Gadmen

Gadmen is a small village and a former municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

On 1 January 2014, the former municipality of Gadmen merged into the municipality of Innertkirchen.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 13 December 2014

The name Gadmen comes from the Old High German "gadum," meaning barn or small house, and was first mentioned in 1382.

The municipality is in a municipal partnership with Volketswil in the Canton of Zürich.

History

left, Aerial view (1956)
Gadmen is first mentioned in 1382 as ''im Gadmen''.

During the Middle Ages, the Gadmen area was part of the Vogtei of Hasli and part of the Meiringen parish. In 1334 the entire Vogtei was acquired by Bern. During the Middle Ages a chapel was built in the village. In 1713 Gadmen became part of the parish of Innertkirchen and in 1722 the chapel expanded into a filial church. In 1816 the church became a parish church and Gadmen became an independent parish.

The residents of the village generally lived on farming, seasonal alpine herding and from traffic over the Susten Pass. During the 19th century, the farms became increasingly mechanized and many residents were forced to emigrate to North America for jobs. The construction of the Susten Road in 1939-45 opened up the village to tourism and provided additional jobs. During construction and after its completion, the Oberhasli AG power plant became the largest employer in the municipality.

Geography

Before the merger, Gadmen had a total area of . As of 2012, a total of or 8.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 16.7% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 0.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 73.1% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010

During the same year, housing and buildings made up 0.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.4%. All of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 1.7% is pasturage and 6.5% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 0.9% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 13.3% is unproductive vegetation, 33.0% is too rocky for vegetation and 26.8% of the land is covered by glaciers.

On 31 December 2009, Amtsbezirk Oberhasli, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Interlaken-Oberhasli.

Gadmen lies in the Bernese Oberland, and the Susten Pass lies on the eastern border of the municipality. It lies in the Gadmer watershed. The municipal borders stretch from the valley floor, with an elevation of , up to the nearby mountain peaks at about . It is located on the border of the Canton of Bern with the Cantons of Obwalden, Nidwalden, Uri and Valais. The neighboring municipalities are Engelberg, Wassen, Göschenen, Guttannen, Innertkirchen and Kerns.

There are three glaciers in Gadmen, the Stein Glacier, the Trift Glacier and the Wenden Glacier. Beneath the Stein Glacier is Lake Stein. The most famous mountain in Gadmen is the Titlis.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is ''Or a Bar Gules in chief an Eagle displayed Sable crowned, beaked, langued and membered of the first and in base an Alpine Hut of the third.''

Demographics

Gadmen had a population (as of 2011) of 228.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 16 January 2014 , 3.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last year (2010-2011) the population has changed at a rate of -1.7%. Migration accounted for 1.7%, while births and deaths accounted for -3.0%.

Most of the population () speaks German (268 or 98.5%) as their first language, while one person each speaks French and Spanish.

, the population was 53.4% male and 46.6% female. The population was made up of 123 Swiss men (53.0% of the population) and 1 (0.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 102 Swiss women (44.0%) and 6 (2.6%) non-Swiss women.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 162 or about 59.6% were born in Gadmen and lived there in 2000. There were 42 or 15.4% who were born in the same canton, while 32 or 11.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 28 or 10.3% were born outside of Switzerland.

, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 14.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 61% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 24.6%.

, there were 102 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 144 married individuals, 22 widows or widowers and 4 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011

, there were 43 households that consist of only one person and 7 households with five or more people. , a total of 100 apartments (67.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 35 apartments (23.5%) were seasonally occupied and 14 apartments (9.4%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 4.3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 3.39%. In 2011, single family homes made up 70.8% of the total housing in the municipality.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

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bar:1850 from:start till:739 text:"739"
bar:1860 from:start till:754 text:"754"
bar:1870 from:start till:783 text:"783"
bar:1880 from:start till:759 text:"759"
bar:1888 from:start till:731 text:"731"
bar:1900 from:start till:672 text:"672"
bar:1910 from:start till:568 text:"568"
bar:1920 from:start till:477 text:"477"
bar:1930 from:start till:434 text:"434"
bar:1941 from:start till:523 text:"523"
bar:1950 from:start till:485 text:"485"
bar:1960 from:start till:510 text:"510"
bar:1970 from:start till:482 text:"482"
bar:1980 from:start till:363 text:"363"
bar:1990 from:start till:301 text:"301"
bar:2000 from:start till:272 text:"272"
bar:2010 from:start till:225 text:"225"

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 35.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (29.4%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (13.2%) and the FDP.The Liberals (7.4%). In the federal election, a total of 72 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 34.0%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

The largest industries are tourism and agriculture.

, Gadmen had an unemployment rate of 0.37%. , there were a total of 100 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 37 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 17 businesses involved in this sector. 14 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 4 businesses in this sector. 49 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 11 businesses in this sector. There were 107 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.4% of the workforce.

there were a total of 70 full-time equivalent jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 20, all in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 13 of which 5 or (38.5%) were in manufacturing. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 37. In the tertiary sector; 2 or 5.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 5.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 29 or 78.4% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in education and 2 or 5.4% were in health care.

, there were 7 workers who commuted into the municipality and 47 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 6.7 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 60 workers (89.6% of the 67 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Gadmen.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 11.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 52.3% used a private car.

In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Gadmen making 150,000 CHF was 13.3%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 19.6%. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in the same year, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide average was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively.

In 2009 there were a total of 97 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 13 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 3 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The greatest number of workers, 25, made between 50,000 and 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Gadmen was 89,592 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF.

In 2011 a total of 0.9% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.

Religion

From the , 226 or 83.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 34 or 12.5% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 member of an Orthodox church, and there were 2 individuals (or about 0.74% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Muslim. 5 (or about 1.84% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 3 individuals (or about 1.10% of the population) did not answer the question.

Climate

Between 1981 and 2010 Gadmen had an average of 152.6 days of rain or snow per year and on average received of precipitation. The wettest month was July during which time Gadmen received an average of of rain or snow. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 14.6 days. The month with the most days of precipitation was June, with an average of 15.6, but with only of rain or snow. The driest month of the year was October with an average of of precipitation over 10 days., the Gadmen weather station elevation is 1190 meters above sea level.

Education

In Gadmen about 46.2% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 4.9% have completed additional higher education (either university or a ''Fachhochschule''). Of the 7 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 57.1% were Swiss men, 42.9% were Swiss women.

The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

During the 2011–12 school year, there were a total of 10 students attending classes in Gadmen. There were no kindergarten classes and only one primary class with all 10 students.Schuljahr 2011/12 pdf document
accessed 9 May 2013

, there were a total of 28 students attending any school in the municipality. During the same year, 5 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

External links

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{{Authority control

Former municipalities of the canton of Bern
Oberhasli
Villages in the canton of Bern