Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

The little-known tales of slaves from 19th-century Switzerland

engraving of rowing boat
The spectacular escape of the British slave William Oakley from Algiers to Mallorca inspired Daniel Defoe to write his popular novel Robinson Crusoe. The copperplate engraving is from the book Historie van Barbaryen en des Zelfs zee-roovers by the Dutchman Pierre Dan of Amsterdam, 1684. PD. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BNF 88C1355355

Between the 16th and 19th centuries, Christian slaves were held in North Africa and usually only freed for ransom. Around the year 1800, two men from Bern suffered this fate.  

On Christmas Eve, 1796, mercenaries in Neapolitan service are on a ship that is taking them from Genoa to Naples. The ship, however, never arrives at its destination. It’s captured by pirates. The captain and his sailors, seeing the disaster that awaits them, abandon ship, leaving the soldiers to their fate.  

One of these soldiers, 19-year-old Johannes Rohner from Appenzell in eastern Switzerland, later recalls: “We were left with barely enough to cover our nakedness. Every day and every hour, we awaited our deaths”. The ill-fated men are not killed, but instead taken to Tunis in North Africa. They are worth more alive as they can be used as hostages to make money. 

A farmer’s son, Rohner became a mercenary at age 16. Following the pirate attack, he is now a Christian slave in a Muslim country. Another Appenzeller is also among the captured. A year later, in January 1798, two men from the region of Bern suffer the same fate. They are Johannes Rychener and Jakob Mäder. 

Around the time the two arrive in Tunis, an important historical event is taking place back home: the old Swiss Confederation is falling following an invasion by the French. The era of the Helvetic Republic is beginning. 

Nothing is known about the circumstances surrounding the capture of the Bernese. In all likehood they too were mercenaries like the men from Appenzell. “Presumably they were robbed in 1798 on a ship sailing under the Genoese flag and, like the two Appenzellers, were in Neapolitan service as mercenaries”: that’s what the historian and journalist Pascal Michel assumes in his book, Zehn Jahre versklavt (Ten Years a Slave), which tells the story of Rohner.  

slaves in north africa
Christian slaves in North Africa sometimes had to do hard physical work in lime mining or construction. The copperplate engraving is from the book Historie van Barbaryen en des Zelfs zee-roovers by the Dutchman Pierre Dan of Amsterdam, 1684. PD. Bibliothèque nationale de France, BNF C214305)

For centuries, Muslim pirates from North Africa, also known as corsairs, spread fear and terror on the Mediterranean Sea. They captured merchant ships and went on raids along the coasts. The “barbarian states” of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli were vassal states of the Ottoman Empire – fragile state entities where the business model was primarily piracy and extortion through ransom. 

Domestic slaves for the sovereign 

Between the 16th and 19th centuries, an estimated 1.25 million European Christians – mainly mercenaries, clergymen and merchants – fell into slavery in North Africa. Some were freed for a ransom; others had to serve as slaves for the rest of their lives. Still others converted to Islam and were able to improve their social status and start a family. 

Not all enslaved Europeans had the same experience. While some led relatively tolerable lives as domestic slaves and servants, others were subjected to hard physical labour in lime mining, construction or quarries. Rohner from Appenzell was lucky. First he became a domestic slave for the Bey, the ruler of Tunis who was tolerated by the Ottoman Empire; later, he was passed on to a Muslim convert. 

The accounts of Swiss people who were captured as slaves have received little public attention. Besides Rohner (1777-1855), at least three other stories are known. 

We know more about Johannes Rohner than about any of the other former Christian slaves. In 1808 Rohner wrote about his time in captivity for the Appenzeller Kalender. Several years later, in 1825, he published a more detailed account in the newspaper Bürger- und Bauernfreund. In it he described everyday life as a slave as well as the deprivation and despair he suffered. But he also assured readers that he had remained faithful to the Christian religion despite all the threats and challenges he faced. 

Portrait of the Bey of Tunis Hammuda al Husain
The Bey of Tunis, Hammuda al-Husain, was ruler of Tunisia from 1782 to 1814. He demanded large ransoms for Christian slaves. The Trustees of the British Museum

Both men from Bern were also spared hard labour, if Rohner’s account is to be believed.  Just like the Appenzeller, they became domestic slaves of the Bey and worked for him as servants, notably in the garden. Clearly their work commitment was valued, wrote Rohner: “The Bernese and Germans were favourites of my master because they worked harder than the sailors or the Italians.” Rohner’s report also mentions that one of the Bernese was urged by his master to convert to Islam. “But the Bernese steadfastly refused and remained faithful to our Saviour,” he writes. 

French mediators 

Michel’s book is meticulously researched and exciting to read. An extended version of Rohner’s account of his experiences, printed in full in the appendix, is especially appealing. The historian combed through the Bernese official archives and found evidence that local authorities had gone to great lengths to pay ransoms for their enslaved citizens in Tunis. 

Michael Gabathuler is another Swiss historian who has studied the subject. After analysing the biographies of 52 slaves originally from Switzerland, he concluded that authorities provided concrete help in only 19 cases. The ability to pay extremely high ransoms was a decisive factor. The ruler of Tunis demanded 2,300 guilders (roughly CHF3,500) for each slave – equivalent to what it would have cost to build three state houses. 

The Bernese government, mindful of the strong French influence in North Africa, authorised the trading house August Bazin in the French town of Marseilles to conduct the negotiations. A French colonel and merchant by the name of Barthéz acted as the local mediator. 

Big fundraising campaign 

But how were they to raise the huge sum of CHF7,000 to rescue the two Bernese? The authorities decided to start a canton-wide fundraising campaign. In a leaflet dated January 17, 1804 distributed to all districts, the Bernese justice and police council called for donations from the population to free the enslaved men. 

The leaflet KS1.46 states that the government was “touched by the sad situation of the ill-fated men” and that although they had been “vigorously” campaigning for them, “it has nevertheless been impossible up until now to achieve their release because the large ransom demanded for them, which according to reliable reports amounts to over 3,500 francs, has not yet been raised”. 

letter from 1804
Letter dated June 18, 1804, in which the Bazin trading house in Marseilles informs the Bern authorities of the successful ransom of the Bernese slaves in Tunis. StaBE Circulare KS 1.46

On Sunday March 25, 1804, fundraising took place throughout the canton for the Bernese slaves. Church service collections were also used for this purpose. The campaign was a success, raising over CHF7,400. In his autobiographical account, Rohner recalled how he got into a conversation with a “French merchant” in Tunis in the summer of 1804, who inquired about the Bernese slaves. Rohner was shocked when he realised that there was no talk of paying the Appenzellers’ ransom. “Not that I begrudged the Bernese their good fortune, but we were also aching for freedom,” he later wrote. 

The Bernese were given a tearful farewell. “We ran into each other’s arms; we cried, kissed each other, held each other’s hands, and could only utter the words: ‘Adio! Adio! We’ll never see each other again’.” 

On June 19, 1804, the Bazin trading house in Marseilles reported to Bern that the mission had been accomplished. Barthéz, the negotiator in charge of the payment, had found the Bey at the Bardo Palace in “a good mood” – he accepted the offer of CHF3,500 for each of the Bernese slaves. 

The men were taken by ship to Marseilles. After being provided with passports and travel money, they returned to Bern by coach. The two Appenzellers, however, had to wait another two years for freedom. A collection in their small canton had not yielded enough money. It was only through the personal efforts of the French consul in Tunis as well as mediation by the new Neapolitan king, a brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, that they were finally freed in 1806. 

Financial aid to rebuild lives 

Nothing is known about the lives of the two Bernese after they were freed. Most likely they returned to their home villages, earned a living in agriculture and started a family. Did they become celebrities after their return? Did they have difficulties reintegrating at home? Did they ever again meet the two Appenzellers who had shared the same fate? The records provide few answers to these questions. Nor do they answer the question of why they, unlike Rohner, did not write their life stories, despite the possibility of financial gain. 

While the two Appenzellers each received 200 guilders from the authorities to rebuild their lives in their old homeland, it’s not known if Rychener and Mäder ever received similar financial support once they returned home. In Bern, the remainder of the money raised to pay their ransom was handed over to the canton’s commission for the poor so it could be distributed among the needy. 

Incidentally, the sons of Rohner from Appenzell later emigrated to the United States, lured by the gold rush in California. Today a settlement called “Rohnerville” in the Sunshine State is a reminder of the descendants of the former Christian slave. 

Pascal Michel: «Zehn Jahre versklavt». Die vergessene Lebensgeschichte des Johannes Rohner, Appenzeller Verlag. 

This article first appeared in the Bund newspaper on April 25, 2023External link

More

Switzerland and its colonists

Switzerland had no colonies – yet some Swiss worked with colonial powers and profited from their seizure of resources on other continents.

Read more: Switzerland and its colonists


In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR