to the town

* Annie Boulanger, former headmistress of the Kutzenhausen school, member of the Ordre des Palmes académiques, class of 1 January 2013.
* Edmond Fabacher, honorary mayor of Kutzenhausen, member of the Ordre des Palmes académiques, awarded on 1 January 2008.
* Barbe Roth, born 5 June 1924 (age 100 years, 285 days), oldest-living person in Kutzenhausen since Louis Hofmann's death on 7 October 2019.

## Oldest living people in the town

| Rank | Name | Age | Birth date | Sex |
| 1 | Barbe Roth (née Weimer) | 100 years, 285 days | 5 June 1924 | F |
| 2 | Marguerite Braeunig (née Hoeltzel) | 99 years, 186 days | 12 September 1925 | F |
| 3 | Caroline Lang (née Durban) | 96 years, 258 days | 2 July 1928 | F |
| 4 | Marlise Maurer (née Hey) | 94 years, 109 days | 28 November 1930 | F |
| 5 | Jacqueline Fatt (née Gress) | 92 years, 147 days | 21 October 1932 | F |
| 6 | Suzanne Stephan (née Erhart) | 91 years, 210 days | 19 August 1933 | F |
| 7 | Marie Ratzel (née Zirnheld) | 90 years, 182 days | 16 September 1934 | F |