On 18 October 1940 in Sarnen, the last death sentence under civil law in Switzerland was carried out. Although Hans Vollenweider had killed three people, he was convicted of only one murder.
In 1856, the Neuchâtel deal brought the fledgling Swiss nation to the brink of war with Prussia. The reason for this was the peculiar position of the Canton of Neuchâtel.
In the 19th century some Swiss villages provided sponsorship to enable poorer members of their community to emigrate, to stave off financial ruin for the village. An example from the Canton of Aargau shows that this emigration wasn’t always entirely voluntary.
Onanism makes you infertile and sick. This idea expounded by a doctor from Lausanne spread rapidly in the 18th century, and persisted well into the 20th century.
Medieval nuns – the phrase brings to mind a group of women living in seclusion behind convent walls, devoting themselves to their faith. But a look at history gives a very different picture.
For a long time, we were very reluctant in our part of the world to accept the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. Even the mathematician Fibonacci had trouble convincing people to change their attitude. But the economic benefits were so great that all resistance was abandoned.
