Soultz-Haut-Rhin

Soultz-Haut-Rhin (French pronunciation: [sults o ʁɛ̃] ^ⓘ; German: Sulz/Oberelsaß) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin département in Grand Est in north-eastern France.^[3]

Soultz-Haut-Rhin
Commune
Église Saint-Maurice
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Soultz-Haut-Rhin
Soultz-Haut-Rhin Show map of France Soultz-Haut-Rhin Show map of Grand Est
Coordinates: 47°53′10″N 7°13′47″E
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Department	Haut-Rhin
Arrondissement	Thann-Guebwiller
Canton	Guebwiller
Intercommunality	Région de Guebwiller
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Marcello Rotolo[1]
Area 1	29.56 km2 (11.41 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	7,027
• Density	240/km2 (620/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	68315 /68360
Elevation	239–1,421 m (784–4,662 ft) (avg. 270 m or 890 ft)
Website	www.ville-soultz.fr
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Its inhabitants are called Soultziens (male) or Soultziennes (female).

Geography

The town of Soultz-Haut-Rhin has an enclave located northeast of Goldbach-Altenbach.

The town of Soultz was built around a salted water source from which originates its name.

History

The origins of Soultz go back to the 7th century.

667 : the written name of Sulza (salted source) is mentioned in a donation from Adalrich, Duke of Alsace, father of Saint Odile, of the bann of Soultz to the convent of Ebersmunster.

The Soultz Railway was a 9.8 km (6.1 mi) long military light railway with a track gauge of 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) that the Germans built and operated during World War I from Soultz to the Niederwald terminus below the Hartmannswillerkopf near Wattwiller.

Demography

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 3,524 —     1800 3,945 +1.63% 1806 4,579 +2.51% 1821 5,252 +0.92% 1831 4,016 −2.65% 1836 4,152 +0.67% 1841 3,432 −3.74% 1846 3,575 +0.82% 1851 3,660 +0.47% 1856 3,996 +1.77% 1861 3,989 −0.04% 1866 4,635 +3.05% 1871 4,999 +1.52% 1875 5,518 +2.50% 1880 4,630 −3.45% 1885 4,511 −0.52% 1890 4,436 −0.33% 1895 4,444 +0.04%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1900 4,514 +0.31% 1905 4,704 +0.83% 1910 4,852 +0.62% 1921 4,383 −0.92% 1926 4,583 +0.90% 1931 4,567 −0.07% 1936 4,241 −1.47% 1946 4,091 −0.36% 1954 4,120 +0.09% 1962 4,750 +1.79% 1968 4,910 +0.55% 1975 5,689 +2.13% 1982 5,696 +0.02% 1990 5,867 +0.37% 1999 6,640 +1.38% 2007 7,131 +0.90% 2012 7,210 +0.22% 2017 7,072 −0.39%
Source: EHESS[4] and INSEE (1968–2017)[5]

Places of interest

Soultz has houses from the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

• The Church of Saint-Maurice is a Gothic building (1270–1489)
• Château de Buchenek is a 13th-century castle, now a museum
• La Nef des Jouets (The Toys Vessel, museum of toys)
• The 1860 town hall is a Renaissance Revival building

Château de Buchenek (historical museum)

People

• Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès, who married Catherine Gontcharoff, eldest sister of Alexander Pushkin's wife, and killed Pushkin in a duel.
• Auguste-César West (1810–1880), prefect of Haut-Rhin from 1848 to 1850 then prefect of Bas-Rhin until 1855 and of Haute-Garonne until 1859.
• Bernard Genghini, footballer, born in 1958 in Soultz
• Pierre Villon (1901–1980), whose real name was Pierre Ginsburger, was a French political figure who took part in the Resistance.
• Katia Krafft, volcanologist, born in 1942 in Soultz. Wife of the volcanologist Maurice Krafft. Both of them were carried off in 1991 by a pyroclastical flow on the sides of the Mount Unzen (Japan).

See also

• Communes of the Haut-Rhin department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 9 August 2021.
2. "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3. Commune de Soultz-Haut-Rhin (68315), INSEE
4. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Soultz-Haut-Rhin, EHESS (in French).
5. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE