Author: Maarten Koning

Bridge in Switzerland

The Netherlands and Switzerland were republics of seven sovereign provinces of the Netherlands and thirteen sovereign cantons of the Confederation (Eidgenossenschaft) until 1795 and 1798, respectively.

Both were recognised as independent states by the Peace of Münster/Westphalia in 1648. Close diplomatic, military, and commercial contacts existed between countries and their cantons/provinces.

Swiss (Protestant) mercenaries in the service of the state army of the Republic came into contact with a Dutch game of cards known as Klaverjassen.

The Suisse Garde in the Dutch Republic, 1752. Source: Cent suisses retousched – Schweizer Truppen in niederländischen Diensten – Wikipedia

They introduced this game under Jass in Switzerland, including the Trump Nine and the Trump Jack. It is the most popular card game in Switzerland today. However, a new card game emerged between the World Wars and the Interbellum.

English or American tourists introduced a bridge to Switzerland between 1925 and 1930. Did the first bids occur in the Waldhaus in Flims, the Schweizerhof in Vulpera or perhaps in the Grand-Hotels Kulm or Badrutt’s Palace in St. Moritz, in Baur au Lac in Zurich, the Montreux Palace, the Kurhotel Val Sinestra near Sent or in the residences in Bern? In any case, the Belle Époque Hotel Museum Waldhaus exhibits architectural elements from this era.

Or was it in the Suvretta House in St. Moritz, which has a long bridge history, bridge rooms, and the first international bridge tournament in Switzerland in 1941?

The bridge rooms with a view, Suvretta House. Source: Suvretta House. Photo: TES

The American Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (1884-1970) developed the so-called contract bridge in 1925 during a cruise across the Atlantic.

In 1930, an English team led by Colonel Walter Buller (1886-1938) faced off against a team led by the American Ely Culbertson (1891-1955) at Almack’s Club in London. The game was covered on the front pages of European (including Swiss) and American newspapers.

Georg Tafler, Bridge als Spiel und Kunst, Vienna, 1930.

Vanderbilt’s contract bridge was accepted as the international bridge system in 1932 by the world’s leading bridge organisations: the Portland Club of London, the Whist Club of New York and the French Bridge Commission. Culbertson introduced the first bridge conventions and shaped the game as we know it today. It soon became the card game for the well-to-do in America and England.

The famous (Belgian) detective Hercule Poirot also played bridge in 1936.

Agatha Christie, Cards on the Table, London, 1936.

On the one hand, this fascinating game with an almost infinite number of combinations is considerably more complicated than, for example, ‘klaverjassen’ or ‘Jass’. On the other hand, it is more social than, for example, chess.

The triumph of bridge in Europe and Switzerland began in 1947 after the founding of the European Bridge League, based in Lausanne. The FSB (Fédération Suisse de Bridge) was established on 18 March 1950, followed by the World Bridge Federation in 1958, also based in Lausanne and recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch (1920-2010) stated at the opening of the first Bridge Grand Prix in the Lausanne Olympic Museum in September 1998 that bridge was also a competitive sport. Bridge was a demonstration sport at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah (USA).

   

European Bridge League, Lausanne. Photo: Headquarters | European Bridge League (eurobridge.org) and the logo of the World Bridge Federation.

The FSB has around 3000 members and 52 clubs. The minor club has five members in Sainte-Croix (canton of Vaud), and the largest has 271 members in Zurich. In addition, many bridge players are not club members.

Swiss teams participate in the World and European championships, the Sports Games (a type of Olympic Games for bridge players), national, regional, and local championships, as well as tournaments in clubs, cities, and communes.

Gerry Link and Max Saesseli were champions for Switzerland in the 1993 European Senior Pairs Championship. The Swiss team became world champions in April 2022, followed by the U31 in August 2022.

 

Basler Bridge Gesellschaft

The FSB competition at the national level consists of Leagues A and B, each with eight teams. They play in a two-weekend Round Robin in November (all teams play against each other). At the third weekend, the finals and barrage matches take place.

The lower leagues I-IV are divided geographically. These leagues are split into eight teams that play at two weekends in November.

The country’s multilingualism also plays a role. Bidding and communication are often conducted in three national languages: Italian, German, and French, sometimes in Romansh, and frequently in English. For example: spades: Pik, pique, picche, palas, hearts: Cœur, cœur, cuori, cours, diamonds: Karo, carreau, quadri, pizs and clubs: Treff, trèffle, fiori and cruschs.

The bridge association FSB’s name is only in French, but its seat is in the German-speaking city of Zurich. St. Moritz, Crans-Montana, Geneva, and Zurich host the most prestigious international tournaments. The larger towns and communes also organise annual bridge events. 

Sources: Fédération Suisse de Bridge, Zurich; Suvretta House and Hotel Kulm Archives in St. Moritz; Belle-Époque Hotel Museum Waldhaus, Flims.

 

The Zuckerbäcker from Graubünden

The canton of Graubünden is the only trilingual canton in Switzerland. German is the spoken language of most inhabitants. Romansh has been increasingly replaced by German over the centuries. Italian is mainly spoken in four valleys of the canton: Val Poschavio (das Puschlav), Bergaglia (das Bergell), Val Mesolcina (das Misox), and Val Calanca (das Calancatal).

Bergaglia also stands out in architecture from the other side of the Maloja Pass, the Engadine. This pass may not be particularly high (1 800 meters), but its steep mountain slopes make it a formidable natural border.

Bergaglia was already, in Roman times, an important storage place for the north-south trade and remained so until 1798. (Austrian) Lombardy and its cities, including Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona, Verona, Treviso, and Padua, as well as the Duchy of Milan, Venice, the Duchy of Savoy, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Swiss Confederation, comprising thirteen cantons, were immediate neighbours.

Graubünden joined the Confederation as a canton in 1803, but with the loss of its Italian territories. Between 1512 and 1797, the border of Graubünden extended much further south; Chiavenna, Valtellina, and Bormio were under the control of the canton and the Confederation. Napoleon, however, created the Republic of Cisalpina in 1797, and later established the Italian Republic, which included these areas.

Italian architecture and its status as a transit route accompany the hiker in Bergaglia on a twenty-kilometre tour from the Maloja Pass to the Italian border at Chiavenna.

The mountain scenery and the view of the villages give hikers wings, which are not superfluous because of the steepest and rocky slopes. It is not surprising that this European route has produced great European personalities. The artist Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), born in Stampa, is perhaps one of the most famous, but along the way, the villages bear witness to other cultural and economic success stories.

Not only merchants and mercenaries in the service of European kings and princes, but also bakers of pastries, such as Zuckerbäcker, and founders of hotels and cafés in European capitals, tell the story of emigration in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

One of the most impressive witnesses of this typical ‘Bündner’ specialisation is the Palazzo Castelmur near Stampa. The builders were Giovanni Redolfi (1658-1742) and Giovanni de Castelmur (1800-1871). Today, the Redolfi Patrician House, which the Castelmur converted into a castle, is now a museum.

The museum features a permanent exhibition on the successful “Zuckerbäcker” from Graubünden, showcasing authentic furnishings and interiors from the 18th and 19th centuries. Stampa is halfway along the trail from the Maloja Pass to Chiavenna.

The Piz Amalia in Concert

On the occasion of the baptism of Princess Amalia, Crown Princess of the Netherlands, in 2004, the Municipality of Scuol and the Regional Tourism Organisation in the Lower Engadine (Canton of Graubünden) named a hitherto unnamed mountain after the princess.

The naming of Piz Amalia confirmed the friendship between Switzerland and the Netherlands. In the spirit of this bond, an annual festival for young musicians has been organised around locations of the Piz Amalia in Winterthur (canton Zurich) and The Hague since the autumn of 2015.

Young musicians from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, under the direction of Thomas Herrmann, and the Winterthur Conservatory, directed by Valentin Gloor, will give several concerts at particular locations around Piz Amalia, in Winterthur and the Paleiskerk in The Hague.

The artistic director of the festival is Anthony Zielhorst. Two pieces of music have been composed for this year’s festival. They will be performed as world premieres.
Concert programme 2022:

Wednesday, 14 September, 7.00 pm, Conservatory Winterthur;
Friday, 6 September, 5.30 pm, Bergkirche, Scuol;
Saturday, September 17, 8.15 pm, Musikschule, Scuol;
Sunday, 18 September, 11 am, Fundaziun Nairs, Scuol;
Friday, November 11, 8.15 pm, Paleiskerk, The Hague.

On Friday, 16 September, at 6 am, there will be a guided mountain hike to Piz Amalia.

For more information about the programme, tickets and the organisation:

Piz Amalia, 14.–18.9.2022

Swiss German and the four Swiss languages

One of the fascinating aspects of Switzerland is that a fifteen-hundred-year history has established many contemporary (language) borders, identities and cultures.

The German language

The Alemanni introduced the German language to large parts of eastern, northern and central Switzerland after the departure of the Roman legions around 410 AD. The six centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 still define the Franco-German language border.

The French language

The French-speaking Burgundian kingdoms in western Switzerland (443-534 and 888-1032) were decisive for the French language. French remained the common language in this area after the cantons of Bern and Freiburg’s occupation of Vaud in 1536. 

The German-speaking occupiers highly valued the French language, which was never banned. Bilingual Freiburg/Fribourg, founded in the twelfth century by a German-speaking Duke, became increasingly Fribourg. The elite of Berne also spoke and communicated in French. After all, this language and the French kingdom were culturally, diplomatically and economically essential to these cantons.

The bilingual status of Valais goes back to the expansion of the German-speaking communes (Zehnden). The outcome of the struggle between the French-speaking House of Savoy and the (German-speaking) bishops of the diocese of Sitten (Sion) after 1400 determined the current language boundary in this canton.

The Italian language

The Italian language in Ticino and parts of Grisons originated from Latin. Italian remained the language of this region after the Swiss cantons conquered the area in the fifteenth century.

The Romansh language

With the advance of the German-speaking Alemanni and Walser (400-1400) in southern and eastern Switzerland, Romansh was increasingly replaced by German in Graubünden.

Many German-speaking immigrants came to the new canton of Graubünden after 1815 due to railway and other infrastructure works, tourism, industrialisation and trade. Today, Romansh is spoken by around 60,000 people.

In 1938, the constitutional recognition of Romansh followed as a clear political signal from Switzerland and the Swiss people to the Italian ( Irredentisimo) and German ideology (Heim ins Reich). In 1938, 91% of voters voted in favour. The 2007 revision of the Constitution confirmed the status of the country’s four languages.

Swiss German

The formal assimilation of Italian, French and German followed under French pressure at the time of the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803) and the (French) Mediation Act of 1803. This assimilation was confirmed in the Constitution of 1848.

The Federal Act on the National Languages and Understanding between the Linguistic Communities (the Language Act of 2007) stipulates in Article 3: ” It (the Confederation) shall ensure that it treats the four national languages equally”.

What the law did not foresee, however, was the sharp increase in the use of local Swiss German dialects in the public domain, Schwyzertütsch or Schwyzerdütsch. There are considerable differences between the German dialects in the different regions, for example, the Appenzell, Upper Wallis, Basel, Zurich and Bern regions.

These dialects can be difficult for French- or Italian-speaking Swiss to understand, and some dialects are even challenging for German-speaking Swiss. All Romansh-speaking Swiss master German, which does not mean they are familiar with all Swiss-German dialects.

Swiss German is not the official Swiss language except for regional and informal exchanges, such as personal messages. Hochdeutsch (High German) is used for written communication, albeit with some variations: in Switzerland, the ß (called eszett) is replaced by the double ss. Children start learning Hochdeutsch as soon as they enter school.

The knowledge of each other’s four languages has declined dramatically in recent decades. English is increasingly becoming the language of communication between (young) Swiss people.

Language is the (social) lubricant of any society. The decline in knowledge of the language or languages is, therefore, a source of concern for the cohesion of this multilingual country. It has the (financial) attention of the federal government.

Chapeau Switzerland, take care of your society

The Lake of Brienz (Brienzersee) is preparing for the festivities on 1 August 2022, apparently inspired by “The cradle of the Confederation”, a mural in the Great Hall of the Swiss Parliament by Charles Giron (1859-1914), created in 1901.

Giron has the Rütli in mind, the meadow located at Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee), a part of Lake Uri (Urnersee). The first three Eidgenossen from Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden confirmed their agreement of mutual assistance in various fields by an oath (Eid). Whether it is a fact or a legend is irrelevant, as is the story about William Tell (Wilhelm Tell), the founders of Rome, such as Romulus and Remus, or the Goddess Athena, the founder of Athens. 

Wilhelm Tell Monument Altdorf. Photo: TES.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, similar treaties were often concluded between cities and communes throughout Europe during the medieval period. This alliance and its successors have survived. They extended to 13 cantons in 1513 and 25 cantons in 1848. 

Switzerland is a nation built from the bottom up, a product of a complex process spanning centuries. The country has four official languages (many more dialects), diverse cultures, and various religions.

It is Europe’s best-functioning democracy (including its shortcomings), with the world’s most innovative and competitive industry, one of the best European universities and the best infrastructure in often challenging geographical circumstances.

The country is a global exporter with an open and cosmopolitan mentality for business and (other) cultures, and highly regarded scholars.

The Swiss National Bank is known for its solid monetary policy. Above all, Switzerland is a critical partner of the European Union. Hopefully, the citizens, politicians and journalists will cherish what has been built and accomplished over the centuries.

National competencies being transferred to the EU will never be returned, even if the EU does not keep its promises and agreements and does not realise its (sometimes megalomaniacal) ambitions.

The euro and the Swiss Franc 2002-2022

Switzerland’s hallmarks are citizen engagement, innovation, competitiveness, and (direct) democracy. From Riom or Scuol in the canton of Grisons to Môtier or La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel, citizens, culture, and businesses create and support (local) initiatives and (business) projects.

The Mont Terri Rock Laboratory near St. Ursanne. Photo: TES.

In which other countries do thousands of citizens attend summer courses (i.e. not regular courses) in Italian, French, German, or Romansh to understand one of their country’s other languages? Switzerland is the genuine European Union, but it also indicates the limits of cohabitation.

The German newspaper Die Welt published an article (27 July 2019) about members of the European Parliament. In the background, one can read “Kommt, wir bauen das neue Europa” (Join us, we built the new Europe).

Hopefully, there will be no black mourning clouds over the Brienzersee for over ten years. Switzerland, take care of your case and your beautiful country, its democracy, and society.

The 26 cantons. Source: Les 26 cantons suisses. Foto: www.jeretiens.net

The Helvetic Republic and Nidwalden

In January 1798, French troops invaded the Swiss Confederation (Eidgenossenschaft). The territory of the Prince-Bishopric Basel had already been confiscated in 1792 and 1797.

The Swiss cantons and cities capitulated. On 6 April 1798, the (French) Directorium proclaimed the Helvetic Constitution of the new unitary republic:

Art. 1: The Helvetic Republic is an indivisible state. There are no more borders between the cantons. Art. 2: The citizens are sovereign. Art. 5: No hereditary power, rank, or honorary title exists.

Only Canton Nidwalden opposed the Constitution. The other Orte and cantons took the oath. However, the canton was forced to accept the Constitution on 13 May.

However, at two Landsgemeinden in August 1798, resistance hardened. The citizens of the canton saw their sovereignty and independence threatened.

French troops invaded the small canton on 9 September 1798. Stans and Stansstad fell on the same day. Around 100 Nidwaldeners and 100 Frenchmen lost their lives, and more than 300 Nidwaldeners died in the subsequent massacre. Nidwalden was forced once again to accept the Constitution.

The events of 9 September are firmly anchored in Nidwalden’s collective memory, a trauma. Human rights were proclaimed but spread with brute force and war. Johann Caspar Lavater, a clergyman in Zurich, said after 9 September 1798:

“You Franks came to Switzerland as robbers and tyrants. You waged war against the country. So we never had to obey blindly, as we do now, in Swiss slavery”.

(Ihr Franken kamet als Räuber und Tyrannen in die Schweiz. Ihr führtet Krieg gegen das Land. So mussten wir nie blindlings gehorchen wie jetzt, in der schweizerischen Sklavery).

The Helvetic Republic ended in 1803—the concept needed for more sustainability in a nation with centuries-old sovereign cantons. The new confederations by the act of Mediation(Mediationssakte (1803), the Federal Treaty (Bundesvertrag (1815) and finally, the Constitution (Verfassung) of 1848 continued the centuries-long process of Swiss state-building.

(Source and further information: Der Franzoseneinfall in Nidwalden, www.franzoseneinfall.ch, Nidwalder Museum, Stans).

Casaccia and the Via Panoramica

The Italian-speaking village of Casaccia (Canton of Graubünden, Val Bregaglia) was first mentioned around 1160. It lies at the foot of the Piz Lunghin at the intersection of two crucial connecting roads, one to the north over the Septimer Pass (Il Settimo), the other to the Engadine and Austria over the Maloja Pass (Il Maloja).

The village was an important centre for the movement of goods and people. The large mansions still bear witness to this. The inn and the Hospiz named ‘Cunvent’ were the places for rest, overnight stays and the exchange of horses.

The church of San Gaudenzio has been known since 830 and was a place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages. In 1551, the village converted to the Reformation. Services were held in this church until 1742.

The present Reformed church was built in 1742 on the foundations of a medieval chapel that had been destroyed by an avalanche. The foundations of the chapel were still intact. It is a small Baroque building consisting of a two-bay nave and a choir with a lattice vault and three high windows.

The village offers a stunning view of the Albignadam and mountain reservoirs, and is the starting point of the fantastic hiking route Via Panoramica.

Bergün, the Albula Railway and UNESCO

Bergün, Bravuogn in Romansh (Canton of Graubünden), is mentioned in documents in 1209. The pass over the Abula was already an essential north-south connection to the south.

The Romanesque tower was built in the 13th century and converted into a belfry at the beginning of the 17th century.

The construction of the new road over the Albula Pass in 1868 allowed stagecoaches to use this route.

However, the Albula railway (completed in 1903) did not bring the expected guests that the spa hotel Bergün (completed in 1906) had hoped for. The railway was, above all, a faster and more comfortable connection to the Engadin regions.

The village is, however, one of the most beautiful villages in Switzerland today.

The Albula Railmuseum (Albula Bahnmuseum) shows the history of this UNESCO World Heritage site and the development of the famous Räthische Bahn.

(Source: berguen-filisur.ch).

The Rhine bridge of Rheinfelden

The Romans built the first bridges between Lake Constance and Strasbourg on the Upper Rhine. The Zähringers built the first wooden Rhine bridge in Rheinfelden shortly after the town’s foundation in the 12th century.

The rocks in the Rhine served as a natural pillar for the bridge construction. Rheinfelden soon became an important trading and administrative centre.

The bridge fell victim to floods or was destroyed in the war several times. It happened for the first time in 1445. The last wooden bridge was built by Blasius Balteschwier (1752-1832) in 1807. He and his descendants specialised in covered wooden bridges on the Rhine, Limmat and Aare. Some of them still exist.

The wooden covered bridge at Rheinfelden burned down on 12 June 1897. Today’s concrete and stone arch bridge was built in 1912. A boundary stone featuring the Baden and Aargau coats of arms is set into the parapet, marking the present-day Swiss-German border.

The bridge is 147 metres long and 10.5 metres deep. The five arches are between 22 and 40 metres wide. Today, the bridge symbolises the connection between Switzerland and Germany, between the Swiss and German towns of Rheinfelden.