40 years after the robbery: many theories remain about the Unspunnenstein
Published: Sunday, May 26th 2024, 09:50
Updated At: Monday, Jun 3rd 2024, 05:50
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The Unspunnenstein was first stolen by Jura separatists 40 years ago today. Since the second theft in 2005, the symbolic stone has been missing. The Interlaken Gymnastics Club owns the stone and would like to put it in a museum.
"We would still like to have the stone back," Peter Michel tells the Keystone-SDA news agency. Michel is president of the Interlaken Gymnastics Club (TV). He hasn't seen the stone for a long time and has no idea where it is.
Maybe it's in the Jura. Maybe at the bottom of Lake Thun. Maybe nobody knows where he is anymore. "There are many theories," says Michel. But he is certain: "If the stone comes back, it will do so in a spectacular way."
The stone was stolen for the first time on June 3, 1984. The Béliers - the young Jura separatists - stole it from the Interlaken Museum of Tourism. No easy feat, as the stone weighed 83.5 kilograms.
The Unspunnenstein is actually a piece of competition equipment that has to be thrown as far as possible during a stone throwing competition. The original stone was first thrown in 1808 at the second Unspunnen Festival, which still takes place every twelve years. Without this original stone, TV Interlaken had to find a replacement after it was stolen in 1984 and found one in the Grimsel region.
The first return was a show
The stolen stone was returned in 2001, apparently on a private initiative and not in agreement with the Béliers, as separatist spokesman Jonathan Gosteli told the Berner Zeitung three years ago. It was received by the wife of the former Swiss ambassador in Berlin, Shawne Fielding. It was a show.
The stone had been carved by the Béliers: They had carved European stars and their coat of arms into it, as well as the date of the federal vote on the European Economic Area in 1992. The stone no longer weighed 83.5 kilograms and was therefore no longer usable as a competition stone.
In 2005 the stone disappeared again, this time it was stolen from the lobby of the Hotel Victoria-Jungfrau in Interlaken. The thieves left behind a paving stone with the Jura coat of arms painted on it. The stone has been missing since then, and hopes of its return have been raised regularly.
The last time Peter Michel actively sought the stone was in 2011 before the Unspunnenschwingen, he says. In 2017, before the next event, which takes place every six years, rumors were again circulating about a possible return. TV Interlaken was willing to talk, but the hopes remained unfulfilled.
Baume-Schneider thinks it's time for a return
After Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, the first female federal councillor from the Jura, took office in 2023 - it was shortly before another Unspunnenschwingen - TV Interlaken wrote a letter to the newly elected magistrate. Michel does not know whether she replied. At least there was no movement on the matter.
Baume-Schneider told the "NZZ am Sonntag" last August that it was time for the people concerned to think about how and when the Unspunnenstein would be returned. "At an institutional level, the Jura question is over." The stone remains missing.
Peter Michel is the most successful stone cutter in history. "I've experienced a lot with the stone," he says. He thinks about it from time to time. If the stone came back, he would like to put it in a museum. Michel says: "The stone is now a witness to history".
©Keystone/SDA
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