The nearest villages are Meistratzheim, Innenhei, Hindhead and Illkirch-Graffenstaden, the largest, 12 km (7.5 mi) to the south-west.

According to humanist Wimpheling, Kraut, the German word for cabbage, was added to the name in the sixteenth century to distinguish it from a similar-named resort near Molsheim.

During the Thirty Years' War the troops of General Ernst von Mansfeld pillaged and sacked the churches and abbeys, abused the peasants and burned the village.

In 1632 Swedish King Gustav II Adolf came to the aid of German Protestants, and occupied Alsace.

The Berckheim family had a castle that was later purchased by Bernard Frederick Turckheim and his wife Lili Schoenemann.