European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 5, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                On the roads Highway construction Sites Austria a at Salzburg North a-7 Between Dornach arid Tref fling a-13 Between Schonberg and Matra Iwald exit. Germany a a-1 Between the up Husen Bremen Lahndorf and Bremen hem Lingen exits. A-2 Between Hahn and interchange Kamen. A-4 interchange Kiln Sud and Kiln poll. A-5 Between the Jastatt and Baden Baden exits Fernward and interchange Gambach. A-7 interchange Hamburg Northwest a-8 Between Karlsbad and interchange Karlsruhe. A-9 Between Weissenfels and a d i Lerenberg exits. A-10 Between Rudersdorf Fandy Berwin Kopenick and Between Bertin Hetle Sorf and Rudersdorf. A-61 Between Ahrweiler and Sinzig. A-q1 ludwigs Burg North and ludwigs Burg South Netherlands a a-52 Between arnhem and Nijm Egen. Switzerland a n-2 Between die ten and Belche Tunnel. This is a partial list of major projects a Mountain passes closed Austria a Lech Warth Silvetta Timmel Joch Stalle Rattei. France a Altos. Croix de for Galbier Glandon Iserman Izzard Kleiner St. Bernhard reste Tond la  a still Serkoch Penser Joch forc Ofa i Livigno Grodner  a Albula col de la Croix Furka St. Gotthard pass Grimski Klausen Luk Maniery Numen in grosser St. Bernhard pass of berate san Bernardi Opass a Fugen Susten umbral. B gasoline prices prices Are per liter for unleaded super. Austria a 85c Belgium a 87c czech Republic a 66c Croatia a 74c Denmark a 83? England a 70� on the Economy France 90c-94c Germany a 84c-91c on the Economy Greece 90c Hungary a 83c Italy a 97c-99c on the Economy Poland a 51 of slovak Republic a 66c Slovenia a 51 a Spain a 84c Switzerland a 58c-71c Yugoslavia a $1.98.highway information Telephone numbers listed Are valid for the country named. If calling from another country Check your local Telephone directory Lor the International Access and country codes. Quot. England 0898-500-241 highways traffic in Britain and Europe Royal automobile club Germany a 01169 highways traffic in Germany. Europe Al Gemeiner Deutscher automobile club German language Only. Italy a a 06-4212 or 06-43631 highways traffic in Italy italian automobile club ac1, italian language Only source All Geminer Deutscher autom Btl club Munich Germany . Times. William Tell is a cardboard hero at the Lausanne historical museum exhibit that debunks it a owed chapters of Swiss history. V a a a. Saga of William Tell a tall tale by Henry Kamm the new York times Switzerland s Alps will not crumble and its watches will continue to Tell time. There will be numbered Bank accounts and the country s cows will still Graze on Mountain slopes and donate milk for cheese and chocolate. But an exhibition in Lausanne s historical museum casts scorn on Many other fundamentals shared by most Swiss that give this prosperous nation a sense of righteous Sel Assurance. The exhibit s theme is that the heroic history of the founding of Switzerland whose 700thanniversary was celebrated with pomp throughout 1991, has almost no foundation in truth Switzerland is riot the world s oldest democracy it contends and it was not founded by Alpine peasants who gathered on a Meadow in 1291 to defy the mighty hapsburgs. In perhaps the unkind St Cut of All the exhibition relegates William Tell the National hero to the realm of folklore. Quot i Quot they invented All the great events. And then put the invented figure of Tell into this landscape Quot said Werner Meyer a professor of medieval history at the University of Basel. Meyer aided by his assistants and. Students is the creator of the exhibition. His role As chief proponent of the debunking school has earned him a Loose Leaf Binder full of angry letters including a death threat and abusive Telephone Calls. Similar reactions were reported by Olivier Pavilion curator of the a a museum. A a. Meyer 56, could easily play the protagonist in the Many Tell Folk dramas that enliven the tourist season. Burly and bearded he wore a sleeveless sheepskin lined leather jacket and a Silver Bull s head on a Chain around his timeless neck. His firm hands might easily have held the crossbow with which the hero of legend was forced to shoot the Apple from his son s head after refusing to kowtow to an austrian official. A Meyer and Pavilion see the Swiss who blocked the country s joining the process of european integration in a 1992 referendum As heirs of those who perpetuated the legend of Switzerland officially known As the Helvetic confederation As a Porcupine suspicious of and armed against its neighbors. At the Entrance to the exhibit visitors Are greeted by a plywood caricature of Tell offering a Basket of real apples and a statement by Pavilion noting that the opponents of european integration had used Quot the most worn out cliches on the founding of the confederation and the Porcupine spirit As if historical research had produced nothing  Vry the exhibit s life size mannequins \ in period dress lockups of houses and facsimiles of documents provoked keen attention and appreciative giggles from a class of. High school students  Crotta and Julie Wicky two of the students said teachers had always presented the classical version of Switzerland s Story but had suggested that some of it might be legend Quot this makes it Clear Quot Crotta said.-. A a a a the Standard version of history As summarized by Meyer is that it Censed Over brutal repression by the hapsburg emperor s envoys the peasants of three cantons in Central Switzerland stormed and destroyed the mighty castles of the hapsburg satraps and on aug 1, 1291, gathered on Rueter Meadow in Uri Canton and took a solemn oath to unite against foreign oppression and a form a free and democratic. Egalitarian and Independent state. Quot that is false Quot Meyer said. Quot it is not a question of interpretation but demonstrably  he said that few historians would dispute the mythical character of the founding history but he said there was Quot a certain lag Quot in transmitting the results of historical research to school administrators textbooks and above All politicians who dispense edifying speeches Quot on patriotic occasions. In the version accepted by most historians no hapsburg oppressors lived in Central Switzerland in the 13th Century nor was there an uprising. What patriotic writers described As foreigners castles were Manor houses owned by Swiss they were not attacked but gradually abandoned for the same reason that made the hapsburgs attach Little importance to their Swiss holdings a the poverty and a productivity of. Central Switzerland. The Alliance of 1291 was merely an agreement after the death of a hapsburg emperor to unite for Sel defense because the hapsburgs had so Little interest in protecting the Region a Quot a a a Meyer said that Rio evidence has been unearthed that the Tell figure existed. He became1 linked to the founding of  his myth Ica i a Ysassi n Atin of the e no n sex i Ste h t Austria n envoy j n the 15 the Century. In later centuries the professor said Tell was put through Many other guises was made to die a Martyr s death and achieved near saintly state s. In the roman Catholic Church. The professor Sard he knew that he was treading on delicate ground in  Saga. Quot n oth i n g a p be Ned o n Rue Tii i n 1291 except some cows grazing Quot Meyer said. Yet so sacred is the Meadow that when world War ii began the commanding general of the Swiss army gathered All officers there to pledge them to defend the Homeland. 24 stripes Magazine May 5, 1954