Border between Austria and Switzerland

Border between Switzerland and Austria

The border between Austria and Switzerland has a total length of 180 kilometers according to the Swiss view or 166 kilometers according to Austria . The difference is explained by the unexplained boundary in the depths of the Obersee , part of Lake Constance . On the Austrian side of the border are the federal states of Vorarlberg and Tyrol , on the Swiss side the cantons of St. Gallen and Graubünden . The borderline is divided into two parts: that part that essentially follows the course of the Alpine Rhine in the Rhine Valley and that part that runs east of Liechtenstein through alpine to high-alpine terrain along the Rätikon , the Silvretta and parts of the Samnaun group . In between lies the Principality of Liechtenstein , which interrupts the common border between Austria and Switzerland for a few kilometers.

With the exception of Lake Constance, the current border line was regulated in a legally binding bilateral state treaty on September 16, 1972.

Borderline

Open border in the Rhine Valley near St. Margrethen (CH) / Höchst (A) (2005)

The middle of the Alpine Rhine, here between Au (CH, top left in the picture) and Lustenau (A, bottom right in the picture), forms the state border over long stretches of the Rhine Valley

Border crossing for hikers in the high alpine Fimbatal

The border begins in the north in Lake Constance, although the exact demarcation is still disputed here. While Switzerland assumes that the Obersee of Lake Constance is to be assigned to the neighboring countries in the sense of a real division , the condominium theory prevails in Austria , according to which the area of ​​the "Hohen See" (i.e. from a lake depth of more than 25 meters) is jointly administered Bordering states.

The beginning of the demarcation on the edge of Lake Constance at the confluence of the Old Rhine at Rheineck SG or Gaißau in Lake Constance is undisputed . Here the middle of the river forms the natural border between the two states. In the course of the regulation of the Alpine Rhine at the beginning of the 20th century, the Alpine Rhine in the Rhine Valley was straightened, but the original border between Austria and Switzerland was retained. As a result, the municipalities of Gaißau, Höchst and Fußach are the only Austrian municipalities west of the new course of the Rhine today. At the Bruggerloch in the southernmost part of the municipality of Höchst, the demarcation changes to the middle of the (New) Rhine. In this section, the Alpine Rhine forms the border between the Swiss municipalities of Au SG and Widnau and the Austrian municipality of Lustenau .

Shortly after the "Wiesenrain" customs office, the border changes again to the course of the Old Rhine , which is an inland waterway in this part and makes Diepoldsau the only Swiss municipality east of the new course of the Alpine Rhine in the Rhine Valley. The Old Rhine and with it the international border stretches in a wide arc around Diepoldsau to the east. After that, the border changes back to the middle of the (New) Rhine.

This is followed by the border to the Feldkirch district of Bangs in the southwest of Vorarlberg, where the common border between Austria and Switzerland is interrupted by the territory of the Principality of Liechtenstein . This three-country border point at the same time represents the westernmost border point of Austria and the northernmost of the Principality of Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein forms a monolith between Austria and Switzerland, whereby the state border of the two states only again at the summit of the Naafkopf in the Rätikon at 2571 meters above the Adriatic Sea (or 2570 meters over sea according to Swiss measurements). From this point on, the canton of St. Gallen no longer borders on Austria, but the canton of Graubünden. As a result, the state border extends over the Rätikon mountain ridge and is connected to the main ridge of the Silvretta chain , including the Piz Buin , at 3312 m above sea level. the highest mountain in Vorarlberg, forms one of the border points. The crossing of the two peaks of the Dreiländerspitze marks the internal border between the Austrian states of Vorarlberg and Tyrol. With the 3399 m above sea level (or 3398 m above sea level) high Fluchthorn crosses the common border and subsequently also the second highest peak of the Silvretta and thereby reaches the highest point of the common national border. Then she also crosses some peaks of the Samnaun group . Between Schalkl, a district of the Austrian municipality of Pfunds , and Martina , a district of the Swiss municipality of Valsot , the state border to Finstermünz initially runs on the western bank next to the old road and jumps directly south of the Finstermünz bridge into the middle of the Inn . After that, the state border between Tyrol and Graubünden runs a few hundred meters through the Sesvenna group and ends shortly before the summit of Piz Lad in the triangle with Italy .

Height diagram of the border between Switzerland and Austria

Border crossing and border traffic

Border crossing between Meiningen (A) and Oberriet (CH)

In the Alpine Rhine Valley there are currently ten direct border crossings for individual traffic between Switzerland and Austria, all of which are in the form of bridges over the (old or new) Rhine. The borderline southeast of Liechtenstein, which is mainly located in high alpine terrain, allows cross-border motorized individual traffic in this area only between the Austrian municipalities of Spiss or Pfunds / Nauders and the Swiss Samnaun and the village of Martina GR in the Lower Engadine .

Railway lines connect the two countries between St. Margrethen and Bregenz and between Buchs SG and Feldkirch . Long-distance trains and local trains of the Vorarlberg S-Bahn run on both . However , the state border between Austria and Switzerland is only crossed directly on the St. Margrethen – Lauterach railway , which the S3 line travels every half hour. The Feldkirch – Buchs line , on which local trains of the Austrian Federal Railways also run, runs across Liechtenstein territory and therefore first crosses the border between Austria and Liechtenstein and then the border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland . In addition, there is a transnational service of the International Rhine Regulation with museum operation.

Since Austria has been part of the Schengen area since 1997, Switzerland since 2008 and Liechtenstein since 2011 , there are no longer any regular identity checks at the border . On the other hand, there are customs controls because Switzerland and Liechtenstein are not members of the EU . These customs controls are carried out on the Austrian side by the Operational Customs Control and on the Swiss side (as well as in the Principality of Liechtenstein) by the Border Guard . However, border control was temporarily resumed on different occasions by one of the two sides (or by both states alternately), for example during the European Football Championship in 2008 and during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 . In the latter case, air traffic between the two countries was also suspended and smaller border crossings closed entirely.

history

Historical map of Europe in 1849

Information sign of the French occupation forces after the Second World War

Old Rhine near Diepoldsau. The border leads along the small reed islets in the picture below. Gravel was mined here for years. Only a small strip of land border remained.

A common borderline between the sovereign states of Switzerland and Austria can only be clearly established in the 19th century, since before that the European landscape of states was so fragmented that one can speak more of borders between counties and ruled areas than of national borders. These borders were also subject to constant change as a result of numerous armed conflicts. For the first time, such a national border can be established with the establishment of the Austrian Empire on August 11, 1804. In 1805, as a result of the Third Coalition War , the Austrian Empire lost Vorarlberg and Tyrol to the Kingdom of Bavaria and its Italian rulers to the Kingdom of Italy , meaning that there was no longer a common border between the Austrian Empire and Switzerland. In 1815, in the course of the Vienna Congress for the reorganization of Europe after the Napoleonic Wars , the borders of the Swiss Confederation and the Austrian Empire were redefined. At that time, the common state border was many times longer than it is today, as the territory of Austria in particular was again significantly larger. The areas of South Tyrol bordering on Switzerland and the Kingdom of Lombardo-Venetia belonged to the Austrian Empire at this point in time, which means that the common border extended significantly further south than is the case today. Vorarlberg and Tyrol also belonged to Austria again after the Congress of Vienna. The Ticino bordered entirely to the Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.

This situation changed in 1859 when Austria lost the Kingdom of Lombardy to France and Sicily in the course of the Sardinian War . After this loss of territory, the joint state border between Austria-Hungary and Switzerland was limited to today's border with South Tyrol and the state border that exists today. In 1868 the centuries-long border dispute over the Novellaberg in the Lower Engadine was settled.

For the first time, the state border was firmly anchored in the contract and precisely measured geographically, however, only in the course of the joint Rhine regulation . The demarcation of the boundary was determined in particular in the Rhine Valley, whereby it should be located in the middle of the original course of the Rhine. This state treaty on the common borders was approved by protocol on May 14th and 17th, 1909. In the original state treaty on the regulation of the Rhine of 1892 it had also already been specified that the border should be in the middle of the Old Rhine, but it was also considered to move the border in the area of ​​the Fußacher piercing into the middle of the river of the new Rhine. However, this would have had the consequence that the Austrian communities Gaißau, Höchst and Fußach would have fallen to Switzerland. After the Diepoldsau breakthrough had also been completed in 1923 , it became necessary to define a boundary in this area as well. For this purpose, a joint border assessment commission was set up made up of representatives from both countries, the findings of which ultimately resulted in a protocol dated November 5, 1935.

After the First World War , the newly founded Republic of Austria also lost South Tyrol as part of its national territory, and in 1918 the state border changed over to the border that still exists today. The course of the common border did not experience any major changes. After the sovereign state of Austria ceased to exist in the course of the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in March 1938, there was no longer a common border between Austria and Switzerland from 1938 to 1945. Only with the liberation of Austria from the National Socialists and the re-establishment of the free republic in 1945 did the common border with Switzerland revive. In 1954, due to a new international treaty between the Republic of Austria and the Swiss Confederation in the area of ​​the Alpine Rhine, there was again a regulation that narrowed the central channel on the Austrian side. Because of this, the state border located in the middle of the river moved a few meters east, i.e. on the Austrian side, whereby Switzerland was able to record 9.7 hectares of area growth. In order to compensate for this area growth, Austria was assigned areas at the upper and lower end of the Diepoldsauer Durchstich in the same area, so that in this area the border has smaller deviations from the normal line within the river bed.

In the 1960s, the state border in the area of ​​the Alpine Rhine was set again by a joint border commission, which ultimately resulted in the state treaty of September 16, 1972 on the course of the common state border.

See also

• Referendum in Vorarlberg in 1919
• List of Swiss rail border crossings
• Austrian border crossings to neighboring countries

literature

• Ferdinand Waibel: The regulation of the state borders . In: Internationale Rheinregulierung Rohrschach (Ed.): The Alpine Rhine and its regulation. International Rhine Regulation 1892–1992. 2nd edition, BuchsDruck, Buchs 1993, ISBN 3-905222-65-5 , pp. 190-192.

Web links

Commons : border between Austria and Switzerland  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Treaty between the Republic of Austria and the Swiss Confederation on the course of the common national border from September 16, 1972 in the legal information system of the Republic of Austria
• Treaty between the Swiss Confederation and the Republic of Austria on the course of the common national border in the systematic collection of federal law

Individual evidence

1. ↑ national border. Federal Office of Topography, accessed on May 16, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Article state border . In: Ernst Bruckmüller: Austria Lexicon . Publishing Association Österreich-Lexikon, Vienna 2004.
3. ↑ Sovereign View - State Borders . Explanation card from the State Office for Surveying and Geoinformation Bavaria from 2010.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Ulrich Nachbaur : Vorarlberg territorial questions between 1945 and 1948. A contribution to the history of Vorarlberg borders since 1805 (=  Vorarlbergs archive [Ed.]: Research on the history of Vorarlberg . Band 8 (NF)). UVK Verlagsgesellschaft , Konstanz 2007, ISBN 978-3-89669-629-8 , chapter 12.7. Who does Lake Constance belong to? , S. 262–295 (available as PDF at Academia.edu ).
5. ^ Claudius Graf-Schelling : The sovereignty on Lake Constance with special consideration of shipping . Schulthess Polygraphischer Verlag, Zurich 1978, ISBN 3-7255-1914-5 .
6. ^ Robert Günter Klien: When the Mondin became a Swiss . In: Pfundser Dorfzeitung, June 2014 . 2014.
7. ↑ Topography of Switzerland: border at Finstermünz. Retrieved November 26, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Border controls in Switzerland have been started. In: Vorarlberger Nachrichten (VN.at). March 14, 2020, accessed March 17, 2020 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b c d} Waibel: The regulation of the state borders . In: Internationale Rheinregulierung Rohrschach (Ed.): The Alpine Rhine and its regulation. International Rhine Regulation 1892–1992. Book 1993.
10. ^ Ulrich Nachbaur : Vorarlberger Territorialfragen 1945 to 1948. A contribution to the history of the Vorarlberg state borders since 1805 (=  Vorarlberger Landesarchiv [Hrsg.]: Research on the history of Vorarlbergs . Volume 8 (NF)). UVK Verlagsgesellschaft , Konstanz 2007, ISBN 978-3-89669-629-8 , chapter 12.5. Exchange of territory on the Rhine: Establishing and changing the federal and state borders with Switzerland , p. 254–258 (available as PDF at Academia.edu ).