The following is a list of massacres and mass murders that have occurred in Switzerland. A mass murder involves the murder of four or more people during the same incident. [1]
Date | Location | Dead | Description |
---|---|---|---|
November 1348 | Bern | Jewish community killed by burning. One of the earliest massacres of the 1348/1349 persecutions in a German speaking city. [2] | |
November 1348 | Zofingen | 4 + x | Four Jews killed in autumn after they had confessed under torture to have poisoned the wells. The Jewish community of Zofingen was likely burnt soon after in November 1348. [2] |
November 1348 | Solothurn | Jewish community killed by burning. [2] | |
16 January 1349 | Basel | 50-70 | Basel massacre: Jewish community burnt. |
22 February 1349 | Schaffhausen | Jewish community burnt. [3] | |
23 February 1349 | Zürich | ≈60 | Zürich massacre: The best source dates the event on evening of Feb 23 without giving further details. One source dates the event on Feb 21. The Jewish community of Zürich at that time had about 100 members out of a population of 6,000. Sources indicate that several women and children were spared as were those willing to accept baptism. |
18 September 1349 | Winterthur | 330 | Winterthur massacre: Jewish community of Winterthur and several other cities (among them Aarau) under the rule of Duke Albrecht of Austria burnt on a hill called Brühlberg. Albrecht tried in vain to protect the Jews by sheltering them for several months in his castle Kyburg, 7 km south of Winterthur. |
25 June 1401 | Schaffhausen | 30 | Schaffhausen massacre: Jews executed by burning. |
25 May 1444 | Greifensee | 62 | Murder of Greifensee: Garrison of a castle beheaded after successful siege, part of the Old Zürich War. |
9 September 1798 | Canton of Nidwalden | 400+ | Catholics killed by French Troops. [4] |
Date | Location | Canton | Dead | Injured | Total | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
21 December 1909 | Hellbühl | Canton of Lucerne | 4 | 0 | 4 | A man shot and killed a couple and their two farmhands.. [5] [6] |
30 August 1912 | Romanshorn | Canton of Thurgau | 7 | 7 [lower-alpha 1] | 14 | Romanshorn shooting: Seven people shot, seven more injured including the mentally ill perpetrator. |
6 February 1922 | Lumino | Republic and Canton of Ticino | 6 [lower-alpha 1] | 8 | 14 | A man killed five people and wounded eight others in a shooting spree. The gunman killed himself. [7] [8] |
23 March 1927 | Zürich | Canton of Zürich | 5 [lower-alpha 1] | 1 | 6 | After his wife petitioned for divorce, a man killed four family members and wounded another before committing suicide. [9] |
9 November 1932 | Geneva | Canton of Geneva | 13 | 65 | 78 | November 1932 Geneva shooting: Police and army fired on a crowd protesting a fascist demonstration. |
April 1937 | Eaux Vives | Canton of Geneva | 5 [lower-alpha 1] | 7 | 15 | A man caused an explosion which killed him and four others. Seven people were wounded. [10] |
26 April 1943 | Zürich | Canton of Zürich | 7 [lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 7 | A man killed six family members and himself. [11] [12] |
21 February 1970 | Würenlingen | Canton of Aargau | 47 | 0 | 47 | Swissair Flight 330: A bomb exploded on board of a plane killing forty-seven people. |
5 June 1976 | Seewen | Canton of Solothurn | 5 | 0 | 5 | Seewen murder case: Five people shot. The crime has never been solved. |
16 April 1986 | Zürich | Canton of Zürich | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1986 Zürich shooting: A man killed four colleagues and wounded a fifth at his workplace. [13] The perpetrator was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was paroled on good behavior after serving 14 years in 2000. [14] He died in 2015 in a bicycle accident. [15] |
30 August 1990 | Zürich | Canton of Thurgau, Canton of Zürich | 6 [lower-alpha 1] | 4 | 10 | A man killed his family before traveling to Zürich and shooting six people, two fatally. He fled the scene and later killed himself. [16] [17] |
19 May 1991 | Val-d'Illiez | Canton of Valais | 6 [lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 6 | A 42-year-old man shot to death all five members of his family, before killing himself in an Alpine cottage. [18] [19] |
4 March 1992 | Lugano District | Republic and Canton of Ticino | 6 | 6 | 12 | Rivera massacre: A man opened fire at multiple homes, killing six and wounding six before being arrested. |
5 October 1994 | Cheiry, Salvan | Canton of Freiburg, Canton of Valais | 48 | Two cult mass murder-suicides related to the Order of the Solar Temple left forty-eight people dead. [20] | ||
27 September 2001 | Zug | Canton of Zug | 15 [lower-alpha 1] | 18 | 33 | Zug massacre: People shot in the parliament of the Canton of Zug. The perpetrator later killed himself. |
29 March 2004 | Escholzmatt | Canton of Lucerne | 5 [lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 5 | A man shot and killed four family members with a pistol, before committing suicide. [21] |
27 February 2013 | Menznau | Canton of Lucerne | 5 [lower-alpha 1] | 5 | 10 | 2013 Menznau shooting: A man opened fire at his workplace, killing four people and wounding five before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. |
9 May 2015 | Würenlingen | Canton of Aargau | 5 [lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 5 | Four people killed before the perpetrator shot himself in a domestic incident. [22] |
21 December 2015 | Rupperswil | Canton of Aargau | 4 | 0 | 4 | Rupperswil murder case: A man murdered four people with a knife. |
9 March 2023 | Yverdon-les-Bains | Canton of Vaud | 5 [lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 5 | Police suspect that a man shot and killed his wife and three daughters before committing suicide. [23] |
The canton of Schaffhausen, also canton of Schaffhouse, is the northernmost canton of Switzerland. The principal city and capital of the canton is Schaffhausen. The canton's territory is divided into three non-contiguous segments, where German territory reaches the Rhine. The large central part, which includes the capital, in turn separates the German exclave of Büsingen am Hochrhein from the rest of Germany.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Switzerland since 1 July 2022. Legislation to open marriage to same-sex couples passed the Swiss Parliament in December 2020. The law was challenged in a referendum on 26 September 2021 by opponents of same-sex marriage and was approved with the support of 64% of voters and a majority in all 26 cantons. The law went into force on 1 July 2022. A provision of the law permitting same-sex marriages performed abroad to be recognised in Switzerland took effect on 1 January 2022. Switzerland was the seventeenth country in Europe and the 30th in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry.
Blick (View) is a Swiss German-language daily newspaper and online news website covering current affairs, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. Based in Zürich, it is the largest newspaper in Switzerland with a print circulation of around 285,000. The newspaper has been printed continuously since its inception in 1959.
Neuhausen am Rheinfall is a town and a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland.
Ringier AG is a media group in Switzerland, founded in 1833 in Zofingen and based in Zürich. The current strategy is based not only on media but also on e-commerce and entertainment. It has a yearly income of approximately 1000 million CHF and around 6,400 employees in nineteen countries.
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The PCS is not a church in a theological understanding, because every member is independent with its own theological and formal organisation. It serves as a legal umbrella before the federal government and represents the church in international relations. Except for the Evangelical-Methodist Church, which covers all of Switzerland, the member churches are restricted to a certain territory.
The Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland was a conservative political party in Switzerland from 2008 to 2020. After the 2019 federal election, the BDP had three members in the National Council.
The Swiss Northeastern Railway was an early railway company in Switzerland. It also operated shipping on Lake Constance (Bodensee) and Lake Zürich. Until the merger of the Western Swiss Railways into the Jura–Simplon Railway (JS) in 1890/91, it was the largest Swiss railway company.
Winterthur railway station is the principal railway station of Winterthur, in the Swiss canton of Zürich. The station is listed on the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National Significance.
Hans Vollenweider was a Swiss criminal. He was the last person to be sentenced to death and executed by a civilian court in Switzerland.
Schaffhausen railway station is a railway station in Schaffhausen, the capital of the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen. The station is jointly owned by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS) and Deutsche Bahn (DB), and is served by trains of both national operators, as well as trains of the Swiss regional operator Thurbo.
Neuhausen is a railway station served by S-Bahn services in the municipality of Neuhausen am Rheinfall, in the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen.
Albert Rösti is a Swiss businessman, lobbyist and politician who has been a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 1 January 2023. He previously presided over the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) from 2016 to 2020 and served as a member of the National Council for the canton of Bern from 2011 until 2022. Rösti resides in Uetendorf near Thun.
The Zürich Islamic center shooting occurred on 19 December 2016 in the Zürich Islamic Center in central Zürich. Three people were injured when a gunman opened fire in the center, though all survived. The perpetrator, who had stabbed a former friend to death the day prior to the shooting, died by suicide after fleeing the scene.
Rolf Hugo Dörig is a Swiss business executive He is chairman of Swiss Life. He was chairman of the Adecco Group from 2009 to 2020.
Anna Rosenwasser is a Swiss journalist, editorialist, political, pro-LGBTQ-activist and politician who currently serves on the National Council (Switzerland)for the Social Democratic Party since 2023.
Céline Marie-Claire Amaudruz is a Swiss banker, attorney and politician who currently serves on the National Council (Switzerland) for the Swiss People's Party since 2011. Amaudruz previously served as president of the Grand Council of Geneva between 2010 and 2016. She is among the richest Swiss politicians in the legislative estimated by Handelszeitung.
Women's football in Switzerland was founded in with the Swiss Women's Super League on April 24, 1970. Women in Switzerland experienced prejudice for playing football. As of 2023, there are more than 30,000 females playing in around 800 teams across Switzerland.
On 16 April 1986 Günther Tschanun opened fire in his workplace in Zürich, Switzerland, killing four people and seriously injuring one. The shooting came after difficulties and tensions in the building authority, where Tschanun was head. Tschanun escaped and was on the run for several weeks after the shooting, before he was caught in France. It was described by the Tages-Anzeiger as "one of the worst crimes in post-war Swiss history".