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This category has the following 11 subcategories, out of 11 total.
The following 7 pages are in this category, out of 7 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).
1. Bern – The city of Bern or Berne is the de facto capital of Switzerland, referred to by the Swiss as their Bundesstadt, or federal city. With a population of 141,762, Bern is the fourth-most populous city in Switzerland, the Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, had a population of 406,900 in 2014. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000, Bern is also the capital of the canton of Bern, the second-most populous of Switzerlands cantons. The official language in Bern is German, but the language is an Alemannic Swiss German dialect. In 1983, the old town in the centre of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bern is ranked among the top ten cities for the best quality of life. The etymology of the name Bern is uncertain and it has long been considered likely that the city was named after the Italian city of Verona, which at the time was known as Bern in Middle High German. As a result of the find of the Bern zinc tablet in the 1980s, it is now common to assume that the city was named after a pre-existing toponym of Celtic origin. The bear was the animal of the seal and coat of arms of Bern from at least the 1220s. The earliest reference to the keeping of bears in the Bärengraben dates to the 1440s. No archaeological evidence that indicates a settlement on the site of city centre prior to the 12th century has been found so far. In antiquity, a Celtic oppidum stood on the Engehalbinsel north of Bern, fortified since the second century BC, during the Roman era, a Gallo-Roman vicus was on the same site. The Bern zinc tablet has the name Brenodor, in the Early Middle Ages, a settlement in Bümpliz, now a city district of Bern, was some 4 km from the medieval city. The medieval city is a foundation of the Zähringer ruling family, according to 14th-century historiography, Bern was founded in 1191 by Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen. In 1218, after Berthold died without an heir, Bern was made an imperial city by the Goldene Handfeste of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. In 1353, Bern joined the Swiss Confederacy, becoming one of the eight cantons of the period of 1353 to 1481. The city grew out towards the west of the boundaries of the peninsula formed by the river Aare, the Zytglogge tower marked the western boundary of the city from 1191 until 1256, when the Käfigturm took over this role until 1345. It was, in turn, succeeded by the Christoffelturm until 1622, during the time of the Thirty Years War, two new fortifications – the so-called big and small Schanze – were built to protect the whole area of the peninsula
2. Erlach family – The von Erlach family was a noble Bernese patrician family. They first became citizens of Bern around 1300, during the 17th and 18th Centuries they were one of the leading families in Bern. For centuries the family served as military commanders in both Bern and in foreign armies. They were mayors of Bern and ruled over many other towns, several family members received the upper nobility title Reichsgraf. The Erlach family is first mentioned as a family in the service of the Counts of Nidau. Initially they were the castellans in Erlach Castle in the town of Erlach on Lake Biel, by 1300 they were citizens of Bern and had tied their fate to the city. According to the historian Conrad Justinger, in 1339 Rudolf von Erlach led the victorious Bernese forces at the Battle of Laupen, in the following year he led a Bernese army in a raid on the city of Fribourg. Before his death, in 1360, Rudolf bought property and governance rights in Jegenstorf, in the 15th century they added the municipalities and villages of Hindelbank, Jegenstorf, Wyl, Riggisberg and Bümpliz. They began to take a role in politics in the city of Bern and married into a number of noble. By the mid 15th century, Ulrich became the first of seven von Erlach Schultheissen to serve in the city of Bern, the next von Erlach family member to serve as Schultheiss was Rudolf. He was Schultheiss from 1479 until 1507 with several short interruptions, while still a member of the Kleinrat he led Bernese troops to besiege Grandson and Murten during the Burgundian Wars in 1476. During the Swabian War of 1499, Rudolf once again took command of a Bernese army and fought in the Hegau region, Rudolf divided the family estates between his two sons, Johann and Diebold. Rudolfs younger son, Diebold was given the familys estates in Bümpliz and his descendants extended their estates to include Oberhofen am Thunersee, Kiesen and Kasteln. Diebold emigrated to America in the middle of the 16th century, however, Diebolds branch never had the political or economic power of the rest of the family. In the 18th century that line died out, Johann inherited the remainder of Rudolfs land and rights. He followed in his fathers footsteps and entered a career in politics and he was sent as an ambassador from the Swiss Confederation to Neuchâtel in 1511 and in 1512 met with the Duke of Savoy in Geneva and then traveled to Milan to meet with the Pope. In 1513 he led an army toward Dijon and in 1515 marched on Milan and he became the third Schultheiss in 1519 and served, with interruptions, for twenty years. In 1528, Bern adopted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation, in the following years, he led the Protestant Bernese army in the First and Second Wars of Kappel
3. City Council of Bern – The City Council is the executive body of the city of Bern, Switzerland. Chairman of the council is the mayor who is elected by the people in a plurality voting system. The council meets weekly in the Erlacherhof, the Town Clerk is elected by the city council. List of mayors of Bern Official website Bern,3.1 – Political system and politics in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
4. The Judge and His Hangman – The Judge and His Hangman is a 1950 novel by the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt. It was first published in English in 1954, in a translation by Cyrus Brooks, a new translation by Joel Agee appeared in 2006, published together with it sequel Suspicion, as The Inspector Bärlach Mysteries, with a foreword by Sven Birkerts. Together with Dürrenmatts The Pledge, Requiem for the Detective Novel, these stories are considered classics of fiction, fusing existential philosophy. The central question of this book is whether or not it is right to frame a person for a crime they didnt commit, the interplay between Bärlach and Lutz takes on a symbolic dimension. Lutz, the university educated overseer, insists on the efficacy of modern, scientific crime-solving methods from the Chicago school, Bärlach is skeptical, relying instead on his deep knowledge of human motives, born of lifelong experience. Tschanz, Bärlachs underling, makes use of the modern method and serves as a contrast to Bärlachs style of natural intuition. One can understand the novel also as question, When humans determine themselves the fate of others they become the judges, and when they become the instrument of others they become the henchmen. Having been set up by Bärlach to kill Gastmann, Tschanz says to Bärlach at the end of the story, Then you were the judge, Tschanz then kills himself the following day by stopping his car on an active railroad track. For the first time Der Richter und sein Henker was adaptated by the German television Süddeutscher Rundfunk in 1957 and it aired on 7 September 1957. In 2012 the film has released on DVD for the first time. In 1961 the British Broadcasting Corporation produced a second adaptation and it was shown as an episode of the long-running series of televised plays BBC Sunday-Night Play titled The Judge and His Hangman. It premiered on 17 December 1961, frank Pettingell acted in the role of Inspector Hans Bärlach, Brian Bedford played Lieutenant Chanz. The episode does not exist in the BBC archives, and is believed to be lost, daniele DAnza directed the third adaptation in 1971/72. Radiotelevisione Italiana aired Il giudice e il suo boia on 6 February 1972, starring Paolo Stoppa as Bärlach, the TV movie has since been released on DVD in 2009. On 8 November 1974, the adaptation was produced under the titel Le juge et son bourreau for a French broadcasting corporation. The TV movie was directed by Daniel Le Comte and starred Charles Vanel in the role of commissaire Baerlach, the role of Tschanz was renamed as lieutenant Terrence, played by Gilles Ségal. The TV movie remains unreleased on the video market. The novel was once made into a film in 1975, titled End of the Game, directed by Maximilian Schell, with screenplay by Dürrenmatt
