Davos is an Alpine town, a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 10,899. Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range at 1,560 m above sea level; the former Alpine resort village consists of two parts: Davos Dorf to the northeast towards Klosters and further down through the Prättigau to Landquart, Davos Platz to the southwest, which opens into the valley of the river Landwasser and leads to Filisur. During summer season the Flüela Pass leads south-east into the Lower Engadine. Davos plays host to the World Economic Forum, an annual meeting of global political and business elites, has one of Switzerland's biggest ski resorts. At the end of every year it serves as the site of the annual Spengler Cup ice-hockey tournament, hosted by the HC Davos local hockey team; the current settlement of the Davos area began in the High Middle Ages with the immigration of Rhaeto-Romans.
The village of Davos is first mentioned in 1213 as Tavaus. From about 1280 the barons of Vaz allowed German-speaking Walser colonists to settle, conceded them extensive self-administration rights, causing Davos to become the largest Walser settlement area in eastern Switzerland. Natives still speak a dialect, atypical for Graubünden, showing similarities with German idioms of western parts of Switzerland the Upper Valais. In 1436, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions was founded in Davos. From the middle of the 19th century, Davos modeled on Sokołowsko became a popular destination for the sick and ailing because the microclimate in the high valley was deemed excellent by doctors and recommended for lung disease patients. Robert Louis Stevenson, who suffered from tuberculosis, wintered in Davos in 1880 upon the recommendation of his Edinburgh physician Dr. George Balfour. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote an article about skiing in Davos in 1899. A sanatorium in Davos is the inspiration for the Berghof Sanitorium in Thomas Mann's novel Der Zauberberg.
Between 1936 and 1938, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner at the end of his life and living in Davos since 1917, depicted Davos and the Junkerboden. His painting has a simplified formal structure. During the natural ice era of winter sports and the Davos Eisstadion were a mecca for speed skating. Many international championships were held here, many world records were set, beginning with Peder Østlund who set four records in 1898; the only European Bandy Championship was held in the town in 1913. Subsequently, Davos became a ski resort frequented by tourists from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. After peaking in the 1970s and 1980s, the city settled down as a leading but less high-profile tourist attraction. Davos has an area of 284 km2. Of this area, about 35.0 % is used for agricultural purposes. Of the rest of the land, 2.3% is settled and 40.5% is unproductive land. In the 2004/09 survey a total of 337 ha or about 1.2% of the total area was covered with buildings, an increase of 61 ha over the 1985 amount.
Over the same time period, the amount of recreational space in the municipality increased by 10 ha and is now about 0.22% of the total area. Of the agricultural land, 1,296 ha is fields and grasslands and 9,056 ha consists of alpine grazing areas. Since 1985 the amount of agricultural land has decreased by 736 ha. Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by 481 ha. Rivers and lakes cover 285 ha in the municipality; until 2017 the municipality was located in the Davos subdistrict of the Prättigau/Davos district, after 2017 it was part of the Prättigau/Davos Region. It is in the Landwasser Valley. In terms of area, it was the largest municipality in Switzerland until the formation of the municipality of Glarus Süd in 2010, is the largest in the canton of Graubünden, it consists of the village of Davos, with its two parts Davos Dorf and Davos Platz, the villages Frauenkirch, Davos Glari, Davos Wiesen, Davos Monstein, Davos Clavadel, the hamlets of Laret, Obem See, Stilli, Bünda, Spina in the main valley.
In the side valleys there are additional hamlets including Tschuggen, Dörfji, In den Büelen, Teufi, Gadmen, Am Rin, Dürrboden, Sertig Dörfli, Inneralp. Davos lies in a high valley, the connection to Klosters needing the Wolfgang Pass of only some 70 metres ascent from Davos Dorf; this tiny pass results in a flow direction of the river not corresponding to the main traffic routes of road and Rhätische Bahn to the northeast but flowing in a southwesterly direction. Three long side valleys reach out to the south from the main valley. Davos has a subarctic climate with an average of 124.7 days of precipitation per year and on average receives 1,022 mm of precipitation. The wettest month is August. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 13.5 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is June, with an average of 13.6, but with only 126 mm of precipitation. The driest month of the year is April with an average of 56 mm of precipitation over 9.6 days, of which 50.9 cm in 8.5 days are snowfall.
The munic
Hans Hanke was an SS-Obersturmbannführer in the Waffen SS during World War II. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. Hans Hanke was born on the 13 March 1912 in Gleiwitz and had at one time been a theology student, he joined the Allgemeine SS in 1933 and the Waffen SS in 1935. Hanke served during the Polish Campaign and in the subsequent campaigns in France, the Netherlands, the Balkans, the USSR, South West Hungary, he was awarded his first combat decoration during the Battle of France in June 1940. Hanke joined the staff of the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar as a SS-Hauptsturmführer in May 1943 and commanded the all-German divisional signals battalion during its formation and training, he was well-liked by his soldiers who considered him approachable but demanding in terms of combat readiness and unit discipline. The battalion conducted its initial training at a SS training facility in Germany.
In July 1943, the division concentrated in southern France for further training, the signals battalion was garrisoned in Mende with divisional headquarters. In September 1943, while the division was still training in southern France, a mutiny occurred in the divisional pioneer battalion garrisoned at Villefranche-de-Rouergue. Following the mutiny, the divisional commander declared martial law in the city and Hanke was appointed city commandant. In November 1943 he was promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer. In March 1944, just as the division was returning to north-east Bosnia, Hanke was appointed as the commander of the 2nd battalion of the 28th Regiment of the division. During Operation Save in mid-March 1944 he led II/28 as it stormed Partisan positions at Čelić, in October 1944 his actions during this assault were included in a recommendation for an award of the German Cross in Gold. Three months he was appointed to command the 28th Regiment and in late June, in response to a Partisan incursion into the division's'security zone', he forced marched his old battalion, II/28 from Vlasenica to Šekovići where they drove off a Partisan attack counterattacked and pushed the Partisans south.
His leadership in this action was included in the recommendation for an award of the German Cross in Gold. In August 1944, Hanke commanded elements of the 28th Regiment that scattered the Partisan 11th Border Division west of Vlasenica and engaged in an 18-hour battle with Partisan forces holding Debelo Brdo near Šekovići which killed 121 Partisans for the loss of 18 men; these actions were included in his recommendation for the German Cross in Gold. In October 1944, due to widespread desertions, about 70% of the Bosnian Muslims of the division were disarmed and transferred elsewhere; the desertions were due to the constant fighting the division had been doing since March 1944, due to the move of much of the division from the'security zone' in north-east Bosnia to Zagreb. Due to advances by the Soviet Red Army and its creation of two bridgeheads over the Danube, elements of the under-strength division were sent to Batina to assist in throwing the Soviets back across the Danube. A task force, known as Kampfgruppe Hanke, was formed under Hanke's command.
The task force consisted of three infantry battalions, one battalion of the divisional artillery regiment and elements of the divisional pioneer battalion. The task force arrived in Beli Manastir by rail on 14 November 1944, were deployed in the blockade position near Zmajevać. Hanke set up his headquarters in Kneževi Vinogradi; the divisional reconnaissance battalion, thrown into the fighting a month earlier, joined the task force, but with these reinforcements the length of the front line was too long for more than a series of company-strength strong points. Until 20 November, when the Soviets placed pontoon bridges across the Danube and sent three divisions across at Batina, the task force was engaged in a continuous and bitter defensive fighting which caused heavy losses. On the night of 21 November, the fresh Soviet 113th Rifle Division crossed the Danube and in the next 48 hours rolled straight over the top of Kampfgruppe Hanke, driven back to Kneževi Vinogradi with only 200 of the original 1200 men remaining.
The task force was placed under the command of the Reichsgrenadier Division Hoch und Deutschmeister and withdrew from the blocking position on 26 November and took up positions in Siklós, Hungary. The task force was soon withdrawn from the line and sent to Barcs to be re-united with the rest of the division. Hanke remained as commander of the 28th Regiment until the end of the war, being promoted to SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer in January 1945; the division withdrew in stages to the Reich border, with Hanke's regiment fighting its last battle at Kiesmanndorff on 19 April, their sector of the Reich Defence Line remained quiet until the capitulation on 6 May. The division spent the period 8–12 May marching west towards Anglo-American forces in the hope of surrendering to them rather than the Soviets. Most of the division surrendered to the British. Hanke survived the war, was a prisoner of war with the US Armed Forces in Nurnberg-Langwasser. Hanke was awarded the Iron Cross in June 1940 and the Iron Cross in July 1941.
He was awarded the Croatian Iron Trefoil. He was awarded the German Cross in Gold on 28 February 1945 as a SS-Sturmbannführer in the 28th Regiment of the 13th SS Division. Just prior to the end of World War II in Europe he may have been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron
Martin Lucianovich Shakkum is a Russian politician and psychologist. He is member of the State Duma since 1999. Shakkum was a candidate in the 1996 Russian presidential election. Born on 21 September 1951 in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast. Studied at school No.7 of Krasnogorsk. Graduated from Kaliningrad Higher Military Engineering College All-Union Correspondence Civil Engineering Institute. For three years he worked as an employee of the laboratory of the Space Research Institute in Moscow. From 1978 to 1991 he worked as a service–engineer, chief engineer, deputy chief and chief of special works of the Main Department for Construction in the Moscow Oblast. From 1991 to 1999 Shakkum was CEO, Vice President and President of the International Fund for Economic and Social Reforms; this Fund was created by Martin Shakkum together with academicians-economists Stanislav Shatalin, Leonid Abalkin, political scientist Andranik Migranyan and other prominent scientists and public figures. Shakkum ran for President as independent candidate in the 1996 Russian presidential election.
An associate of radical economist Shatalin, Shakkum was on the right wing of the Russian political spectrum. While he presented an authoritarian personality, he held moderate positions on many social issues. To protect the rights and liberties of citizens against government corruption and abuses of power, Shakkum proposed forming a chain of executive power, excluding the possibility of concentration of various forms of power in the hands of individual central and regional elites, he proposed forming 19 federal administrative districts across Russia, creating a system of separate federal executive bodies. He proposed requiring all civil servants of federal and regional government bodies and deputies of elective bodies to publish their income reports and documentation of all property belonging to them and their immediate relatives, including adult children, both in Russia and abroad. To address the nation's economic woes, Shakkum proposed, "establishing a reliable system of control over cash flows and strengthening the country's banking system by reorganizing it and creating special investment banks."At the same time, Shakkum supported the existence natural resource monopolies, such as Gazprom, warned against attempts to split them into smaller entities.
Shakkum's original registration had been rejected by the Central Election Commission on account of lacking a sufficient number of signatures. However, Shakkum managed to appeal through the Supreme Court. In April 1996, he became its leader. Shakkum received 277,068 votes in the first round. In 1998, Martin Shakkum survived an assassination attempt. On 8 September, around 9 PM, near his house, his car was shot from the machine gun. Shakkum has not suffered, the employee of Fund "Reform" Valery Basok, with him in the car, received a slight injury. Commenting on the attack, Shakkum stated that he could not link the incident to his personal and public life. In December 1999, Martin Shakkum was elected to the State Duma for the Istra single-member constituency, he was supported by the electoral bloc Fatherland — All Russia. In the election, Martin Shakkum was ahead of three incumbent State Duma deputies in his constituency, showed one of the highest results in the elections for single-member constituencies in terms of the percentage of votes.
In 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2016 he was re-elected to the State Duma. Martin Shakkum was a member of the Presidium of the General Council of United Russia in 2004-2005, since 2006 became a member of the Supreme Council of party. In a publications and speeches in 2000 and 2004, Shakkum has supported Vladimir Putin in his presidential campaigns. At a meeting between a United Russia faction activist and Vladimir Putin in July 2006, Shakkum publicly invited him to join the party and lead it, he told Putin. The newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets called Shakkum's performance "a real hit". Martin Shakkum has scientific degrees of Candidate of Sciences by Psychology and Doctor of Sciences by Economy. Order of Friendship Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 4th class Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 3rd class Official website Profile on the State Duma website Profile on the United Russia website Profile on the United Russia parliamentary group website Profile on Facebook