Schaffhausen (German: Schaffhausen, French: Schaffhouse, Italian: Sciaffusa) is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 33,527 as of March 31, 2005. The old portion of the city has many fine Renaissance era buildings decorated with exterior frescos and sculpture, as well as the impressive old canton fortress, the Munot. A train runs out of town to the nearby Rhine Falls in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Europe's largest waterfall, a tourist attraction. Schaffhausen is the capital of the Swiss Canton of Schaffhausen.
Schaffhausen harbours well known industrial companies (Georg Fischer) in piping systems, machine tools and automotives, one internationally reputed watches manufacturer (IWC), and pharmaceutical industry (Cilag, founded by Bernhard Joos).
Schaffhausen is located in a finger of Swiss territory surrounded on three sides by Germany. On April 1, 1944, Schaffhausen suffered a bombing raid by United States Army Air Forces aircraft which strayed from German airspace into neutral Switzerland. While the United States immediately offered a million dollars in reparations, the raid occurred only a month after the Swiss had shot down an American bomber. There were frequent 'accidents' as the war came to a climax, both by bombing raids on towns in northern Switzerland and Allied planes shot down by the Swiss Air Force.
