Plaffeien (; ) is a municipality in the district of Sense in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It is one of the municipalities with a large majority of German speakers in the mostly French speaking Canton of Fribourg.
History Plaffeien is first mentioned in 1148 as Planfeiun. In 1339 it was mentioned as Blanfeyen.
Name The name Plaffeien probably comes from the Latin "planum-fageum" meaning beech forest and therefore may date to the Roman era. The spelling of the name changed over time. In addition to the spellings given above, in the 13th century it was Planfeium, followed by Plainfaon or Planfeyen. Beginning around the 16th century the name became Plaffeyen. To match the standard German orthography of the German Empire, an 1899 Swiss federal decree changed the "y" in German place names into an "i", changing the official name to "Plaffeien".
Brief history During the Roman era Plaffeien was probably a village of romanised Celts. Beginning around the end of the fifth century, the German speaking Alemanni slowly moved into the area and settled.
The first written records of Plaffeien are from Rüeggisberg Priory in 1148, which mention a village church. The church was probably built a few years previously. When the church was demolished in 1762, a stone with the year 1143 was discovered. A village school was established before 1717.
In the 14th century, the nobleman Wilhelm von Englisberg donated a forest and the commons to the village, with the requirement that a mass be held in his honor every year on 25 July. This mass is still held every year.
Plaffeien became a bailiwick of Fribourg in 1486 and remained so until the French invasion of Switzerland in 1798. Plaffeien's location along the road to the Euschelspass and on the banks of the Sense river meant the area was invaded several times during the wars between Bern and Fribourg. During the Reformation the village remained with the Catholic faith.
The village fire On 31 May 1906, much of Plaffeien was destroyed in about two hours by a fire. A total of 51 houses burned down, 15 in the village of Oberschrot and 36 in Plaffeien, leaving 62 families or 274 people homeless. They began rebuilding in the summer of 1906 and the corner stone of the current church was laid on 26 April 1908. A new plan was drawn up for the village, replacing the old village with its narrow winding streets.
Merger In 2017 the former municipalities of Zumholz and Oberschrot merged into the municipality of Plaffeien.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz accessed 10 January 2017
Geography
After the 2017 merger Plaffeien had an area of .
Before the merger Plaffeien had an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey) of . Of this area, about 48.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 38.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and 10.9% is unproductive land. In the 2013/18 survey a total of or about 1.7% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of over the 1981 amount. Over the same time period, the amount of recreational space in the municipality increased by and is now about 0.20% of the total area. Of the agricultural land, is used for orchards and vineyards, is fields and grasslands and consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1981 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by . Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by . Rivers and lakes cover in the municipality.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Regional portraits accessed 27 October 2016
The municipality is located in the Sense district. The village of Plaffeien is located about south-east of Fribourg. In addition to the village, the municipality includes the Muscherenschlund valley, the Schwarzsee valley and the peak of the Schafberg at an elevation of above sea level.
Coat of arms The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Sable a Bar Argent.Flags of the World.com accessed 16-December-2011
In black a silver bar covered with two blue wave borders, over which lies a golden lily.
In black a silver bar (old coat of arms of the Plaffeien municipality). In the upper area as symbol of unity a golden lily (lily of the Lords of Maggenberg, from the old coats of arms of the municipalities Oberschrot and Zumholz). The two blue wave ridges symbolise the natural, species-rich river landscape of the Sense and the historically and culturally important Dütschbach, both of which flow through the area of the future municipality.
The newly created coat of arms of the BOPPZ five merger project has been adopted unchanged. Only in the blazoning (description) has the Dütschbach taken the place of the Aergera and with regard to the lily of the Lords of Maggenberg, reference is made to the current coats of arms of the municipalities of Oberschrot and Zumholz. The coat of arms as well as its blazoning has been positively assessed by the State Archives Freiburg.
Demographics
Plaffeien has a population () of . , 6.2% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Superweb database – Gemeinde Statistics 1981–2008 accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of −3.5%. Migration accounted for −0.1%, while births and deaths accounted for −0.3%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 16-December-2011
Most of the population () speaks German (1,774 or 91.5%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (76 or 3.9%) and French is the third (50 or 2.6%). There are 4 people who speak Italian and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the population was 50.8% male and 49.2% female. The population was made up of 900 Swiss men (46.8% of the population) and 77 (4.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 893 Swiss women (46.5%) and 52 (2.7%) non-Swiss women.Canton of Fribourg Statistics accessed 3 November 2011 Of the population in the municipality, 899 or about 46.4% were born in Plaffeien and lived there in 2000. There were 588 or 30.3% who were born in the same canton, while 244 or 12.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 162 or 8.4% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.9%.
, there were 852 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 875 married individuals, 123 widows or widowers and 88 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 – 2000 accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 799 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 275 households that consist of only one person and 60 households with five or more people. , a total of 773 apartments (66.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 319 apartments (27.3%) were seasonally occupied and 76 apartments (6.5%) 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 4.2 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.56%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Bevölkerungsentwicklung nach Region, 1850–2000 accessed 29 January 2011
Heritage sites of national significance
The Maria Geburt parish church is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Plaffeien is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
Twin Town Plaffeien is twinned with the town of Kasterlee, Belgium.Conseil des Communes et Regions d'Europe accessed 27 April 2011
Politics In the 2015 federal election the most popular party was the SVP with 48.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (24.3%), the SP (11.4%) and the FDP (5.0%). In the federal election, a total of 644 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 42.7%. The 2015 election saw a large change in the voting when compared to 2011. The percentage of the vote received by the CVP increased sharply from 18.5% in 2011 to 24.3% in 2015 and the SVP increased sharply from 36.3% in 2011 to 48.3% in 2015.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Nationalratswahlen 2015: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung nach Gemeinden accessed 18 July 2016
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 36.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (18.5%), the SPS (12.1%) and the FDP (11.5%).Canton of Fribourg National Council Election of 23 October 2011 Statistics accessed 3 November 2011
The SVP gained an additional 6.4% of the vote from the 2007 Federal election (30.0% in 2007 vs 36.3% in 2011). The CVP lost popularity (27.0% in 2007), the SPS moved from below fourth place in 2007 to third and the FDP retained about the same popularity (14.0% in 2007). A total of 597 votes were cast in this election, of which 6 or 1.0% were invalid.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Nationalratswahlen 2007: Stärke der Parteien und Wahlbeteiligung, nach Gemeinden/Bezirk/Canton accessed 28 May 2010
Economy Plaffeien is an industrial-tertiary municipality, a municipality where agriculture and manufacturing play a minor role in the economy.
, there were a total of 1,207 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 112 people worked in 48 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 380 workers in 28 separate businesses. A minority (16.3%) of the secondary sector employees worked in very small businesses. There were 7 small businesses with a total of 146 employees and one mid sized business with a total of 172 employees. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 715 jobs in 118 businesses. There were 15 small businesses with a total of 397 employees.Federal Statistical Office -Arbeitsstätten und Beschäftigte nach Gemeinde, Wirtschaftssektor und Grössenklasse accessed 31 October 2016
In 2014 a total of 5.1% of the population received social assistance.
In 2015 local hotels had a total of 18,465 overnight stays, of which 12.2% were international visitors.Federal Statistical Office – Hotellerie: Ankünfte und Logiernächte der geöffneten Betriebe accessed 31 October 2016
the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 802. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 62, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 289 of which 220 or (76.1%) were in manufacturing and 69 (23.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 451. In the tertiary sector; 159 or 35.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 43 or 9.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 89 or 19.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 16 or 3.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 25 or 5.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 50 or 11.1% were in education and 22 or 4.9% were in health care.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB Betriebszählung: Arbeitsstätten nach Gemeinde und NOGA 2008 (Abschnitte), Sektoren 1–3 accessed 28 January 2011
, there were 474 workers who commuted into the municipality and 491 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.0 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office – Statweb accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 9% used public transportation to get to work, and 60.4% used a private car.
Religion