Compelling stories about the past that help explain the present – with a focus on stories that link Switzerland to the world and the questions the world has about Switzerland.
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Interrail – opening up a world of possibility for young people
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The Swiss National Museum’s blog takes a look at the history of the European youth rail pass, launched in 1972 to immediate success.
A brief history of Swiss banking oversight and its scandals
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Scandals and outside pressure have shaped Swiss banking regulations – yet powerful financial lobbies have often managed to water them down.
Inside the Society of Saint Pius X’s latest traditionalist revolt
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The Society of Saint Pius X recently reignited a long-running dispute with the Vatican by illicitly consecrating several bishops in Switzerland.
What Chile’s 1988 referendum can teach democrats today
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We asked our users whether they had cast their vote in what was arguably the most consequential referendum ever held under a dictatorship.
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Ninety years ago, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie stood before the League of Nations in Geneva and appealed for help in the Abyssinian War.
A ‘European disaster’: a personal reflection in photographs on the Yugoslav Wars
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Swissinfo photographer Thomas Kern witnessed the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and, for several months, the siege of Sarajevo. A personal retrospective.
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During times of political unrest – especially during the two world wars – state censors monitored private as well as military correspondence. They made no attempt to hide their actions.
Justice in sight for the Swiss convicted for helping the Resistance
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The Swiss parliament has taken steps to rehabilitate those convicted by Swiss courts for supporting the French and Italian Resistance during the Second World War.
The dramatic freezing of Ferdinand Marcos’s assets in Switzerland
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Forty years ago Switzerland froze the assets of toppled Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos – a turning point regarding assets of politically exposed people.
How the Swiss franc became one of the world’s most trusted currencies
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From the monetary chaos of the 19th century to its status today as a global safe haven, this is the story of how the Swiss franc emerged and why it inspires such confidence.
The Swiss man who exposed exploitation of emigrants in 19th-century Brazil
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Some 170 years ago, Thomas Davatz led a revolt in Brazil that exposed the exploitation of European immigrants to Latin America in the 19th century.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: a ‘true German artist’ who found peace in Switzerland
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Nearly a century after a solo exhibition that Kirchner curated himself in Bern, the Swiss capital is revisiting that show – with some help from the German chancellor.
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Bombs in Brighton, timers from Switzerland and secret bank accounts in Geneva. Patrick Ryan, one of the IRA’s leading members, was also a priest.
How an Englishman lived as a woman in a Swiss cave
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Almost 100 years ago, an English intellectual settled in a remote Swiss mountain village – and transformed himself into a woman.
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Foraging for mushrooms has become a popular pastime throughout Switzerland. Yet these fascinating organisms were once seen as harmful. How has this fundamental change in their image come about?
Recognising Emma Jung’s exploration of the unconscious
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As early as 1911, the psychoanalyst and artist Emma Jung feared that she would be overhshadowed by her famous husband. Over a century later, she is being recognised.
Swiss silence, wartime shame, and one girl’s fight against patriarchy
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“Silent Rebellion”, the debut film by Marie-Elsa Sgualdo which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, confronts the ghosts of Swiss complicity and conformity during the Second World War.
The Swiss woman who fled the Nazis and changed Brazilian photojournalism
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A pioneer of photojournalism, Hildegard Rosenthal’s work reveals a São Paulo in transformation – and a legacy that continues to inspire.
Was the worst Swiss disaster an ‘unforeseeable event’?
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Sixty years after the Mattmark tragedy, the survivors’ memories persist. So do the shadows of a trial in which all of the accused were acquitted, amid political and economic pressure.
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Around a century ago, visitors to the famous Rigi mountain regularly complained of diarrhoea and vomiting. Was it mountain sickness – or something more?
When a US bomber crashed into Max Huber’s Zurich castle
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In July, 1944, a stricken American bomber crashed into a canton Zurich castle belonging to a notable Swiss figure – Red Cross president Max Huber.
How the Locarno Film Festival brought Chinese films to the West
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Over the past 75 years, some pivotal Chinese films and filmmakers have had their first encounter with international critics at Locarno.
How a Swiss diplomat experienced the end of WWII in Japan
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Eighty years ago, the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, precipitating the end of the Second World War. Camille Gorgé captured the moment in his memoirs.
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On August 1 each year, the country celebrates itself with bonfires, barbecues, speeches, and – the not always welcome – fireworks displays.
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What do an orphan from Lucerne and a geologist from Western Switzerland have in common? A fascination with mysterious creatures – and the field of cryptozoology.
How Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne honed their craft in Zurich
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In 1969, Black Sabbath spent six weeks in Zurich – a formative time for the young band, who fine-tuned their style in marathon sessions.
![The four-metre-long painting "Sonntag der Bergbauern" [Sunday of the Mountain Farmers, 1923-24/26] had to be removed by a crane from the German Chancellery in Berlin for the exhibition in Bern.](https://www.swissinfo.ch/content/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2025/12/01_Pressebild_KirchnerxKirchner.jpg?ver=f9964473)
