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Swiss Impact

Swiss American Historical Society Review

SWISS IMPACT highlights Switzerland's positive impact across the United States. We invite you to learn more about Swiss innovation, economic relations, sustainability, our culture, and the international partnership with the United States.

Les Expositions Turnus, Une Page D’Histoire Transnationale Des Beaux-Arts En Suisse À La Fin Du Xixe Siècle. Et Comment Découvrir Les Humanités Numériques, Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel

Artl@s Bulletin

Cet article présente le travail de la classe d’introduction aux humanités numériques de l’Université de Genève sur les expositions Turnus en Suisse à partir des années 1840. Près de 50 catalogues ont été retranscrits, décrits et structurés à l’aide de scripts Python, puis géolocalisés. Les données ont été ajoutées à BasArt, le répertoire mondial de catalogues d’expositions d’Artl@s (https://artlas.huma-num.fr/map). Elles permettent de mieux comprendre les premières années de ces expositions et leurs dynamiques locales, fédérales et internationales. Le Turnus fut une plaque tournante pour les artistes suisses, voire un tremplin vers le marché européen de l’art.

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 …

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.

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 …

The Origins Of Democracy In Switzerland, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Switzerland is one of the world’s oldest continuous democracies. Since the Middle Ages, Swiss cantons engaged in democracy at the local level, which led to the Federal Charter of 1291. This important document laid the foundations for the Swiss Confederacy, an alliance of cantons that eventually became a unified democratic nation in the heart of Europe. For over seven centuries, Swiss democracy has impacted people and institutions in Switzerland and elsewhere. America’s founders were well versed in Swiss political institutions and borrowed from them when creating the Constitution of the United States. As democracies come under attack and see their …

Swiss Presidents Report For Usa, Barbara Müller

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Dear Members of the SAHS,

Membership is a key concern to us and unfortunately this year we have lost three members here in Switzerland. One due to death, Dr. Lucie Zehnder; one member, Anselm Zurfluh, has asked to be taken off the list, and The Institut des Suisse Dans le Monde is closed. Christine von Graffenried has cancelled membership as of 2023 so that will be reflected in 2023.

2022 Tell Award For Scientific Achievement And Cooperation, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Each year, the Swiss Embassy in the United States of America awards the Tell Award. This prestigious award is named after the legendary Swiss hero William Tell who symbolizes the struggle for political and individual freedom because he overcame the tyrannical rule of Albrecht Gessler who terrorized Swiss people.

The Americanization Of A Swiss Immigrant: Interviews With Nicholas Von Rotz, Nicholas Von Rotz

Swiss American Historical Society Review

This interview was sponsored by the Association for Northern California Records and Research (as it was called at the time) at California State University, Chico, within the purview of its Oral History Program, called the Northeastern California Project. This association is now the Association for Northern California Historical Research and has granted permission for this interview to be republished by the Swiss American Historical Society.

Political Procrastination: Swiss Neutrality And World War Ii, Maria Ott

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Among the various facts about World War II that have become practically common knowledge, the neutral response of Switzerland stands out as particularly well-known. In recent years, this renowned reaction has been scrutinized, with many accusing Switzerland of at best problematic indifference to the affairs of the world during this time and at worst near collaboration with Axis powers, particularly Nazi Germany. Though the nation cannot boast an entirely clean ethical record when it comes to its involvement in the wartime economics, these accusations seem exaggerated. The tradition of neutrality held by Switzerland for decades and its vulnerable position at …

A Distinguished U.S. Ambassador To Switzerland— Joseph B. Gildenhorn, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

For over two hundred years, Switzerland and United States have enjoyed strong bilateral relationship. This relationship has endured so long due to the shared interests and common values. Leadership at governmental and business level in both countries have helped keep the bonds between Switzerland and United States strong and enduring.

Switzerland In The Life And Works Of . . . John Le Carré (1931-2020), Matthias Lerf, Richard Hacken, Translator, Annotator

Swiss American Historical Society Review

John le Carré lived at the southwestern tip of England in Cornwall while his masterful spy novels take place all around the world. Yet he always emphasized that Switzerland was his second home, and he spoke excellent German. During an interview in Bern’s Hotel Bellevue in 2010, on which this article is based, he even sprinkled in a few dialect phrases. He said he speaks “es bitzeli” [a bit of] Bernese German, but in general he avoided it, since it would call forth a torrent of words in response that he could not handle. In other matters as …

From Näfels To The United States: Emigrant Portraits From A Town In Switzerland’S Canton Glarus, Susanne Peter-Kubli

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Only a few, and mainly quite confusing, details are available about Feldmann’s life in Näfels and also about the date of his emigration. It derives, in part, from the fact that two people by the same name were living in Näfels. Both were butchers by profession and both had married women by the last name Müller. Checking the marriage and baptismal records of Näfels finally clarified the matter.

The Wonderful Swiss Touch, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Famous Swiss chocolate brands like Toblerone and Lindt are hard to miss because modern consumers will find them at checkout counters, airport gift shops and so many places. Likewise Swiss cheese products adorn the grocery store shelves in the United States . While many people might be familiar with some Swiss products they might not have a good understanding about what Switzerland is about in the modern world. This is because a few products or nuggets of information cannot really tell the whole story about a country. For example, those consuming Jack Daniels Whisky overseas might be familiar with the …

"Why Does It Always Have To Be Switzerland?"1 Daniel Silva's Treatment Of Swiss Society And Culture In Selected Mossad Spy Novels, Brian Champion

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The title quote is uttered by Mossad operative Eli Lavon, who, upon being tasked to assist in the illegal penetration of a sovereign country, despairs of the mission 's success, whose two-fold metric is the apprehension of an existential threat to the State of Israel , and his safe return to his adjunct professorship in Jerusalem, all while avoiding detection or incarceration. His angst is well -placed, as Switzerland is well-known in both real and imaginary in tell igence circles as a formidable environment in which to conduct secret missions of any kind. Silva and his fictitious Mossad team struggle …

Katharina Morgan-Schmid From Schuepfheim: El Paso, Texas, 1918 Presumed Spy Affair, Frederick Schmid

Swiss American Historical Society Review

In 1918, a female from Entlebuch, Switzerland who had already been living abroad for several years, including time in the USA,ended her journey with a trip in the United States. She had intended to return to her homeland, Switzerland , start a family, and write a book about the fascinating continent of North America.

Gottfried Keller And The Fictionalization Of Switzerland, Richard Hacken

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Swiss author Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) was a major figure within the late nineteenth-century German-language literary movement known as "Poetic Reali sm" ("Poetischer Realismus") . The very name of the movement suggested that " Poetic Reali sts" had retouched or revi sed reality by "poetici zing" it. Keller 's arti stic technique , which was influential on other writers of his time, transmuted outwardly observable actuality aga in and again into poetically coherent inner realities .1 This article explores how and why Keller found it artistically and socially beneficial to turn the factual contours of the Swiss Confederation essenti ally …

The Germans And Swiss At The Battle Of The Little Bighorn 1876, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The purpose of this study is to examine the Germans and the Swiss who participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn to understand who they were, to assess their motives for joining the cavalry, and to appraise their experience in battle .

Mapping The State: Cartographic Representations Of Switzerland, 1530-1865, James T. Lindberg

Swiss American Historical Society Review

T his paper di scusses the relationship between cartography and the emergence of the Swiss state between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Maps are read as texts through an analysis of their visual components and contextualized within broader historical events. Each map illustrates a stage in the developing relationship between political ideas about Swiss territory and the representation of these ideas cartographically. Once space is represented as belonging to a specific polity, that space is 'territorialized' and becomes part of a perceived whole. Borders and related concepts such as ' boundary ' and 'frontier ' are central to this relationship …

The Psychological Odyssey Of 1909: Carl Gustav Jung's Pivotal Encounter With Sigmund Freud During Their Journey To America, William E. Herman, Axel Fair-Schulz

Swiss American Historical Society Review

M any volumes in the scholarly literature explore the complex evolution of the relationship between Carl Gustav Jung and Sigmund Freud as well as the eventual split between these two influential contributors to psychoanalytic thought and more generally to the field of psychology and other academic fields/professions. The events that transpired during the seven-week journey from Europe to America and back in the autumn of 1909 would serve as a catalyst to not only re-direct the lives of Jung and Freud along different paths , but also re-shape the roadmap of psychoanalytic thinking, clinical applications, and psychology. The 1909 visit …

The Poet Jan Rainis During Swiss Exile, 1906-1920: Internationalism, Nationalism, And The Meaning Of ''A Free Latvia In A Free Russia'', Bryan K. Herman

Swiss American Historical Society Review

T his opening quote appears in the 1949 Stalinist fi lm Rainis, one of several biographical films of cu ltural and scientific figures from the early years of the Cold War. The quote comes at the end of the film , just as Rainis prepares to leave his native Latvia and live under an assumed identity in Switzerland. The scene expresses the tensions of a writer from a relatively small nationality heading to an unknown land . However, instead of finding a strange and unfami liar land, the historic Rainis (Janis Plieksans, I 865-1929) fe lt welcomed and at home …

Book Review: Mission Sitting Bull: The Cultural Conquest Of The Sioux And Their Varied Response, S. Marianne Burkhard Osb Jcl

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

William Tell Award And Its Recipients, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The legend of William (also referred as Wilhelm) Tell evokes the image of courage, skill and perseverance. Step into any public library and ask for something on William Tell and you are likely to find perhaps more than one book.

Book Review: The Gilded Chalet: Off-Piste In Literary Switzerland, Christopher Cumo

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

There Was Silence After Dawn: The Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gust/Off And Its Disappearance From History, Maren Johnson

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Death was lurking beneath the surface of the sea in the form of a Soviet submarine which was slipping through the waves of the Baltic Sea . The men on the deck of the vessel glimpsed the lights of an ocean liner sliding across the icy water. The temperature of the water was be low freezing with snow falling, and the radar on the ocean liner was so cold it did not function .

Bank Shot: Swiss Banks And Swiss National Character In Daniel Silva's Mossad Spy Novel The English Assassin, Brian Champion

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The American novelist Daniel Silva examines Switzerland, Swiss banks and the Swiss national character in his Israeli spy novel , The English Assassin, because the state of Israel , and by extension, all Jews, face a perpetual existential threat. A major force in the international thriller literature, Silva has written seventeen novels using Gabriel Allon , an assassin for Israel 's civilian intelligence service called Mossad, as a microscope through which various dimensions of Israel's existential threat are examined.

A Swiss Artist, An Iconic American General And An Ambitious Federal Councilor, David Vogelsanger

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Lexington, October 22, 1869. A man boards a canal boat returning from the small Virginia town to a known world , Washington D.C., New York and eventually home to Switzerland . In his luggage he carries a large oil portrait sti ll smelling of fresh paint. Frank Buchser has just finished one of his best paintings, lived some of the most remarkable four weeks of his adventurous live and experienced a kind of political conversion .

Gottfried Egger And Johann Riitschi: Two Reports Of Swiss Emigrants Returning From The United States, Fabian Brandle

Swiss American Historical Society Review

In his most recent , global history oriented study Jochem Oltmer, the noted German historian of migration concisely summarizes reasons for an actual migration. 1 Poverty was blocking social mobility, and generally absent life prospects or hoped for religious or political liberties in the destination country may also have been involved ; but there were always personal, biographical motives at play in the decision to change one's position for a time or for good and to risk a new and generally difficult start somewhere else . Individual circumstances such as the breakup of a relationship, piled up debts, conflicts with …

From The Swiss Protestant Reformation To The Golden Age Of Political Theory In The Geneva Of Voltaire: The Birth Of Modern Democracy, Dwight Page

Swiss American Historical Society Review

On October 31 st , 1517 Martin Luther posted 95 theses on the door of the Palast Church in Wittenberg, Germany, thereby igniting the Protestant Reformation . In 1518, Huldrych Zwingli became the pastor of the Grossmtinster in Zurich where he began to preach ideas on reforming the Catholic Church, rejecting the veneration of saints and questioning the power of excommunication.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel In A Historical Perspective, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Gotthard Base Tunnel project which had a triumphant opening in June 2016 was one of the once in a century projects which deserved a fitting celebration. Alastair Jamieson, NBC reporter, noted that "yodeling and a triumphant Alpine horn heralded the inauguration Wednesday of the longest, deepest railway tunnel ever constructed-a feat of engineering that will slash journey times across Europe."