Kaufdorf

Kaufdorf is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

[3] The village of Kaufdorf first appears in a record in 1319 when it was part of the Herrschaft of Burgistein.

When Bern adopted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation in 1528, the monastery was secularized and the city acquired Kaufdorf.

The railroad opened up the village and allowed businesses to move in and residents to commute out.

Beginning in the 1970s the new neighborhoods of Trümlere and Rohrmatt were built for the growing population of commuters.

[3] Around 1933, a Kaufdorf resident, Walter Messerli, began collecting cars for parts.

Once usable parts were stripped from vehicles, he stored the empty shells on his land and allowed the forest to grow around them.

The rest of the municipality is 0.42 km2 (0.16 sq mi) or 20.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03 km2 (7.4 acres) or 1.5% is either rivers or lakes.

On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Bern-Mittelland.

[8] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per fess Gules a Ram's Head guardant Argent and of the last a Trefoil Vert.

[11] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (753 or 95.3%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (13 or 1.6%) and French is the third (6 or 0.8%).

In 2011, single family homes made up 68.2% of the total housing in the municipality.

[11] There were 435 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.9% of the workforce.

In the tertiary sector; 5 or 9.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 11.1% were in the movement and storage of goods, 9 or 16.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 5.6% were in the information industry, 8 or 14.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 7 or 13.0% were in education and 5 or 9.3% were in health care.

[25] From the 2000 census[update], 575 or 72.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 79 or 10.0% were Roman Catholic.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

[26] During the 2011-12 school year, there were a total of 108 students attending classes in Kaufdorf.

The graveyard in 2008
Gürbe Valley with Kaufdorf, Gelterfingen and Toffen.
Kaufdorf village