Ingolsheim 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 north of 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...

.

The commune is part of the North-Vosges Natural park.

Geography

Ingolsheim is a small village with an economy based on agriculture. During the second half of the twentieth century French agriculture became very much more mechanized than hitherto, and many villagers work in the surrounding towns.

The village is positioned between Soultz-sous-Forêts

Soultz-sous-Forêts

Soultz-sous-Forêts is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is the site of the European Hot Dry Rocks energy research project.-References:*...

 and Wissembourg

Wissembourg

Wissembourg is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in northeastern France.It is situated on the little River Lauter close to the border between France and Germany approximately north of Strasbourg and west of Karlsruhe. Wissembourg is a sub-prefecture of the department...

. Adjacent communes are Cleebourg

Cleebourg

Cleebourg is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...

, Hunspach

Hunspach

Hunspach is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-Geography:The commune lies a short distance to the south of Wissembourg within the North Vosges Natural Park.-Sights:...

, Riedseltz

Riedseltz

Riedseltz is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...

 et Seebach

Seebach

-Places:*Seebach, Baden-Württemberg: a town in the district of Ortenau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany*Seebach, Thuringia: a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district in Thuringia in Germany*Seebach, Bas-Rhin: a municipality in the Département Bas-Rhin in France...

.

History

The origins of Ingolsheim go back more than a thousand years. It appears as "Ingoldeshaha" in an imperial

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

 record of Otto II, from the year 967. The name mutated through various versions before becoming "Ingolsheim".

The reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 reached the village in 1558, and the parish was served by an ecumenical church until the construction of a Catholic church in 1900.

The Second World War was rendered the more shocking for the villagers by to the proximity of the Maginot line

Maginot Line

The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...

, less than a kilometre away, and in particular the nearby Schoenenbourg fortifications

Ouvrage Schoenenbourg

Ouvrage Schoenenbourg is a Maginot Line fortification. It is located on the territory of the communes of Hunspach, Schœnenbourg and Ingolsheim, in the French département of Bas-Rhin, forming part of the Fortified Sector of Haguenau, facing Germany. At the east end of the Alsace portion of the...

. The village was one of many Alsatian

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...

 communities located near the frontier to be evacuated to Haute-Vienne

Haute-Vienne

Haute-Vienne is a French department named after the Vienne River. It is one of three departments that together constitute the French region of Limousin.The chief and largest city is Limoges...

, in this case to the village of Bessines-sur-Gartempe

Bessines-sur-Gartempe

Bessines-sur-Gartempe is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Limousin region in western France.-Geography:The river Semme forms part of the commune's north-eastern border, flows westward through the northern part of the commune, north of Morterolles-sur-Semmes, a hamlet, then forms...

.