European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 15, 1948, Darmstadt, Hesse                                & the Baden ssi via Village of Businger where butter eggs cheese bread automobiles gasoline tires and Coffee Are not rationed s or a " j 4- of a " by fanning and a ?. Liver 5�- i a " � " photographs by Oliver Gregg Howard of. \ ? a a \ a residents of Businger i Small German town entirely surrounded by the Swiss Canton Ofa Safe set. ? � Ito " l of  live a  abundance have never experienced  Black Market a i. To a " _. I a. _ 3 " i.1 w v ,1 i"1 i t " f _ �. F Hen Karl Small town on -the., Rhine in Iden arises in the morning  Ris Asif not to breakfast on Straw and  eggs free wit Cream r and sugar White read spread chicle with fresh butter and a if  likes Orange  a  third cup of Coffee land a   reads the morn sing paper  kisses his wife goodbye goes  to the garage and gets in his hew Fiat which  has driven Only 1600 Kilometres backs it out and Heads Dow the main street., pulls up at a Gas pump and without ratio i tickets. Or anything More than the Standard Price s?7-8# out 16 cents a liter tells  attend ant to fill it   is waiting  i walks across the Street inserts a few a coins in a vending machine and receives Lin Exchange a pack of his favorite Brand of Cigar ets. After paying for the gasoline an exchanging complaints with the to Engahl about the High Cost of living  drives off to work in his car .e,%h5s wife has seen the of children off to school on their bicycles a Jeand sets but to do the Day s  she likes she May Stop in at the red Tjien Jan for a cup of thick  she checks Over her grocery list. Rethis list besides enumerating such Staples As bread butter milk cheese Coffee sugar and the like May. Contain such items As ice Cream which must  ordered a Day in ad-l2rvapcecakes sweets of various sorts  both laundry and toilet tooth a of paste wine various Small items of., a Wehrt Noch to. Clothing almost anything in fact that a housewife inlay Boradeh new Jersey could Purchase in that town s business District. Of among the"950-Odd citizens of big r Singen  remarkable or unusual about this routine for although Businger is part of the French zone of germany1 it is completely surrounded by the Swiss Canton of Schaffhausen. This Little German Island stretches along. The right Bank of the Rhine for some three Miles just above the City of Schaffhausen and extends Inland for about a mile and a. Half at its greatest Width. The average non Bissingen Ger Man has about As much Chance of visit ing this Little German Paradise As .has of getting to Miami Beach next Winter for the dog races. T entries of wars big and Little i religious and political have deter mined the boundaries in the Lak Constance area where Germany aus Tria and Switzerland come together anywhere with occasional visits by the French they have been coming together with some violence Over a period of a thousand years. After belonging to practically every Prince or principality of. Any importance in that part of Europe Businger in 1810 became a part of Baden and has remained such eve since. As an enclave entirely surrounded by Switzerland arrangements were worked out Over a period of years whereby Businger was a fortified and not permitted to House troops. Businger served in German armies in both world wars but or order to visit Home by Singer soldiers had to secure special 1 f j passes from the Swiss who took special pains to see that Only a few soldiers were visiting Home at any one time and that they left their weapons in Ger Many. Before and during the second War the germans of Businger. Were not exempted from the nazi cleansing considered necessary by Hitler s govern ment. They elected a nazi burgomaster and town Council. Short memory def Busm Gers Are unable to recall just How i Many and which1 of their numbers  longed to the party but there Are sup Posedly a dozen or so citizens who can leave Businger that is enter Switzer land Only if they Are in route to Ger a j Many proper. According to present burgomaster Friederich Guenthers the nazi sponsored burgomaster and Mostof his Council Are now in jail in Frei. Burg. They were All outsiders any Way Guenthers says.  bids Ingerson t care what happens to them this coolness on the part of big singers toward the. Mother country is in rather Sharp contrast according to the Swiss customs guard to the attitude during the heyday of the nazi regime my Job May look easy now  explains but there was hell to pay when the nazis were in Power. The Busm Gers never let any of us Swiss forget the were  with the end of the War and the  ginning of the occupation the French sent a detachment to Businger. The size of this detachment was limited by. An old German Swiss treaty which the French scrupulously respected to one officer and eight enlisted men. Since 7-41  % november 11946� however no French a troops have been stationed in the town and except for a rare visit from a French i military government Xref trial Busm Vershave been left to their1 own  officials of Baden must secure permission from the Swiss to visit their constituents in Businger and so far none of them has taken the trouble. An Ordinary German can visit Businger Only for one Day and then Only to visit i relatives. No overnight stays Are per