commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
Grand Est
Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten;
Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administra ...
in north-eastern France.
With Germany, it manages the Warndt forest.
History
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
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, the commune was annexed by the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. It was not liberated until December 1944.
Creutzwald was the last town in France to have a working
coal mine
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
Bisten-en-Lorraine
Bisten-en-Lorraine (, literally '' Bisten in Lorraine''; german: Bisten im Loch) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in northeastern France.
Population
See also
* Communes of the Moselle department
The following is a list ...
Communauté de communes
A ''communauté de communes'' (, "community of communes") is a federation of municipalities (communes) in France. It forms a framework within which local tasks are carried out together. It is the least-integrated form of ''intercommunalité'' (in ...
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. 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
Meisenthal (; Lorraine Franconian: ''Meisedal'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France.
The village belongs to the Pays de Bitche and to the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park. ...
in 1843.
Steel and iron
The iron and steel industry started in the La Houve forest. 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. 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. 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.