Malsch and affiliated villages

With a its affiliated communities Sulzbach, Voelkersbach and Waldprechtsweier. Sister Cities: Sézanne, Dep. Marne/France; Dinuba, California/USA and Sycow/Poland.

Malsch is located in the Rhine Valley at the rolling foothills of the Black Forest. The nearest big city is Karlsruhe, a city of 300.000 inhabitants, Probably founded by the Celts, a group of related tribes linked by language, religion and culture in Central an Western Europe about 500 B.C. Malsch was mentioned in the official documents for the first time in 1065. At that time the area was owned by the Weissenburg Benedictine Monastry situated in Northern-France today. In the 12th century Malsch was given to the Earls of Baden (Markgrafen von Baden) as a feudal tenure, who sold it to the Herrenalb Monastry in 1318. After an event full time the village was given back to the Earls of Baden in 1603. Years of starvation and pestilence nearly ruined the community during the following years. In 1623, five years after the beginning of the 30 Years´ War, a religious war was raging in Central Europe, the number of inhabitants decreased from 1.400 to 300. But the village survived and its people lived in peace in the following centuries. Basis of this life was agriculture. The main crops were rye, oats, barley wheat, apples, pears and different sort of berries. The beginning time of industrialization cause a change of the economic structure, more and more people found work in the neighbouring cities, mainly in Karlsruhe and Rastatt. So agriculture lost its importance, especially after World War II. Today only 3 percent of the working people consider farming as their full-time-job, most people see farming as a recreational activity More than 60 percent to the working people are commuting to Karlsruhe and Rastatt and Ettlingen, working there in machine shops, electronic and automobile factories, in trade and administration. Thus Malsch has changed from an agricultural village to a housing area for computers.

At the end of World War II the community had to integrate a lot of refugees coming from the east parts of Germany For that purpose new building areas had to be developed and many apartment houses had to be built. Moreover municipal facilities like a hospital (1955) and an old people's home (1955) and an open air Swimming pool (1954) were built, followed by new nursery schools in 1958/1961 and a new school in 1964.

The community has also made great efforts in the field of protecting environment. There is a local garbage dump, and in 1972 a modern purification plant was set in operation. In 1987 it was modernized and brought to the up to date's standard, now the waste water of the community is cleaned not only mechanically but also the chemical and biological way Moreover the installation of a new basin against overflowing rainwater is an important step concerning the protection of the environment.

The development of new building areas brought a remarkable increase in population and with the reformation of the municipal code and organization between 1971 and 1975, which brought three former independent villages to Malsch, the number of inhabitants rose to nearly 14.000 today. Because of the increasing population the community will have to make special efforts in developing more new building areas for all those who are willing to make Malsch their own homestand. Further areas in Malsch as well as the three affiliated villages have now been designated as residential building areas in the official land utilization plans and are due to be developed in the near future.

In the meantime, in the main part of Malsch an area bordering on the Albert-Schweitzer-Straße as well as the area called Heckenäcker have been developed for residential building. Another important task is to create new jobs in a time of changing industrial structures. With the development of areas I and II the industrial park to the west of the railway line after 1992, the Community showed its intention not only to maintain its importance as a trading and industrial location in the area of commerce in the technology region of Karlsruhe, but also to expand it in the long-term.

There are further duties for the community in our world of increasing spare time for the working people. So a new citizens' house (Bürgerhaus) was built in 1977 which is the meeting place for the local clubs and cultural events. It´s a building with restaurant, ball-room, bowling-centre and separate rooms for meetings.

Another building was inaugurated in 1978 the new public gymnasium which can be devided into three separate parts of training. Both buildings are important steps to our special aim to create a community centre for all citizens.

In the field of schools and education the community did a lot in the past years. New gymnasiums for two schools and three new nursery schools were built, one school building was enlarged. There is an intensively working adult college with evening classes.
In February 1984 the fire-brigade Waldprechtsweier got a new house for vehicles and tools and with the enlargement of the Malsch fire-department the community removed acute notches in the field of firefighting.

The "Klosterhof Voelkersbach" is a dominant architectural factor in the affiliated community of Voelkersbach today This cultural and social meeting place with restaurant and gymnasium was opened in 1982. Completely new designed is the open-door swimming ground which has become an ideal place for recreation.

Then in December 1985 the community inaugurated the new general-purpose-hall in Sulzbach, which will be home for all the clubs and private-group-activities in the village. This building is an example how architecture can fit harmonically to the surrounding landscape.

To sanitate the centre of the community will be one of the most important things in the coming years. A new traffic conception was developed to improve the traffic situation in Malsch. An essential contribution for the development of the whole community are the corrections of important roads in Voelkersbach and Waldprechtsweier. After the successful restoration of the mill including repairs to the water-wheel, the "Stadtmühle Malsch" (town mill) has once more become a point of attraction since 2.12.1994 and has added a new accent to the appearance of the village centre. The aim of the Community to create a mill museum as well as a meeting place has now been achieved.

The Marien-Hospital was enlarged in 1987, it got a new operating and a new maternity ward. The beginning of the works for a larger "city-hall" (Rathaus) was in 5.8.1991. In 24.9.1993 the building was inaugurated. All these measures are done to create an organic growth of the community and they are also done to give a feeling of security and of fellowship to both the new settlers and the natives.

All these measures were taken to reach an organic and healthful increase of our community and they want to give a feeling of safety and solidarity to all citizens of the community of Malsch.

From 1971 to 1973 three former independent communities, Sulzbach, Voelkersbach and Waldprechtsweier were affiliated with Malsch. So their separate history going back to the 11th and 13th century came to an end. Today they are partners with equal rights and duties in our community and in spite of having lost their autonomy they still are alive because of the public spirit and their creative power