Davos Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==History== [[File:Johann Heinrich Müller, 1825-1894 J02 Davos.JPG|thumb|left|Davos {{Circa|1870}}. Etching by [[commons:Category:Johann Heinrich Müller (1825-1894)|Heinrich Müller]]]] [[File:ETH-BIB-Davos-Dorf, Davos-Platz, Tinzenhorn v. N. O. aus 300 m-Inlandflüge-LBS MH01-003844.tif|thumb|left|Aerial view from 300 m by [[Walter Mittelholzer]] (1923)]] The current settlement of the Davos area began in the [[High Middle Ages]] with the immigration of [[Romansh language|Rhaeto-Romans]]. The village of Davos is first mentioned in 1213 as ''Tavaus''.<ref name=HDS>{{HDS|1571|Davos}}</ref> From about 1280 the barons of [[Vaz/Obervaz|Vaz]] allowed German-speaking [[Walser]] colonists to settle and conceded them extensive self-administration rights.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Pfister |first=Max |title=Jahrhundertealter Davoser Kampf um Freiheit |publisher=Verlag Buchdruckerei Davos |year=1989 |location=Davos |pages=13–14 |language=de}}</ref> In 1289 an agreement between the people of Davos and the baron of Vaz included that the Davoser citizens would not have to pay personal taxes, only the Government of Davos had to pay a yearly amount of goods to the baron of Vaz.<ref>Max Pfister (1989) p.14</ref> Davos became the largest Walser settlement area in eastern Switzerland. Natives still speak a [[dialect]] that is atypical for Graubünden, showing similarities with the German spoken in [[Raron]] in Canton [[Valais#Demographics|Valais]].<ref name=":0" /> In 1338, with the death of the last Baron of Vaz, Davos came into possession of Frederick V, the [[Counts of Toggenburg|Count of Toggenburg]], who was the brother of the wife of the deceased baron.<ref name=":1" /> Davos retained its right to elect its Landamman independently.<ref name=":1" /> In 1436, the [[League of the Ten Jurisdictions]] was founded in Davos.<ref name=":1">Pfister, Max (1989).p.15</ref> In 1438, Davos received additional rights in an agreement in which the League of the Ten Jurisdictions and the rights received in the older treaty from 1289 were both acknowledged.<ref name=":2">Pfister, Max (1989).p.16</ref> With this agreement, Davos was exempted from trade taxes in the territory of the Ten Jurisdictions and only obliged to provide men for military services within the territory of eight of the Ten Jurisdictions.<ref name=":2" /> In 1443 Davos came under the control of the [[Counts of Montfort (Swabia)|Counts of Montfort]], under which Davos also retained its rights.<ref name=":2" /> In 1450 an alliance between the League of the Ten Jurisdictions and the [[League of God's House]] was signed.<ref name=":2" /> The Counts of Montfort reached a financial impasse and sold Davos to Duke Sigmund of [[Tyrol]] in 1466.<ref name=":2" /> This lead Davos to search for support of the two other [[Rhaetic|Raethian]] leagues and a treaty with the [[Grey League]] was reached in 1471.<ref name=":3">Pfister, Max (1989).p.17</ref> As a result, Davos refused to follow the orders of the Austrian Empire.<ref name=":3" /> Eventually a compromise was found, under which Davos would come under the control of the [[House of Matsch]], but Austria kept a right to repurchase Davos.<ref name=":3" /> From the middle of the 19th century, Davos, modeled on Görbersdorf (now [[Sokołowsko]]), became a popular destination for the sick and ailing because the [[microclimate]] in the high valley was deemed excellent by doctors (initiated by [[Alexander Spengler]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.davos.ch/en/stay/davos-klosters/history/alexander-spengler.html|title=Alexander Spengler Davos Klosters|access-date=1 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410060952/http://www.davos.ch/en/stay/davos-klosters/history/alexander-spengler.html|archive-date=10 April 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>) and recommended for [[lung disease]] patients. [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], who suffered from [[tuberculosis]], wintered in Davos in 1880 on the recommendation of his Edinburgh physician George Balfour. [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] wrote an article about skiing in Davos in 1899. A sanatorium in Davos is also the inspiration for the Berghof Sanitorium in [[Thomas Mann]]'s novel ''Der Zauberberg'' (''[[The Magic Mountain]]''). Between 1936 and 1938, [[Ernst Ludwig Kirchner]], then at the end of his life and living in Davos since 1917, depicted Davos and the Junkerboden. His painting has a both [[Romanticism|Romantic]] and [[pantheistic]] atmosphere and simplified formal structure. The several sanatoria in Davos attracted a great number of German patients, of which many remained in Davos.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2020-05-05 |title=Davos im Zweiten Weltkrieg - Der weltberühmte Kurort war einst ein Nazi-Nest |url=https://www.srf.ch/kultur/gesellschaft-religion/1945/davos-im-zweiten-weltkrieg-der-weltberuehmte-kurort-war-einst-ein-nazi-nest |access-date=2024-04-13 |website=Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) |language=de}}</ref> As a result, during World War II, in which Switzerland remained neutral, Davos was a centre of Nazi activity in Switzerland.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Venetz |first=Matthias |date=2024-04-13 |title=Davos arbeitet seine Nazi-Vergangenheit auf |url=https://www.nzz.ch/schweiz/naziverseucht-wie-keine-andere-ortschaft-davos-arbeitet-seine-braune-vergangenheit-auf-ld.1824055 |access-date=2024-04-13 |work=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |language=de-CH |issn=0376-6829}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> Nowhere else in the country were there more [[Nazi Party|NSDAP]] members as a share of the population.<ref name=":5" /> In the many German-led sanatoria and schools, Nazi salutes and flags were ''de rigueur''.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4" /> Swiss Nazi leader [[Wilhelm Gustloff]]'s 1936 assassination in Davos led to tensions with Nazi Germany.<ref name=":5" /> At the end of the war, Federal Councillor [[Ernst Nobs]] described Davos as "more nazi-infested than any other Swiss place".<ref name=":5" /> In 2022, Davos mayor Philip Willhelm commissioned a study from historian Stefan Keller documenting the history of Nazi influence in Davos.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Davos und der Nationalsozialismus – Veranstaltung zum Stand der Forschung |url=https://www.gemeindedavos.ch/aktuellesinformationen/2075428 |access-date=2024-04-13 |website=Gemeinde Davos |language=de-CH}}</ref> During the ''natural ice'' era of [[winter sport]]s, Davos and the ''[[Davos Eisstadion]]'' were a mecca for [[speed skating]]. Many international championships were held here, and many world records were set, beginning with [[Peder Østlund]] who set four records in 1898. The only European [[Bandy]] Championship was held in the town in 1913.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://geocities.com/Colosseum/Track/2049/English/Switzerland.html|title=Switzerland|date=28 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028160240/http://geocities.com/Colosseum/Track/2049/English/Switzerland.html|archive-date=28 October 2009}}</ref> Subsequently, Davos became a ski resort, especially frequented by tourists from the United Kingdom and the [[Netherlands]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} After peaking in the 1970s and 1980s, the city settled down as a leading but less high-profile tourist attraction. The American [[Samuel Van Leer|Van Leer]] family immigrated from here with their former Valär surname. Today Valärs still live and are members of government.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://idrc.info/former-conferences/idrc-davos-2012/plenary-sessions/opening-ceremony/ |title=Opening Ceremony: IDRC |publisher=Idrc.info |date=2012-08-26 |access-date=2022-03-16 |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118215523/https://idrc.info/former-conferences/idrc-davos-2012/plenary-sessions/opening-ceremony/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vanleerarchives.org/home/van-leer-family-europe/|title = Van Leer Family Europe}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! 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