Krauchthal is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the administrative district of

Emmental The Emmental (, ) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme and Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dairy farming. The ...

in the canton of

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

History

Krauchthal was first mentioned around 1108-22 as ''Crouchtal'' and around 1181-82 as ''Crochtal''. Hettiswil village was first mentioned in 1107 as ''Otthonis villare'' and in 1281 it was ''Ettiswile''. The oldest traces of settlements near Krauchthal are

neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

flints which were discovered in Mooshubel and Buech. The wooden posts of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

settlement were found on the Thornberg along the remains of a Roman manor on the north side of the valley. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

there were three castles or fortifications, Thorberg Castle, Liebenfels-Sodfluh Castle and the

high medieval The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

fortification of Tannstigli, within sight of each other in the modern borders of the municipality. Between 1175 and 1397 Thorberg Castle was home to the Lords of Thorberg. After the death of Peter von Thorberg, in 1397, he left his many estates to the

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians (), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its own rule, called th ...

s who converted the castle into a monastery or chapterhouse. The Carthusians became the largest land holders in Krauchthal. The Krauchthal village church of St. Mauritius was first mentioned in 1270. The

Cluniac Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter, Saints Peter and Saint Paul, Paul. The abbey was constructed ...

Priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

of Hettiswil was built during the High Middle Ages in the nearby village, but today only the foundation of the romanesque Priory church is visible. The Priory was responsible for a chapel on Sandhubel which was first mentioned in 1560, but no trace of the building exists. The village of Hettiswil and the right to hold the low court in the village were given to the Priory in 1107. In 1406 both the low and high courts in Hettiswil came under

ese control, though the Priory remained a major landowner. Beginning in the Middle Ages, there were cliff dwellings in the Linden valley (). They have been permanently inhabited since the 16th century. Both Krauchthal and Hettiswil remained under the power of the Carthusian Monastery and the Cluniac Priory until Bern accepted the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

. In 1528, Bern secularized nearly all religious houses in the canton and acquired all their properties and rights. A Bernese

vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

was appointed and ruled the municipality from Thorberg Castle. Hettiswil was made part of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Krauchthal. Thorberg Castle remained the seat of the Bernese vogt until 1798, but it also housed other care organizations including an

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...

. In 1805 the former almshouse became a reformatory, model school and "ancillary lunatic asylum". To these were added in 1807 a further institution for the accommodation of those who "had not really merited imprisonment". The care organisations were replaced on 1 November 1849 by a workhouse or forced labor unit. After the opening of the psychiatric clinic at Waldau near Bern, the "ancillary asylum" could be closed, in 1855. In 1893 a newly built cell block was opened as a prison; various other extensions were added during the 20th century, most recently in 1998. Hettiswil, Krauchthal and Hub formed an agricultural cooperative that organized forest grazing and timber rights in 1470. By 1550, they had cleared the forest at Längenberg and divided it among their farmers. After the secularization of the monasteries, a representative of the Bernese vogt administered the former ecclesiastical land. However, in 1534 and in 1560 the land was sold to local farmers. By the early 19th century, many farmers switched from growing grain to raising dairy cattle and hay. In 1848 a dairy and cheese factory opened in the village. Between 1855 and 1863 the community drained the bogs on the valley floor, which opened up more farm land. In addition to agriculture, the institute and prison at Thorberg and a sandstone quarry provided jobs for the residents of the municipality.

Geography

Krauchthal has an area of . Of this area, or 42.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 49.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 7.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.0%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 19.5% is used for growing crops and 22.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Krauchthal includes the village of Krauchthal, Hettiswil and Hub im Tal as well as Dieterswald and Thorberg on the hill. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Burgdorf, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Emmental.
accessed 4 April 2011

Coat of arms

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Argent a Bend Gules between two Roses of the same barbed and seeded proper.''

Demographics

Krauchthal has a population () of . , 3.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 0%. Migration accounted for -2.7%, while births and deaths accounted for 2.4%.
accessed 11-September-2012 Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(2,265 or 91.3%) as their first language,

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

is the second most common (78 or 3.1%) and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

is the third (21 or 0.8%). There are 11 people who speak

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

. , the population was 51.2% male and 48.8% female. The population was made up of 1,128 Swiss men (49.0% of the population) and 50 (2.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,085 Swiss women (47.2%) and 38 (1.7%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 726 or about 29.3% were born in Krauchthal and lived there in 2000. There were 1,107 or 44.6% who were born in the same canton, while 299 or 12.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 267 or 10.8% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 14.7%. , there were 1,085 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,205 married individuals, 108 widows or widowers and 82 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 219 households that consist of only one person and 83 households with five or more people. , a total of 853 apartments (93.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 32 apartments (3.5%) were seasonally occupied and 24 apartments (2.6%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.3%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = top:10 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:2600 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:500 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:877 text:"877" bar:1850 from:start till:2285 text:"2,285" bar:1860 from:start till:2377 text:"2,377" bar:1870 from:start till:2510 text:"2,510" bar:1880 from:start till:2505 text:"2,505" bar:1888 from:start till:2264 text:"2,264" bar:1900 from:start till:2122 text:"2,122" bar:1910 from:start till:1901 text:"1,901" bar:1920 from:start till:2017 text:"2,017" bar:1930 from:start till:1845 text:"1,845" bar:1941 from:start till:1753 text:"1,753" bar:1950 from:start till:1814 text:"1,814" bar:1960 from:start till:1825 text:"1,825" bar:1970 from:start till:1909 text:"1,909" bar:1980 from:start till:1826 text:"1,826" bar:1990 from:start till:2083 text:"2,083" bar:2000 from:start till:2480 text:"2,480"

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 37% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (19%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (16.1%) and the

FDP.The Liberals FDP.The Liberals (, , , ) is a liberal political party in Switzerland. The party was formed on 1 January 2009, after two parties, the Free Democratic Party (FDP/PRD) and the smaller Liberal Party (LPS/PLS), united. In Vaud and Valais, the parti ...

(7.6%). In the federal election, a total of 913 votes were cast, and the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 50.0%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Krauchthal had an unemployment rate of 1.46%. , there were a total of 569 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 169 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 55 businesses involved in this sector. 166 people were employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there were 27 businesses in this sector. 234 people were employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

, with 36 businesses in this sector. there were a total of 465

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often use ...

jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 112, of which 94 were in agriculture and 19 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 151 of which 88 or (58.3%) were in manufacturing and 52 (34.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 202. In the tertiary sector; 34 or 16.8% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 14 or 6.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 17 or 8.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 6 or 3.0% were technical professionals or scientists, 18 or 8.9% were in education and 1 was in health care. , there were 201 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,071 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.3 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 11.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 62.1% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 210 or 8.5% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 1,825 or 73.6% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 19 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.77% of the population), and there were 120 individuals (or about 4.84% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 114 (or about 4.60% of the population) who were

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic. There were 4 individuals who were

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and 12 individuals who were

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

. 146 (or about 5.89% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 89 individuals (or about 3.59% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Krauchthal about 1,057 or (42.6%) of the population have completed non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

, and 283 or (11.4%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Of the 283 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.0% were Swiss men, 20.8% were Swiss women, 6.0% were non-Swiss men and 2.1% were non-Swiss women. The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

. During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 181 students attending classes in Krauchthal. There were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 40 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 15.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 8 primary classes and 141 students. Of the primary students, 2.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 7.1% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 6 students in Krauchthal who came from another municipality, while 132 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern