European History Commons^™

Lines In The Sky: American Air Defense Strategy 1950-1958, Jacob A. Battle

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

In August 1949, the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb, abruptly ending the American monopoly on nuclear weapons. While many in the Truman administration had believed that no other nation could construct the bomb, war planners were now faced with the possibility of an "atomic Pearl Harbor". In response, NSC-68 would be published, granting an unprecedented level of attention and investment to developing air defense measures. Throughout the following decade, new command structures coincided with rapid developments in radar, aircraft, and missile technology. Furthermore, the development of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) integrated radar, interceptors, and Nike missile systems …

Cold War Origins: The Iron Curtain Descends, I. B. Landry

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

The West’s policy of containment would come to define the early years of the Cold War. Rooted in the communist takeover of Russia following the First World War, Soviet aggression was fostered under the leadership of Stalin, who envisioned global domination under communism. Thus, while tensions came to a head following World War II, evidence for an eventual clash of ideologies can be seen in its preceding years.

Longest Marriage In The World: Is Chocolate The Secret To Love?, Simon Brown

CAFE Symposium 2026

Although chocolate has always represented love in some facets, its expression has manifested into something poetic since its founding over 50 centuries ago. This poeticizing of chocolate's relationship with love was formed through the transportation of chocolate from Mesoamerica to Europe, and Europe to America. Whether it’s through Valentines Day, forgiveness gifts, or just a sweet treat added to a nice card, chocolate has become a token of appreciation usable for almost every occasion. Examining the timeline of affection created through both cacao and chocolate, this paper will explore chocolates’ transition from a food of lust to a gift of …

A Crown In Death: An (Expanded) Dramaturgical Approach To The Trojan Women Of Euripides, Stephanie Lester

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

In the action-packed, visually-oriented market for modern media, some may assume a 2,400-year-old Greek tragedy to be slightly past its expiration date, especially if it features little to no action onstage like in Euripides’ The Trojan Women. However, it is important to remember that literature is lost when the world fails to cherish it, so if a text survives that long, it may be worth another cursory glance. In this case, that glance involved a full dramaturgical study featuring qualitative script analysis of multiple translations of The Trojan Women with related texts to explore context, themes, common literary devices, and …

From Zwingli’S Switzerland To The American South:, Celeste Carroll Onchuck

Swiss American Historical Society Review

“Here – here shall be my grave!” declared Rudi Gallmann, standing near Huldrych (or Ulrich) Zwingli and his comrades on the damp ground in the gently sloping Albis hills of the Zurich countryside on October 11, 1531. When the weather was clear and the sun shone over the towering Kappel monastery, one might be overcome with a sense of peacefulness, but that day, the clouds hung low, bringing light rain to accompany the winds that blew over the hillsides. Although morale was not at its zenith among the Protestant troops at Kappel am Albis that day, Gallmann and the others …

From Islands To Mountains:, Stephanie Velasco Poserio

Swiss American Historical Society Review

This reflection, by Ms. A. Martinez, a Filipino-American living and working in diversity education at a castle museum near Bern, Switzerland, highlights how cultural connections are maintained even when one is geographically distant from one’s country of origin. In addition to Ms. Martinez’s Filipino-American perspective, I met and interviewed others who shared their stories as Filipino or Filipino-Swiss migrants. The migration of Filipinos from the islands of the Philippines to the mountains of Switzerland illustrates a dynamic journey that began with labor migration in the early 1970s and reflects a vibrant diaspora today. This article presents a cultural and historical …

Hollywood’S Toughest Stunt Clan Comes From Gossau, Canton St. Gallen:, Roland Schäfli

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Hans Epper from eastern Switzerland conquered Hollywood as a stuntman in the 1930s. His descendants continue to perform death-defying stunts for Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg to this day. A family history like something out of a movie.

When Hans Epper arrived in New York on Whit Monday (the day after Pentecost) in 1926, he gave his name as “John” to the immigration authorities.

He discarded “Hans” just as he wanted to discard his origins: his past in the eastern Swiss municipality of Gossau. An official at the town hall of the industrial village in St. Gallen had scribbled “Off …

Book Review, Marianne Derron

Swiss American Historical Society Review

As historian Jürg Flückiger writes in the title, this story is only “almost forgotten.” It is well known that during World War II, many foreign citizens who had ended up in Switzerland for a variety of reasons were interned there. While some were there voluntarily, fleeing the Nazis, others had ended up in Switzerland in the course of actual combat operations, but would have preferred to avoid this exile. This was the fate of a number of American fighter pilots whose planes had been damaged over Germany and had to make emergency landings in Switzerland.

Sahs Advisory Board, 2025–2028

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

President’S Annual Report, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The past year has been a very busy and fruitful one for the Swiss American Historical Society (SAHS), with many developments and achievements. We formed new partnerships, engaged in outreach, published a book, began our centennial plans, and gained 35 new members (many of whom are not Swiss)!

2025 began with us awarding a grant to Celeste Onchuck, an SAHS member and doctoral student who is writing her dissertation about Huldrych Zwingli and her ancestors, the Gallmann family who immigrated to South Carolina (her article exploring some of this is in this issue). The grant allowed Celeste to travel to …

Publications Report, The Editorial Board

Swiss American Historical Society Review

2025 was a busy year for the Editorial Board. In addition to publishing three issues of the SAHS Review, we also completed editing and publishing Helvetic Heights: A Human History of the Swiss Alps by our own Richard Hacken. The book has been well received by members and others as a comprehensive history of people living and working in the Swiss Alps since prehistory.

The February 2025 issue of the SAHS Review featured five interesting and very different articles. Thomas Quinn Marabello researched and wrote about the connection between Zermatt, Switzerland and Vail, Colorado. The founders of Vail, a ski …

Swiss Chapter Financial Report, Kurt Morf

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Financial Report Of The Swiss American Historical Society, Ernie Thurston

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Submitted to the Annual Membership Meeting, Oct. 4, 2025, in New York City

Website & Social Media Report For 2025, Richard Hacken

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Society’s website (https://swiss-american-historical-society.org) has undergone a series of positive changes this year. This is one case where an “upgrade” has not become a “downgrade” in disguise! The Menu (which is where you can access links to other pages on the website) is now more minimalistic, sleek, and user friendly. You will also find a newly inserted search button that helps you find keywords from the entire site.

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Culture And Its Discontents: Versions Of Matthew Arnold From The 1860s To The 1980s, Jarrett Moran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Between the 1860s and the 1980s, the concept of culture articulated by Matthew Arnold provided a widespread and persistent language for making claims about who was ready for inclusion in British politics and identity and who was not yet ready or even incapable of being included. Scholarship on Arnoldian culture has often focused on presenting just one version of Arnold, whether as a cultural elitist, a progenitor of literary studies, or proponent of “doing away with classes.” This dissertation instead shows that Arnold’s concept of culture was so pervasive and persistent because he could be appropriated and redefined by people …

Alma Gildenhorn:, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Alma Lee Gildenhorn (née Alma Lee Gross), born on January 14, 1932, in Baltimore, Maryland, is a distinguished American philanthropist, civic leader, and cultural advocate whose life exemplifies service, generosity, and dedication to the public good. Over the course of more than seven decades, she has played an influential role in advancing education, strengthening U.S.–Swiss relations, promoting the arts, and supporting countless community institutions.

End Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Swiss Settlers On The Nebraska Prairie In The 1880s, Karl Horat

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Hundreds of thousands of emigrants from all over Europe, as well as many Americans, were attracted to the West in the nineteenth century. It was the time of the “Homestead Act,” a law for land settlement signed by President Abraham Lincoln. It had taken force on New Year’s Eve, 1863.

Among the early settlers in the Great Plains of Nebraska in the 1880s were landless Swiss farmers. The presence of two families from the Bernese Oberaargau, Lisette and Ueli Uhlmann-Schütz, along with Annelies and Hans-Ueli Kleeb-Heiniger, was documented on 19th century photographic plates. The black and white pictures illustrate both …

Front Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Officers (Executive Board)

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Thomas Quinn Marabello became President of the Swiss American Historical Society in November 2024. As president, he is focused on increasing membership, organizing engaging and interesting annual meetings, and supporting young historians.

Beth Zurbuchen has been Vice President of the Swiss American Historical Society since November 2024. She served as President of the Swiss Center of North America in New Glarus, Wisconsin from 2009 until retiring in April 2024.

Barbara Müller joined the SAHS in 2013, became Vice President of the SAHS Swiss Chapter in 2016 and is President of our sister organization, Friends of the Swiss American Historical Society …

Swiss American Historical Society Annual Business Meeting Report, Jane C. Maurer

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 AM. Observed Moment of Silence to remember longtime members who passed away in the past year (Dr. Heinz B. Bachmann, former SAHS President and Treasurer; Heinrich L. Wirz, Max A. Gonzenbach, Fred C. Moser, Richard Blatter and Paul R. Judy).

Annual Membership Report

Swiss American Historical Society Review

We have 208 current members, a 1% increase over the 205 reported last year at this time. We received a donation of $10,000 from the Northlands Foundation. And one of $1,000 from the Gonzenbach Family Foundation, in honor of former member Max Gonzenbach (now deceased.). Other members made extra contributions this year totaling $1,240, and one became a Life member.

Friends Of The Swiss American Historical Society (Sahs) Switzerland Chapter, Barbara Müller

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Swiss Chapter of SAHS held their annual general meeting and outing in St. Legier, Canton Vaud at the Pepperdine University campus in the renovated Château d’Hauteville on September 10th, 2025. The château belonged to Pierre-Philippe Canac, who installed Benjamin Franklin’s lightning rods on the château roof when he built it in the 1760s. It then passed through marriage to Daniel Grand, the youngest son of Franklin’s French banker. The installed lightning rods still protect the château today from the storms passing over Lake Geneva. Pepperdine has done a wonderful job in renovating the château and keeping it for generations …

A Feminine Flame In The Midst Of Repression: The Concealed Role Of Women In The Isolated Siberian Tundra, Jenny N. Liang

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

The modern Russian state is distinctive in her history of utilizing the isolated Siberian tundra for eliminating political dissent, with millions of dissidents disappearing into penal colonies, labor camps, and gulags, some never to reappear. Of the incomprehensible mass of numbers are the stories of steadfast wives refusing to abandon their husbands, women surviving the brutal political prison camps, and girls manipulated as political pawns into Siberia. In a historically patriarchal Slavic society, the stories of women have been conveniently pushed aside. The distinctive Russian practice of exiling political dissidents to the remote Siberian tundra has led to stories of …

Gold, Manuscripts, And Misunderstanding: The Forgotten Intellectual Wealth Of Timbuktu, Caroline A. Valdovinos

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

This article re-examines Timbuktu’s legacy, challenging European myths that imagined the city as a hidden African “El Dorado” while overlooking its intellectual wealth. From the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, Timbuktu thrived as a hub of trade, religion, and scholarship, home to mosques, libraries, and networks of learning that drew scholars from across the Islamic world. Manuscripts on theology, law, medicine, and science circulated widely, placing the city at the heart of West Africa’s intellectual life. Yet European explorers and mapmakers, influenced by accounts like those of Leo Africanus, recast Timbuktu as a treasure-laden city of gold. This obsession, reinforced by …

Wedded To Power: Dynastic Marriages And The Hidden Diplomacy Of Women In Early Modern Europe, Amelia H. Earl

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The diplomatic power of women in the ‘Great Power’ dynasties of Europe has been passed over in historiography because very often their power rested in their relationships to their male counterparts. Dismissing these women’s diplomatic and political power as “soft power” of the domestic sphere overlooks the fact that the political structure of Europe relied heavily on familial ties. In early modern Europe, the whole continent was a kinship; thus, familial relationships between two dynasties were inherently political. The daughters and mothers of these dynasties discovered that there was permeable access to the European political arena through marriage and motherhood. …

Infinite Line, Infinite Knowledge: The 'Spera' And Organized Chaos In Lambert's Encyclopedia, The 'Liber Floridus', Ava Romano

Theses and Dissertations

The Liber Floridus is a medieval encyclopedia renowned for its program of circular diagrams, or sperae. Inside this manuscript of 190 chapters, these diagrams frame and embody written knowledge, revealing a connection between encyclopedism and life in the Benedictine monastery by creating a coherent visual organization of chapters.

Negotiating Sacred Space: Monastic Endurance And The Spatial Politics Of Sistematizare In 1980s Bucharest, Symantha G. Byrd

Theses and Dissertations

Under Ceaușescu's 1980s Sistematizare program, Bucharest's Orthodox monasteries sustained sacred life through "negotiated resilience": ritual repetition and spatial adaptation under surveillance and constrained visibility. Văcărești, Mihai Vodă, and Antim map a spectrum—erasure, relocation/concealment, and institutional negotiation—complicating binaries of resistance and collaboration.

A Cold War Story: The Emigration Of Soviet Jews 1967-1980, William Bernstein

History Honors Papers

No abstract provided.