Creutzwald

Creutzwald
Commune
Creutzwald Lake
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Creutzwald
Creutzwald Show map of France Creutzwald Show map of Grand Est
Coordinates: 49°12′00″N 6°41′00″E / 49.2°N 6.6833°E / 49.2; 6.6833
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Department	Moselle
Arrondissement	Forbach-Boulay-Moselle
Canton	Boulay-Moselle
Intercommunality	Warndt
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Jean-Luc Wozniak[1]
Area 1	26.72 km2 (10.32 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	12,514
• Density	470/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	57160 /57150
Elevation	198–334 m (650–1,096 ft) (avg. 219 m or 719 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Creutzwald (French pronunciation: [kʁøtsvald]; German: Kreuzwald) is a commune in the Moselle département in Grand Est in north-eastern France, located on the German border, just south of Überherrn (with which it is twinned) and west of Lauterbach-Völklingen, both in the Saarland.

With Germany, it manages the Warndt forest.

The town was formed in 1810, by the merging of the three villages of La Croix, La Houve, and Wilhelmsbronn. It continued to be known as Creutzwald-la-Croix until 1961, when the name was simplified. Until that point, it had been redundant, as the German word Kreuz, and French Croix both mean "cross".

Like the other communes of the present-day Moselle department, Creutzwald was annexed to the German Empire from 1871 to 1918.

During the Second World War, the commune was annexed by the Third Reich. It was not liberated until December 1944.

Creutzwald was the last town in France to have a working coal mine, in La Houve, which closed on 23 April 2004.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Together with the municipalities of Bisten-en-Lorraine, Guerting, Ham-sous-Varsberg and Varsberg, it forms the Communauté de communes of Warndt, of which it is the seat.^[4] Since 2015, it is part of the canton of Boulay-Moselle.

The first industrial development of the commune was linked to glass, thanks to the abundance of wood in the forests and the presence of silica sand in the soil.^[5] The first glass factories were set up between 1602 and 1603 by the Condé family, gentlemen glassmakers from Champagne. Several glass factories operated simultaneously in Creutzwald until the middle of the 17th century, when they gradually declined. The last one, La Houve, was established in 1705 to revive the activity, and was bought by the glass factory of Meisenthal in 1843.^[5]

The iron and steel industry started in the La Houve forest.^[6] It was initiated by the Quien family, who installed two blast furnaces initially fuelled by charcoal. The hydraulic power produced by the water of the Bisten enabled the blowers to be put into action to increase the temperature in the furnaces.^[6] The iron industry flourished until the revolution, which stopped this activity. In 1814, François Payssé revived the iron and steel production. Then the factory passed into the hands of the Schlincker family.^[6] The blast furnaces were shut down and only the cast iron casting remained. The Quinchez family took over the running of the company. Finally, in 1929, the factory was directed by the Schmitt brothers. It was closed after the Second World War.^[6]

Since February 1988, Creutzwald has been notable for having its own television channel called 'CVS', currently led by the wider 'ÉNES' electricity board. One of the first local television stations of its kind in France, 'CVS' runs a weekly broadcast of around 30 minutes, which informs the town's inhabitants of current affairs taking place in and around Creutzwald. The channel is available at all hours of the day, and will often run important news and announcements otherwise.^[7]

• Communes of the Moselle department

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Creutzwald.

• Creutzwald Webzine (News media)