A German village that Switzerland would not annex
Büsingen am Hochrhein is a German municipality of 7.62 km² in Baden-Württemberg, with 1,439 residents at the end of 2025. It is an exclave of Germany, surrounded by Switzerland, about 5 km from Schaffhausen. A strip of Swiss land about 680 m wide at its narrowest, containing the village of Dörflingen, separates it from the rest of Germany.
Its border with Switzerland is 17.141 km long and marked by 123 stones. It came under Habsburg control in 1465, and in 1693 the abduction of an Austrian feudal lord by Swiss authorities led to a dispute that helped keep the village out of Swiss hands. In 1918, 96 percent of voters in a referendum backed joining Switzerland, but no land transfer took place.
Politically German, Büsingen is economically part of the Swiss customs union. The euro is legal tender, but Swiss francs are more widely used. Swiss VAT rates apply, with a 7.7 percent standard rate, while German VAT is 19 percent.
A treaty in force since 4 October 1967 formally defined the exclave, and there have been no border controls between Switzerland and Büsingen since then. Cars carry the plate code BÜS, and only about 700 are in use at any time.
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