Lautzenhausen

Lautzenhausen
Coat of arms
Lautzenhausen
Location of Lautzenhausen within Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis district
Coordinates: 49°56′17″N 7°16′23″E / 49.93806°N 7.27306°E / 49.93806; 7.27306Coordinates: 49°56′17″N 7°16′23″E / 49.93806°N 7.27306°E / 49.93806; 7.27306
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis
Municipal assoc.	Kirchberg
Government
• Mayor	Siegward Bongard
Area
• Total	5.00 km2 (1.93 sq mi)
Elevation	470 m (1,540 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	365
• Density	73/km2 (190/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	55483
Dialling codes	06543
Vehicle registration	SIM
Website	www.lautzenhausen-hunsrueck.de

Lautzenhausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kirchberg, whose seat is in the like-named town.

The municipality lies on a high plateau in the Hunsrück. Great parts of the municipal area are covered by Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. Lautzenhausen is linked to the long-distance road network by Bundesstraße 50. Lautzenhausen lies roughly 10 km (6 mi) eastsoutheast of the Moselle at Starkenburg and just under 18 km (11 mi) westsouthwest of Simmern. The municipal area measures 495 ha.

Archaeological finds bear witness to a Roman presence in the area. In 1260, Lautzenhausen had its first documentary mention. Beginning in 1794, Lautzenhausen lay under French rule. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Until the 1950s, the village was characterized by agriculture. This changed when the air base – now a civil airport – was built. It was first planned by the French in 1946, but was, however, subsequently built by the Americans. They named it “Hahn Air Base” after nearby Hahn because, as a local joke had it, they could not pronounce “Lautzenhausen”. This is highly unlikely to be true, for the name “Lautzenhausen” (German pronunciation: [ˈlaʊtsənhaʊzən]) would present no pronunciation difficulties to an English speaker. A somewhat likelier explanation is that a great part of the air base lay within Hahn’s limits, as can be seen in some plans from the time it was built. Since the base’s main gate stood right at the entrance to Lautzenhausen, a cutoff point arose right in the municipality between military and civilian zones. For the municipality, it was a divide that lasted decades. Buildings, some of which had been used for farming, were converted, and new buildings were added. They eventually housed hotels, inns, bars and businesses associated with a red-light district, so that the G.I.’s from the base could be offered something by way of recreation during their off-duty time.