Author: Maarten Koning

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.

Congress of the Swiss Abroad

The 98th Congress of the Swiss Abroad (Congrès des Suisses de l’étranger/ Auslandschweizer- Kongress) will be held in Lugano from 19 to 21 August. The themes are globalisation, migration, data protection, digitalisation, democracy, the rule of law, the Covid 19 pandemic, and possible future pandemics.

How is Switzerland’s democratic system responding to the current challenges? What is the need for reform? How can the country’s unique democratic system respond when increasingly exposed to supranational political, economic and financial forces?

Personalities from politics, business and science, discuss and reflect on these and many other questions.

(Weitere informationen: www.swisscommunity.org).

Gempen, its History and Nature

Nature is varied, and the Jura is at its best on the plateau of Gempen and Hochwald (canton Solothurn). Only the streams and ponds, which are so plentiful elsewhere in the Jura, are lacking. The region is renowned for its diverse landscapes, including fruit trees, forests, meadows, rocky outcrops, and stunning Alpine views.

The history of Gempen is as varied as its nature. The Celtic tribe of the Rauraken inhabited the area and went to Bibracte, only to be devastatingly defeated by Caesar in 58 BC. In Roman times, a road led to nearby Augusta Raurica on the Rhine. Gempen is derived from the Latin name campanus (field or plain).

The Alemanni invaded the area around 270 BC, and after the departure of the Romans (410 AD), it was Alemanni territory. This era was followed by the Franks (Merovingians and Carolingians), the Holy Roman Empire, the Bishop of Basel and the city of Basel.

Solothurn acquired the village and the region after the Schwabenkrieg (Swabian War) in 1499. Gempen changed its religion in 1526, only to return to the Catholicism of the Solothurn canton after the Kappelerkrieg in 1531.

Dornach was ruled by a bailiff. He resided in Dorneck Castle. The French invasion of 1798 marked the castle’s end. The ruins of the once mighty castle are prominently present on the hill.

Gempen’s last armed conflict was the Sonderbundskrieg of 1847. Five men fought alongside the Catholic canton of Solothurn against the Protestant Confederal cantons. All survived this short war. In the Second World War, the plateau was of great strategic importance. The Gempen Division was stationed in the area.

Today, the village is prosperous, with Sonnhalde as its most important landmark. Sonnhalde is an institution for children, youths and adults with mental disabilities.

Lousonna and Lausanne

Situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lacus Lemanus, the small Gallo-Roman settlement of Lousonna, boasted between 1,500 and 1,200 inhabitants, mostly merchants, fishermen, and artisans.

Its commercial prosperity was due to the privileged situation between the lake and overland routes connecting the Rhine and Rhone networks. From the end of the 1st century BC through the 4th century AD, Lousonna developed steadily under the influence of the Roman Empire and romanisation.

The town was a typical example of the Roman model, featuring a city grid plan, portico-lined avenues, houses with interior courts, artisans’ quarters, sanctuaries, a forum, a theatre, and other public buildings.

During the 4th century, the lakeside town was abandoned in favour of the hill, where the medieval and modern city of Lausanne developed.

(Quelle and source: Musée Romain de Lausanne-Vidy)

The Swiss Hero Maurice Bavaud

A 22-year-old Swiss man tried to kill Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) in November 1938. Maurice Bavaud (1916-1941) was born in Neuchâtel. After prematurely leaving the seminary of the Congrégation du Saint-Esprit in France, where he had wanted to become a priest, he returned to Switzerland in 1938.

Maurice Bavaud (1916-1941). Photo: Wikipedia

Although a deeply devout Catholic in Calvinist Neuchâtel, the idea of killing Adolf Hitler, whom he considered a danger to humankind, germinated in his mind.

He bought a revolver and ammunition in Basel and then went to Munich, where on 9 November 1938, the failed coup attempt of 8 and 9 November 1923 was commemorated.

The Führer was always present as one of the coup organisers at the time. Incidentally, he escaped death during this attempt. Several coup leaders were killed in the fighting in the city.

Maurice pretended to be a fanatical supporter of the Führer and was able to take a seat on the front row of the stage.

When the Führer passed, he was surrounded by many members of his Party. The enthusiasm was so great that many outstretched right arms obstructed the field of fire. In the previous weeks, the man from Neuchâtel had tried several times to get close to the Führer to shoot him, but never close enough or at the right moment.

Discouraged, he took the train to Paris. The Gestapo arrested him on the train. At the end of 1939, the infamous People’s Court sentenced him to death. On 14 May 1941, the sentence was carried out in Berlin.

The only thing that counts for me is the immortality of the soul.

(La seule chose qui m’importe, c’est l’immortalité de l’âme).

The sentence is at the foot of the monument erected on 13 May 2011 in memory of Maurice Bavaud in the Laténium Park in Hauterive (canton of Neuchâtel).

One year later, on 8 November 1939, the courageous George Elser (1903-1945) carried out another attempt in the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich. The bomb exploded indeed, but the Führer had left the meeting earlier than expected: the foggy weather conditions made it impossible to take the aeroplane to Berlin. The Führer took the train instead and left the Bürgerbräukeller an hour earlier than scheduled.

The Musical Tradition of Basel

Basel has a musical tradition of many centuries. The music theory and compositions of Bonifacius Amerbach (1495-1562), including the Codex Amerbach, were famous in the sixteenth century.

This homo universalis was also an art collector, jurist, humanist and, above all, a friend and contemporary of Erasmus of Rotterdam (1469-1536), who lived, worked, published and finally died in Basel.

Hans Holbein the Younger (1496-1543), Bonifacius Amerbach, 1519. Collection Kunstmuseum Basel. Foto/Photo: TES

The Amerbach Collection is the world’s first unofficial museum. In 1661, the city of Basel made this extensive collection publicly accessible. In the 19th century, it gave rise to the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Musikmuseum, and the Antikenmuseum Basel.

Music is in Basel’s DNA

Basel is a city of music, as is evident not only from the many orchestras, choirs and other ensembles but also from the extensive musical training of its inhabitants. Around 10,000 inhabitants play the piccolo and many more the tambourine or other instruments from an early age.

Musical education for children remains at a high standard. It is no coincidence that the innovative chamber orchestra was founded in Basel in 1926.

The Fasnacht (the Basler Carnival)or a wine festival, such as the Fête des Vignerons in Vevey, combines music, dancing, vocal art, masquerade, and choreography. The Fauteuil Theatre and the Charivari Association are well-known in Basel and Switzerland.

The Basel Tattoo

The Basel Tattoo is part of this tradition. This originally military gathering of army bands is enriched in Basel by dancing, singing and dialogue with the audience. The praise of the cow in the song Le Ranz des Vaches is not absent either. The farmer and his cows are highly esteemed in Switzerland, even in the cities.

The Tattoo, the Fête des Vignerons, and the Carnival also maintain a joyful and relaxed atmosphere, with no serious incidents. From 18 July to 8 August 2019, more than a million visitors came to Vevey (canton of Vaud) to attend performances in the temporary arena (20,000 seats).

The visitors consumed a lot of wine late into the night and in glasses without significant problems or broken glasses. A carnival is a distinct event, but the proceedings are essentially the same.

The Tattoo is also a festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. Below is an impression of the premiere on July 15, 2022, and the parade on July 16.