- Rütli
Rütli ("Grütli" in French and Italian) is a mountain meadow on
Lake Lucerne , in theSeelisberg municipality of the Swiss canton of Uri. Here the legendary oath of theRütlischwur first occurred and is remembered as the turning-point in the pursuit of independence. EveryAugust 1st , on theSwiss National Day , the oath is re-enacted to commemorate the forming of theOld Swiss Confederacy .Land forming the Rütli meadow was bought by the Schweizerische Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft in 1859 in order to preserve its state and, among other reasons, to prohibit the construction of a hotel at the historical site. This non-profit company turned the Rütli over to the government as an inalienable gift.
Since
1991 , Rütli has also been the start of the "Swiss Way" hiking trail created to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Switzerland.On
25 July 1940 ,General Guisan used the site for his speech, now remembered as the "Rütlirapport", to the entire officer corps of theSwiss army in which he outlined theReduit strategy and his aim never to surrender if invaded (seeSwitzerland during the World Wars ).Recent controversy
As is often the case across Switzerland the August 1st celebrations include speeches; at the Rütli it is common for an eminent personality, such as members of the
Swiss Federal Council , to speak. AfterNeonazi s disturbed the speeches2005 , strict controls were enforced in2006 – only people who registered could get a ticket to the Rütli - but fordata privacy reasons, the list could not be reviewed by police to identify known radicals. In2007 concerns remained (receiving international press attention [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/17/news/swiss.php] [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/world/europe/23lucerne.html] ) and both thePresident of the Confederation and the President of the National Council decided to deliver key-note speeches to prevent extremists upstaging the commemorative significance.See also
*
History of Switzerland
* [http://www.ruetli.ch/ruetli/index.aspx Rütli Commission website] (French/German only)
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