Lotzwil 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 district of

Oberaargau The Oberaargau is the region that encompasses the upper watershed of the Aar River in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On the north, lie the Jura Mountains, and on the south the hills leading to the Emmental. Administratively, the Oberaargau f ...

in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

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

Lotzwil is first mentioned in 1194 as ''Locewillare''. 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 ...

the major landowners in Lotzwil included St. Urban's Abbey and the Thunstetten Commandery. The area was ruled by the Baron of Langenstein until the extinction of that family, followed by the Utzigen and Balm families, then after 1370 the Grünenberg and Aarburg. In 1431 Thüring von Aarburg sold the village to Burgdorf. Burgdorf combined Lotzwil, Gutenburg, Kleindietwil, Rütschelen, Thörigen and Bettenhausen together into the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...

of Lotzwil and made the

bailiff A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary. Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...

a member of Burgdorf's town council. Following the 1798 French invasion, the bailiwick was dissolved and the village became part of the District of Langenthal. In 1803 it became part of the Aarwangen District. The village church was first mentioned in 1194. The current church was built in 1682–83 on the foundations of earlier churches from the

Early Early may refer to: Places in the United States * Early, Iowa, a city * Early, Texas, a city * Early Branch, a stream in Missouri * Early County, Georgia * Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort Music * Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...

and

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

. In 1259 the Barons of Balm and Grünenberg gave the church to the Thunstetten Commandery. After 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 the church was under

ese authority. During the 18th century, the economic boom in nearby

Langenthal Langenthal is a town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Oberaargau (administrative district), Oberaargau in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the municipality of Untersteckholz merged into the ...

spread to Lotzwil.

Linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...

spinning and weaving started as a cottage industry in the village. By the 19th century there were small linen factories and other small businesses. The village continued to grow after the opening of the Langenthal-Huttwil-Wolhusen rail line in 1889. Several factories opened including a wooden shoe factory in 1875, a weaving machine factory in 1889, leather processing in 1930 and later a kitchen appliance factory. Today the only remaining old factory makes bricks. Starting in the 1960s Lotzwil became a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for Langenthal and several new housing developments were built for the growing population. In 1988, a regional nursing home, serving ten surrounding municipalities, opened. In the 19th century the community built a spa hotel, which was abandoned in the interwar period. Today it has been replaced by a renowned country inn.

Geography

Lotzwil has an area of . Of this area, or 47.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 37.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 15.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.8% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 8.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 32.0% is used for growing crops and 13.5% is pastures, while 1.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in Amtsbez Aarwangen. It consists of the ''haufendorf'' village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Lotzwil and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Amtsbez. Aarwangen. It is south of the city of

(center of the Oberaargau with 14,400 inhabitants) and from

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

e and

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

, in the country of Switzerland. Located at above sea level. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Aarwangen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Oberaargau.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 4 April 2011

Transport

Lotzwil has a railway station, served by lines S6 and S7 of the

Lucerne S-Bahn The Lucerne S-Bahn () is an S-Bahn-style commuter rail network focusing on Lucerne in Central Switzerland. Opened on 12 December 2004, the network forms part of the Central Switzerland S-Bahn project (), which also includes the Zug Stadtbahn (). ...

(

). The nearest motorway exits are in

Wangen an der Aare Wangen an der Aare is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Oberaargau (administrative district), Oberaargau administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2024 th ...

( A1 motorway) and Reiden (

A2 motorway A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''English alphabet#Letter names, a'' (pronounced ), plural ...

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 Lion rampant Azure langued and viriled Gules.''

Demographics

Lotzwil has a population () of . , 16.9% 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 6%. Migration accounted for 10.5%, while births and deaths accounted for -1.3%.
accessed 25-May-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 ...

(2,109 or 90.4%) 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 (87 or 3.7%) and

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 ...

is the third (42 or 1.8%). There are 11 people who speak

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), ...

and 1 person who speaks Romansh. , the population was 50.9% male and 49.1% female. The population was made up of 1,015 Swiss men (41.0% of the population) and 245 (9.9%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,043 Swiss women (42.1%) and 174 (7.0%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 648 or about 27.8% were born in Lotzwil and lived there in 2000. There were 934 or 40.0% who were born in the same canton, while 342 or 14.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 336 or 14.4% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.6%. , there were 918 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,133 married individuals, 184 widows or widowers and 99 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 329 households that consist of only one person and 77 households with five or more people. , a total of 943 apartments (88.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 55 apartments (5.1%) were seasonally occupied and 72 apartments (6.7%) 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 4.4 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 5.63%. 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:2400 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:500 text:"500" bar:1850 from:start till:1127 text:"1,127" bar:1860 from:start till:1122 text:"1,122" bar:1870 from:start till:1243 text:"1,243" bar:1880 from:start till:1280 text:"1,280" bar:1888 from:start till:1330 text:"1,330" bar:1900 from:start till:1328 text:"1,328" bar:1910 from:start till:1511 text:"1,511" bar:1920 from:start till:1605 text:"1,605" bar:1930 from:start till:1799 text:"1,799" bar:1941 from:start till:1931 text:"1,931" bar:1950 from:start till:2121 text:"2,121" bar:1960 from:start till:2199 text:"2,199" bar:1970 from:start till:2323 text:"2,323" bar:1980 from:start till:2107 text:"2,107" bar:1990 from:start till:2282 text:"2,282" bar:2000 from:start till:2334 text:"2,334"

Heritage sites of national significance

The Farm House ''Ingold-Hof'' and village church's

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance. File:Lotzwil Ingoldhof4.jpg, Farm House ''Ingold-Hof'' File:Lotzwil Pfarrhaus2.jpg, Rectory of Lotzwil

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 32% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS (18.1%), the BDP Party (14.2%) and the FDP (9%). In the federal election, a total of 862 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 52.0%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Lotzwil had an unemployment rate of 2.29%. , there were a total of 873 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 39 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 510 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 30 businesses in this sector. 324 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 63 businesses in this sector. there were a total of 744

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 33, of which 31 were in agriculture and 1 was in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 482 of which 380 or (78.8%) were in manufacturing and 102 (21.2%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 229. In the tertiary sector; 95 or 41.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 7 or 3.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 19 or 8.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 16 or 7.0% were technical professionals or scientists, and 57 or 24.9% were in health care. , there were 490 workers who commuted into the municipality and 866 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 10.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 53.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 285 or 12.2% 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 1,571 or 67.3% 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 16 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.69% of the population), there were 3 individuals (or about 0.13% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 167 individuals (or about 7.16% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 187 (or about 8.01% 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 3 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 9 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 ...

. 117 (or about 5.01% 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 58 individuals (or about 2.49% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Lotzwil about 961 or (41.2%) 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 217 or (9.3%) 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 217 who completed tertiary schooling, 70.5% were Swiss men, 18.4% were Swiss women, 8.3% were non-Swiss men and 2.8% 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 2009–10 school year, there were a total of 263 students attending classes in Lotzwil. There were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 42 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 26.2% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 19.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 8 primary classes and 161 students. Of the primary students, 19.3% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 16.8% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 3 lower secondary classes with a total of 60 students. There were 23.3% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 21.7% have a different mother language than the classroom language.Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 10 students in Lotzwil who came from another municipality, while 102 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern