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Yutz (Municipality, Moselle, France)

Municipal flag of Yutz - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 20 February 2007

Presentation of Yutz
Municipal flag of Yutz

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Presentation of Yutz

The municipality of Yutz (14,687 inhabitants - Yussois - in 1999; 1,397 ha) is located in Lorraine, on the right bank of the river Moselle, which seprates Yutz from Thionville. It is made since the 1 January 1971 of the two former municipalities of Basse-Yutz and Haute-Yutz. A project of merging of Haute-Yutz and Thionville had previously failed.

The evolution of the name of Yutz is well documented: Judiacum / Judiciacum in the Roman times, Judich / Julich (830), Judicium (IX-Xth century), Comitates Judaciensis (939), Comitatus Judicii (960), Comitatus Sigismundis (963), Comitatus Judicensis (973), Juxe (1211), Jus / Ius (1330), Jutz (1360), Juetze la Vieille / Juetze la Basse (1432), Jutz la Basse (1463), Oberjeutz (1473), Jeutz / Geutz / Jueutz (1544), Iutz / Oberieutz (1606), Uze (1642), Nider Joutz (1664), La Haulte Yeutz / La Basse Yeutz (1668), Itz (1682), Yudtz (1695), Haute Yeutz / Basse Jeutz (1718), Yeut Basse / Yeut Haute (XVIIIth century), Nider-Yeutz / Ober-Yeutz (1870-1918), and eventually Basse-Yutz and Haute-Yutz.

In the middle of the XIIth century, the lord of Meilberg / Meilburg took possession of the castle of Côte des Roses in Haute-Yutz (Upper Yutz), formerly called Vieille-Yutz (Old Yutz) because it was the place of the first settlement in Yutz.
In 1650, the St. Nicolas Brotherhood was founded in Basse-Yutz to restore religious faith and rebuild the village, severely damaged during the Thirty Years' War. In 1850, the Chief Treasurer of the Brotherhood created the book (livre) listing the members (confrères) and transmitted from treasurer to treasurer. According to the regulation from 1951, each member should attend the St. Nicolas mass; 1/6th of the 200 inhabitants of Basse-Yutz were members of the Brotherhood. Today, the Brotherhood still take part to the St. Nicolas traditional parade and offers a brioche to everyone during the Consecrated Bread ceremony.

The St. Nicolas Brewery was built in 1898. Until the First World War, the production was increased from 6,000 hl/year to 40,000 hl/year. After 1945, the brewery was modernized and a can production unit was opened in 1963. Production reached 250,000 hl/year in 1980. In spite of a union with the St. Eloi Brewery in Tours, the Yutz Brewery was deemed not profitable and closed in 1986. The factory was sold, the machines were taken down piece par piece and rebuilt in China and the building was eventually demolished.
In the beginning of the XXth century, railway repair workshops were built between Basse-Ham and Kuntzig; they were once the pride of Yutz and the base of the socio-cultural life in the town. The workshops had their own workers' training center, restaurant, health service, housing etc. When steel industry developed in Lorraine, several workers abandoned the railway workshop, whose activity was reduced to car repairing. The workshops were eventually closed in 1975.
In 1927, two workers found four vases during the building of a railway line. Two of the so-called Yutz vases were dated to the Vth century BC; they are decorated with animal symbols made of coral and enamel, and therefore of Celtic origin. The Museum of Metz and the Louvre Museum were not interested in the vases, which were sold by the two workers to a private individual for 200 francs. They were later purchased by an antiquarian for 65,000 francs, who sold them to a Swiss merchand for 125,000 francs. They were eventually purchased by the British Museum for 640,000 francs.

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 20 February 2007

Municipal flag of Yutz

The flag of Yutz, as photographied there by Dominique Cureau, is diagonally divided yellow-blue by a curved, blue-white-red diagonal. The yellow part of the flag is charged with the blue lettering Yutz / (57) Moselle, whereas the municipal coat of arms is placed in the blue part of the flag.

The arms of Yutz, originally those of Basse-Yutz, are fascé d'or et d'azur à six pièces (barry of six azure and or), that is the arms of the lords of Meilbourg. These arms were granted by the Departmental Commission of Heraldry in 1948.
The arms of Haute-Yutz were similar with a white sword placed in pale. The sword is somewhat canting as the symbol of justice (Latin, judicium).

Ivan Sache, 20 February 2007