Germany–Switzerland border

Switzerland north of the Rhine

Schaffhausen is Switzerland’s most northerly canton and lies north of the Rhine, west of Lake Constance. Germany surrounds it on the north, east and west, and German land splits it into three separate parts. The city of Schaffhausen joined the Swiss Confederation in 1501, and the canton grew from its later acquisitions.^[2]

The reverse happens at Konstanz, on Lake Constance: it is the only part of Germany on the lake’s southwestern shore, surrounded by Swiss territory except where it faces the water.^[1]

Büsingen

Büsingen, a village of about 1,500 people just east of Schaffhausen, became an exclave in 1770, when the Habsburgs sold the rights to neighbouring Dörflingen to Zurich. It later passed to Württemberg, then Baden, and since 1952 has been in Baden-Württemberg. At its narrowest, only about 500 metres of Swiss land separate it from the rest of Germany.^[3]

In 1918, 96% of voters in a local referendum backed joining Switzerland, but Switzerland refused. Further attempts between the wars failed in the face of opposition from Baden, and after World War II the Swiss government opposed a British MP’s proposal to hand the village to Switzerland. In 1956 the Constance district asked Switzerland for a corridor to connect it to Germany, but Switzerland could not find German land to take in exchange.^[3]

A treaty signed in 1964 and in force from 1967 put Büsingen inside the Swiss customs territory. There is no border post: residents pay Swiss VAT, about 95% of working people have jobs in Switzerland, and shops take Swiss francs even though the official currency is the euro. The post office has both a Swiss and a German postcode.^[3]