Ramona N. Stenz
President
Social pedagogue B.A. — holds the association together and represents it to the outside world.
About us
A cultural association between Alemannia and the North.
Ragnarøkkr is a cultural association based in Münchenstein (BL). We engage with Norse-Germanic culture, history and craft — not as nostalgia, but as a living workshop for the present.
What drives us
The Alemannic and the Nordic heritage stem from different regions, yet share much: a sense of craft, community, curiosity and steadfastness, grown over centuries through exchange and kindred roots. We see ourselves as a bridge between these traditions — a place where old virtues are reinterpreted and passed on in living form. For us it is about culture and attitude, not origin or descent.
Honesty, reliability, courage, respect for nature, togetherness — we orient our work by these twelve handed-down virtues: they shape how we design events and treat one another.
Our overarching aim: participation
Our statutes name the great divisions of our time explicitly — between rich and poor, between the genders, between young and old. Against them we set social participation: for all members, and especially for people and groups who find access to culture and community harder. We want to ease the burden on families, open up access for children and connect generations. Culture and community should not be a privilege.
How we work
The association is run on a voluntary basis. All funds flow exclusively into the cultural, social and ethical aims of the association — no distribution of profit, no economic self-interest. On dissolution, the assets pass to a tax-exempt, charitable organisation in the region. The association is charitably oriented; we are seeking recognition of charitable status (tax exemption).
Founding & seat
Founded at the inaugural assembly of 8 December 2025 in Münchenstein (BL), as an association under Art. 60 ff. ZGB (Swiss Civil Code). Politically and confessionally neutral.
The board
The people behind it.
Dominik Anders
Vice-President · Media & PR
Gives the association voice and form.
Daniel Stenz
Treasurer & Secretary
Keeps the finances and minutes — traceable and reliable.
Patrik Häner
Events & Culture
Plans events and the cultural programme.
Externally, the association is represented by the joint signature of two board members (as a rule the President and the Treasurer).
Where we want to go
A path in stages — no calendar, but a direction.
We deliberately give no exact dates. A young association grows with its people — here is the order in which we mean to go.
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Kindling the fire
Build the association, win the first members and friends, establish regular gatherings.
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Widening the circle
Cultural events, craft and education — step by step, carried by what the community can sustain.
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Opening the workshop
Open workshops for children, school classes and the curious — formats that make participation tangible and bring generations together.
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Into the thick of it
Becoming visible in life around Basel — at the Herbstmesse, at markets, at Fasnacht, at the region's festivals.
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Taking root
Create lasting spaces for encounter and anchor the charitable purpose — an association that endures.
Our stance
Open, neutral, democratic — and watchful.
Ragnarøkkr is a cultural and historical association: open, ideologically neutral and democratic. We engage with Norse-Germanic culture out of an interest in history, craft and lived virtues — no more, but no less.
Against appropriation by the right
We actively oppose any far-right, racist or ethno-nationalist appropriation of Nordic symbolism. These signs were misused in the 20th century and still are today — we do not gloss over that, we name it. Anyone seeking an ideology of exclusion has come to the wrong place. And what has no historical basis at all, but was invented only in the circles of the SS — the so-called 'Black Sun' for instance, or the 'Wolfsangel' as a modern emblem —, has no place with us.
Differentiated rather than reflexive
Many old signs were misappropriated — individual runes such as Othala, Tyr or Sig, for example, by SS and HJ. But this did not stop them from being part of the history of writing and culture. So we hold to this: we do not banish historical signs, we place them in context. With us they are never in the foreground, are never a figurehead and are not used excessively — but where they belong to the matter at hand, we show them and explain their history, the misuse included.
Differentiated thinking is an attitude we want to live out. Whoever sweepingly avoids everything that was once misused leaves the field to those who misuse it. Whoever shows everything without placing it in context makes themselves an enabler. We deliberately take the path in between — and on that path we are approachable.
On esotericism and pseudoscience
For us, runes are writing and history, not a secret or magic language. We work in a cultural-historical and source-critical way: we separate evidence from claim, show runes with their transliteration, and say honestly what is established and what remains interpretation. But here too the same differentiation applies: modern signs such as the Vegvísir belong to the more recent tradition and may appear with us — we then simply say honestly where they come from. What we do not do: pass them off as ancient knowledge or ascribe any effect to them.
For everyone
Origin, skin colour, gender, religion, worldview, age or disability play no role with us — except for the one conviction: to treat one another with respect and honesty.