Gerstheim is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Bas-Rhin

Bas-Rhin

Bas-Rhin is a department of France. The name means "Lower Rhine". It is the more populous and densely populated of the two departments of the Alsace region, with 1,079,013 inhabitants in 2006.- History :...

 department in Alsace

Alsace

Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

 in north-eastern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Geography

Situated between the canal

Rhône-Rhine Canal

The Rhône–Rhine Canal is one of the major waterways of France linking the Rhine and the Rhône and thereby the North Sea and the Mediterranean.It is 217 miles long....

 that links the Rhône and the Rhine, and the Rhine itself, the little village is situated some 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the south of Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

.

Economy

During the early twentieth century many jobs were provided by the tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 and sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

 industries. There are currently still a few employment opportunities involving agriculture and tourism in the village. There is also an EDF

Électricité de France

Électricité de France S.A. is the second largest French utility company. Headquartered in Paris, France, with €65.2 billion in revenues in 2010, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.EDF is one of...

 hydro-electric installation incorporating a lock and a road crossing on the Rhine. Some residents work in Strasbourg and many commute across the frontier to work in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

One of Europe's largest theme parks positioned just across the frontier provides a large number of mainly seasonal low paid jobs.

Places to see

* Jewish cemetery on the edge of the town (abandoned since 1940).

* Twelfth century castle 'Manoir de Bancalis'.

* Artificial island 'L'île de Gerstheim ' created 1960 as part of the EDF hydro-electric project. Small nature reserve subject to periodic flooding.

Organ

The Protestant church contains an organ built by the Wetzel brothers around 1870. In 1917 German troops requisitioned part of the instrument, but it was restored in 1926 by the Strasbourg organ builder Edmond Alexandre Roethinger. A further restoration took place in 1972.