History Commons^™

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Swiss American Historical Society Review

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The African Education Of Violaine Idelette Junod, Keith Snedegar

Swiss American Historical Society Review

May 11 of this year would have been the one-hundredth birthday of Violaine Idelette Junod, a remarkable if not well-known member of a celebrated Swiss missionary family. Born and raised in Africa, Violaine was nonetheless imbued with a thoroughly European worldview. To truly confront the realities of modern Africa, Junod would have to experience, through a long career as a social activist and educator, the harsh legacies of colonialism, poverty, and civil unrest across the continent of her birth. This she did with great tenacity and, finally, deep personal insight. The following is a sketch of an African education that …

A Swiss Calendar Maker In Colonial America: The Life And Work Of Johannes Tobler (1696-1765) Between Appenzell Ausserrhoden And South Carolina, David Aragai

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Johannes Tobler was a self-taught mathematician and astronomer. He published the first “Appenzeller Kalender” in 1721, an astronomical almanac in the style of the then popular genre. This almanac was the first periodical of Appenzell Ausserrhoden and is still issued today. After Tobler became a magistrate in the council of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, he found himself on the losing side of an internal conflict, called the Landhandel. As a result, he emigrated with his family and nearly two hundred citizens of Switzerland to South Carolina in 1736/37. After several years in which he built a new livelihood and became Justice of …

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Swiss American Historical Society Review

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The Centennial Of The Treaty Of Lausanne: Turkey, Switzerland, The Great Powers And A Soviet Diplomat’S Assassination, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The year 2023 marks the centennial of the Treaty of Lausanne. This treaty that many readers may not have heard of created the Republic of Turkey. More than that, it was a conference held in Switzerland where the Great Powers created new borders and made decisions about refugees, access to what are known as the “Turkish Straits” and led to British and French control of Palestine, Syria, and Iraq. The new mandate system showed that colonialism was still the mindset of most Europeans, along with a fear of Russia, which had become the Soviet Union. The conference and treaty that …

A New Voice For Old Helvetia: Introducing The Descendants Of Swiss Settlers, Joseph H. Smith

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Descendants of Swiss Settlers is a new lineage society that honors and celebrates the unique legacy and achievements of Swiss men and women who settled in North America prior to March 5, 1798, which marks the end of the Old Swiss Confederacy. We are excited to announce our formation and we are seeking members!

Women, Divorce, Tobacco, And Outplacements Of Children: Uncovering Family Secrets In Switzerland, Tito Craige

Swiss American Historical Society Review

From early in the nineteenth century until the 1950s, tens of thousands of Swiss children were taken from their homes and placed with foster families or sold at auction. The mothers of the outplaced children were usually poor and divorced; some were alleged to be prostitutes. One of these mothers was the author’s great-grandmother, Dorothea Hürlimann. In 1895, because she was divorced and managed a tobacco store in Geneva’s red-light district, her three children were sent to live with foster families. The middle child, Dora, was four years old when she was placed with a family in Winterthur and began …

Book Review: Maurice-Ernest Gillioz (1877-1962): Great Builder In America, Yves Bordet

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Maurice-Ernest Gillioz is a good example of the American dream. The son of a Swiss emigrant from the Canton of Valais who arrived in New York in the middle of the American Civil War, Gillioz started from nothing and built one of the largest public works companies in the Midwest in the first half of the twentieth century. Philippe Pierroz’ book is 164 pages, written in French, of richly illustrated and strongly documented material. The numerous illustrations and appendices can be easily understood by English-speaking readers.

Switzerland’S Banished Children, Una Suseli O'Connell

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Over a one hundred year period a practice known as verdingen (indentured servitude) operated in Switzerland. Children were removed from their families and sent to work on farms. It is estimated that between 1860 and 1960, one hundred thousand children were verdingt in this way, a quarter of them in the Canton of Bern. Local parishes paid farmers a monthly allowance to provide disadvantaged children with board and lodging. Although some treated their charges well, countless children suffered terrible hardship over many years. A veil of silence fell across entire communities as clergy, social workers and villagers chose to ignore …

Attending The Annual Meeting Of The Sahs In Washington, D.C.: An Exaggeration, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

As president of the Swiss American Historical Society last year, 2022, it was my pleasure to attend the Society’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. I always go anyway. The thought of trying to be charming, clever, and insightful at the meetings was just too much for me to bear alone, so I groveled at the feet of my son, Kurt, and his wife, Razil, to go with me. Rather than watch an old man cry, they agreed to go too if I paid. What a deal! We got on the plane in Salt Lake. I can still remember when you …

Dietmar Kuegler 1951-2022: In Memoriam, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

A dear friend and strong supporter of the Swiss American Historical Society, Dietmar Kuegler, died on December 3, 2022, in the village of Övenum on the island of Föhr, Germany, where he had lived for several years. For many years, he translated and published my articles from the Swiss American Historical Society Review dealing with the Swiss in the American West in his Magazin für Amerikanistik in Germany. He also translated and published eleven of my books including The Germans and Swiss at the Battle of the Little Bighorn 1876, which was also published in the SAHS Review …

Book Review: Switzerland And Sub-Saharan Africa In The Cold War, 1967-1979: Neutrality Meets Decolonisation, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Switzerland and Sub-Saharan Africa in the Cold War, 1967-1979: Neutrality Meets Decolonisation was written as part of the series “New Perspectives on the Cold War,” which looks at different issues, events and regions impacted by the Cold War. While Switzerland was not a major power, nor did it have colonies in Africa or elsewhere, it had economic interests in the continent and a foreign policy that guided its decision making and values, centered around its historical tradition of neutrality. This well researched work of historiography gives readers new insights into Switzerland’s relations, especially with Portuguese colonies during and after decolonization. …

Book Review: Einer Für Alle, Alle Für Einen—One For All, All For One, Stephen P. Halbrook

Swiss American Historical Society Review

In English, this title is translated as One For All, All For One. A Commemorative for the Bicentenary of the Swiss Shooting Association SSV. This tome does much more than celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of Switzerland’s marksmanship society. Given the central role of the SSV in the political, military, and social life of the country, this work is also an interactive history, indeed a reference work, for those same years. This review pinpoints some of the highlights of the volume.

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

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Challenges To Swiss Democracy: Neutrality, Napoleon, & Nationalism, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The year 1291 is considered the birth of Switzerland as we know it. Yet this is not entirely correct, since it was when the Swiss Confederacy was formed. This defensive alliance between some cantons that would expand over time did not mean Switzerland was a unified nation-state. Most of Europe in 1291 was stuck in the Middle Ages with few unified nations existing at the time. 1648 was an important year for Switzerland and the rest of Europe. The Treaty of Westphalia marked the end of the Thirty Years’ War that involved most of the continent over religion and politics. …

Remembering A Mensch— Dr. Waseem A. Malick: In Memoriam, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Dr. Waseem A. Malick, who spent over 30 years working for Swiss Pharmaceutical giant Hoffman-La Roche, was a mensch. He passed away in December 2022 in New Jersey. On February 5, 2023, about 150 of his friends, colleagues and family members gathered to remember him. Being by the side of Dr. Malick’s wife and his children, his Roche colleagues were a source of comfort for the family.

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Swiss American Historical Society Review

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Napoleon’S Role In The Making Of Modern Switzerland, Jost Auf Der Maur

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The federated and neutral nation state we know today as Switzerland owes its modern origins to Napoleon Bonaparte. When Napoleon came into the world in 1769, the Swiss Confederation was a loose configuration of tiny quarrelsome states. As the contemporary, Johannes Bürkli from Zurich, wrote:

[Switzerland] is a virtually unnoticeable dot on the map of Europe, yet it combines all species of government: despotic, oligarchic, aristocratic, democratic. You can find all of them thrown together here in a nutshell.

Judicial Murder: The Witch-Craze In Germany And Switzerland, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Among the most remarkable and puzzling social, religious and legal movements of the late Middle Ages and Early Modern periods of European history were the witch-hunts. Historians have often disagreed on the exact time frame of the witch-craze, but these actions largely spanned three centuries roughly from 1450 to 1750, most of which took place from 1500 to 1650. Some estimates on the number of people accused of witchcraft and those executed for the supposed crime reach into the hundreds of thousands. Professor Nachman Ben-Yahuda has stated, “From the early decades of the fourteenth century until 1650, continental Europeans executed …

President’S Report For 2022, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

New President: As of October 2022, I no longer function as the president of the SAHS. The new president is Fred Gillespie. He is a long-term member of the Society and has served as president in the past, and I am sure he will do very well. The position as president was overwhelming for me, and I found it very difficult to serve as both the Editor-in-Chief of the SAHS Review and as president. I can now concentrate my time and effort to publish the SAHS Review.

Financial Report For The 2021-2022 Fiscal Year October 1, 2021-September 30, 2022, Ernie Thurston

Swiss American Historical Society Review

BALANCE SHEET

Opening Closing 10/1/2021 9/30/2022 Assets 101 Checking Account 11,398.05 8,426.23 Assets 102 Vanguard STAR Fund, Unrestricted 70,948.45 53,388.82 Assets 102-A Vanguard STAR Fund, Restricted 10,000.00 10,000.00

Outreach Activities For The Sahs, Rob Sherwood

Swiss American Historical Society Review

On July 5, 2022, I visited Jan Sparkman at the Laurel County Historical Society, London, Kentucky. Ms. Sparkman is no longer the President of the of the Society, but she was the contact point that I had made. They have been in their building, a former County Health Department since 2007. They do not pay any rent nor utilities. It is a good space with lots of local history items, cemetery records, family history, etc. They have a small museum with images and artifacts about local history and have saved many primary records (marriage, land deeds, etc., from a neighboring …

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Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Leo Schelbert Prize

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Leo Schelbert Prize is awarded to the best submitted undergraduate or graduate research paper. The topic can be on anything that relates to the mission of the Swiss American Historical Society, which focuses on increasing an understanding of Swiss and/or Swiss-American history.

Obituary For Leo Schelbert, Fred Steiner

Swiss American Historical Society Review

A major scholar of Swiss history and Swiss Americans, his connection with the Swiss-American Historical Society was inseparable, as he helped shaped the Society’s direction.

He served the Society as co-editor of the Review with Heinz K. Meier (1970-1986), as president (1975-1980), as sole editor of the Newsletter/Review (1980-2002), co-editor with H. Dwight Page (2002-2006), as editor of the Society’s book series (1981-2013), and as a member of the editorial board for the book publications.

Sahs Business Meeting—October 8, 2022 Washington, D.C., At The Martin Luther King Jr. Library, Robert Sherwood

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Present – Morning Meeting had 14 people. Approval of Office Holders: All are as in agenda with the following exceptions: • Interim Financial Secretary should read Treasurer • Richard Hacken as Webmaster, not Secretary • Brian Wages will be the Assistant Webmaster. • Duane Freitag moved to close nominations; Richard Hacken, 2nd; unanimous vote • Ernie Thurston moved to accept nominations; Richard Hacken, 2nd; unanimous vote • President – Albert Winkler served as president for three years. Possibility of Fred Gillespie serving again as president. Nominations from the floor with Fred Gillespie (nominated by Ernie Thurston, 2nd by Richard Hacken; …

Report Of The Editor-In-Chief Of The Sahs Review, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

A Good Year for Articles

I wish to state that the quality and variety of publications in the SAHS Review for 2022 remain strong. The February 2022 issue included four good articles including the “Battle of Dornach in 1499,” the “History of the Swiss Consulate in New York,” “Swiss Heritage Preserved at New Glarus Museum,” and “Glarus and Scranton: Benefits and Costs of Industrialization.” The article on the Swiss Consulate was first published in 1926, so it is now in the public domain. The Swiss Consulate in New York asked us to publish it, so I had to type it …

Membership Report, Ernie Thurston

Swiss American Historical Society Review

To: Members of the Swiss American Historical Society From: Ernie Thurston, Membership Secretary Subject: Annual Membership Report

IN BRIEF: We have 194 current members, a 2% decrease from the 198 reported last year at this time. Several members made extra contributions this year totalling $865.00. And one member paid the $500.00 to be come a Life Member: Joseph H. Smith.

Annual Report Of The Swiss Chapter, Switzerland, Barbara Müller

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Friends of the Swiss American Historical Society annual meeting was held at Basel, Switzerland, on September 7, 2022. It began at 11:30 AM with a motion by Barbara Müller, President of The Friends of the Swiss American Historical Society and Vice President of the Swiss Chapter of the Swiss American Historical Society, to approve the minutes from last year’s annual meeting. It was seconded and approved. The minutes from the meeting held on September 8, 2021, in Zurich, Switzerland include:

• Draft Minutes for the annual meeting on September 3, 2020, were approved.

• A gift and thank you …