After the 1984 theft a copy of the Unspunnen stone (right) was used (Keystone)
Posted on 08/20/2005 6:57:31 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
INTERLAKEN, Switzerland (AP) - A 184-pound stone that has been tossed for a century in a Swiss celebration of folklore and national heritage has been stolen, authorities said Saturday.
The "Unspunnenstein," named after the site of Switzerland's most revered stone-throwing contest, was stolen Saturday morning from a hotel in the central Swiss city of Interlaken where it was on display before the competition scheduled for Sept. 3-4, authorities said.
The stone is one of country's most cherished cultural objects and recalls a gathering called two centuries ago to reassert Switzerland's identity in the chaos of Napoleon's Europe.
While stone-throwing has its roots in the Middle Ages, competition above regional level began with the 1805 festival of Alpine herdsman at Unspunnen, a grassy meadow near Interlaken.
The event, first re-enacted in 1905 using the stone stolen Saturday, involves throwers lifting the boulder above their heads, running and hurling.
A hotel employee told police that she saw four men enter the hotel and steal the iconic stone, adding that the thieves left behind a smaller stone marked with the emblem of the neighboring canton of Jura.
The Unspunnenstein was stolen before in 1984 by a separatist Jura youth organization, but it was recovered in 2001.
After the 1984 theft a copy of the Unspunnen stone (right) was used (Keystone)
it's most likly just a stones throw away.
Ok, I resisted as long as I could, where are the glass houses in Switzerland?
If I had to throw one of those things, I'd probably hurl too.
I'm a moron when it comes to Switzerland. How can a country in the middle of a world war declare itself neutral, and by that declaration be untouched altogether, and to this day harbor all the evil monies that finance terror and war without a whit of scrutiny?
While not a defender of Switzerland by any stretch, I will say that being surrounded by mountains helps. Plus, they actually did defend their airspace during the war.
I don't buy it. I can understand why governments would need an avenue for slush funding, but at the expense of what governments are for - i.e. protection of its citizens, to lay in the same bed with those to the contrary makes me less inclined to trust....
The mountains may be a help but it probably also has a lot to do with the level of armament of their citizens.
C'mon, Bob, you saying that this tiny country held off WWII with handguns in every house?
Not handguns, military rifles in every house. The Swiss take their homeland security seriously.
Automatic weapons in every home.
The myth goes that Hitler sent a Field Marshall to put pressure on the Swiss. The Field Marshall asked the Foreign Minister how many men he could call up on short notice. About one million was the response. The Field Marshall then asked what would the Swiss do if two million Germans were to march through the passes.
Fire twice and go home was the instant response.
An excerpt from the linked article:
And as to the advisability of "allowing" citizen militias to keep modern military arms with them at home -- yes, Sarah [Brady], the kind "designed for no purpose but to kill large numbers of people" -- we turn to Virginia attorney and Second Amendment expert Stephen P. Halbrook, author of the new book "Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II," out this past spring from Sarpedon Press.Writing in the January 1998 edition of the excellent magazine Chronicles, Mr. Halbrook points out that "Since the origins of the Swiss Confederation in 1291, it has been the duty of every male Swiss citizen to be armed and to serve in the militia. Today, that arm is an 'assault rifle,' which is issued to every Swiss male and which must be kept in the home. During Germany's Third Reich (1933-1945), that arm was a bolt-action repeating rifle, which was highly effective in the hands of Switzerland's many sharpshooters.
"Americans of the wartime generation were familiar with the fact that brave and armed little Switzerland stood up to Hitler and made him blink. As a map of Europe in 1942 shows, the Nazis had swallowed up most of everything on the continent but this tiny speck that Hitler called 'a pimple on the face of Europe.' The Fuhrer boasted that he would be 'the butcher of the Swiss,' but the Wehrmacht was dissuaded by a fully armed populace in the Alpine terrain. ...
Maybe the culprit misinterpretted his friend's suggestion they were designed to be lifted.
I'm not aware of any.
Tell me. Tell me what's funny.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
I should have made my point more obvious - Collusion.
"A secret agreement between two or more parties for a fraudulent, illegal, or deceitful purpose."
"Fire twice and go home was the instant response."
hehehe...true or not, funny!
When WWII was over, many Jews went to get their dead relative's money from their Swiss account. The Swiss demanded to see a death certificate which I don't think the death camps mailed to their relatives. Then when people's outrage ended that, the Swiss then wanted proof that they were the only one entitled to the money. They must have billions of money they're STILL holding.
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