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Have you ever heard anything peculiar about Switzerland that you found interesting?

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A member of the Swiss Abroad editorial team, I mainly write about Switzerland's most peculiar features and stories. After completing my master's degree in Asian Studies in Geneva (with a detour at Tokyo University and Kyoto University), I worked on the newsdesk at RSI, occasionally collaborating with Presence Switzerland during the Expo in South Korea and Milan. I have been working for SWI swissinfo.ch since 2016.

Did you know that it is illegal to keep just one guinea pig in Switzerland? Have you ever heard of the Swiss sport of Hornussen? Is the story about the diplomat who was surprised to find the mummy of his great-grandfather in Egypt true?

Every Saturday we publish an article on quirky topics about Switzerland in our weekly briefing.

Is there anything peculiar related to Switzerland that has caught your interest? Share it with us, and we might feature it in an article!

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Gabriel Medina
Gabriel Medina
The following contribution has been automatically translated from ES.

Good... the lundin family had privileged information after the second world war through mappings of the time where the oil and mining resources of the world were located ... in particular I can tell you about San Juan Argentina ... and 20 years ago they took the gold dore from the Andes mountain range ... ... and the first ingot was 250 dollars an ounce, today it is almost 3700 dollars ... and they destroyed the almirante brown glacier to make the road. Access to the veladero mine. This glacier was 60 km from a town called Tudcum ... the Veladero mine was built in an area that is a national reserve called San Gullermo where it was forbidden to carry out this type of activity .... and has a bi-national mine called Lama Pascua armed without working because on the Chilean side they removed the concession for environmental damage since 2012 ... a few weeks ago they did the same in Tierra Amarilla: applied a fine of $ 3,300 million and ordered the total and definitive closure of Lundin mining.31 in jan 2025 ... and wants to start doing the same in argentina and chile with the vicuña project ...almost 5% of the argentine national exports that come out of San Juan and Santa Cruz in patagonia go to switzerland ...thanks to a mining investment law that was made in the 90s with a meagre royalty of 3%... that to make matters worse this government took them away... it always seemed strange to me the luck that their settlers came from Canada .... but the one who had the information was the biochemist harry lundi gave it to adolf h and bertil who was a high command of the swiss intelligence service... no doubt it is strange switzerland because they have our legendary wealth stored in their banks apart of course 3/4 parts of gold from the 3 Reich where 40 million humans died... and according to you they were always neutral in modern wars... they filled themselves with the world resources at the cost of blood and pollution...__ Greetings __Gabriel

Buenas... la familia lundin tuvo información privilegiada depues de la segunda guerra mundial a través de mapeos de la época donde se encontraban los recursos petroleros y mineros del mundo ... en particular puedo contar lo de San Juan argentina ... y hacen 20 años se llevan el oro dore de la cordillera de los andes ... cuando sacaron el primer lingote la onza cotizaba 250 dólares hoy esta a casi 3700 .. y destruyeron el glaciar almirante brown para hacer el camino. Se acceso a la mina veladero. Dicho glaciar estaba a 60 km de un pueblo llamado tudcum ... la mina veladero se hizo sobre un área que es una reserva nacional llamada san gullermo donde estaba prohibido hacer ese tipo de actividad .... y tiene una mina bi nacional lama Pascua armada sin funcionar por que del lado chileno les sacaron la concesión por daños ambientales desde 2012 .. hace unas semanas atrás hicieron lo mismo en Tierra Amarilla: aplica multa de $ 3.300 millones y ordena clausura total y definitiva de minera de Lundin.31 ene 2025 .. y quiere empezar hacer lo mismo en argentina y chile con el proyecto vicuña ..casi el 5 % de la exportaciones nacionales argentinas que salen de San Juan y Santa Cruz en la patagonia se va para suiza ...gracias a una ley de inversiones mineras que se hizo en la década 90 con unas magras regalías del 3 %.. que para colmo este gobierno se las saco.. siempre me pareció extraño la suerte que tuvieron sus colonos venidos en canadiense... pero el que tenía la información fue el bioquimico harry lundi se las dio adolf h y bertil que fue un alto mando del servicio de inteligencia suizo .. no cabe duda que es extraño suiza por que tienen la riqueza legendarias nuestras guardadas en sus bancos aparte por supuesto 3/4 partes de oro del 3 Reich donde murieron 40 millones de humanos .. y según ustedes siempre fueron neutrales en las guerras modernas .. se llenaron de los recursos del mundo a costa de sangre y contaminación..__ Saludos __Gabriel

Bennwiler
Bennwiler

Topic: Theban Legion in Switzerland. ____Question: do any other Swiss, like me, have "Coptic Christian" identified in their 23andMe DNA analysis? ____Reference: see book by Donald O'Reilly, "Lost Legion Rediscovered: The Mystery of the Theban Legion" (2014) for the Theban Legion story; see also, his academic paper "The Theban Legion of St. Maurice", Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Sep., 1978), pp. 195-207. ____Response: To SwissInfo to do article on Theban Legion descendants in Switzerland; to me, at:____davidheinimann@gmail.com____.

JustTheFacts
JustTheFacts

Note quite peculiar, but interesting:____- Swiss bank notes are unique; their design is vertical.__- The Swiss flag is one of only two flags in the world that are square.____However, eating cats, by any standard is peculiar.

Zeno Zoccatelli
Zeno Zoccatelli SWI SWISSINFO.CH
The following contribution has been automatically translated from IT.
@JustTheFacts

Good morning, ____ Thank you for your message. On the subject of the flag and banknotes, we have recently written articles. Here they are: _____COPY00_ _____COPY01_ ____As far as eating cats is concerned, one has to dig into our archives:_____COPY02_ ____However, it is a rumour with no basis in truth that occasionally resurfaces after press reports on isolated cases occurring both in Switzerland and in neighbouring countries. ____It is interesting to note that precisely one of the malicious rumours circulating in the 1950s and 1960s in Switzerland against Italian immigrants was that they ate cats. Of course, this was not true. The rumour was the result of an anti-Italian current in those decades of great immigration from Italy to Switzerland. ____To go deeper, here is an article by our colleagues at tvsvizzera.it (in Italian): _____COPY00_

Buongiorno, ____Grazie per il suo messaggio. A proposito della bandiera e delle banconote, abbiamo recentemente scritto degli articoli. Eccoli qui: ____https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-oddities/the-macabre-dance-of-the-formicone-and-other-swiss-banknotes/88336533 ____https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-abroad/cross-purposes-the-unique-swiss-flag/89284039 ____Per quello che riguarda il mangiare i gatti, bisogna scavare nei nostri archivi:____https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/animal-lovers-question-morality-of-eating-pets/34786370 ____Tuttavia, si tratta di una voce senza fondamento di verità che ogni tanto torna a galla dopo servizi stampa su casi isolati che capitano tanto in Svizzera quanto nei Paesi vicini. ____È interessante notare che proprio una delle dicerie malevole che giravano negli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta in Svizzera nei confronti degli immigrati italiani era proprio che questi ultimi mangiassero i gatti. Naturalmente non era vero. La voce era il risultato di una corrente anti-italiana in quei decenni di grande immigrazione dall’Italia verso la Svizzera. ____Per approfondire, ecco un articolo dei nostri colleghi di tvsvizzera.it (in italiano): ____https://www.tvsvizzera.it/tvs/cultura-e-dintorni/italianità-in-svizzera-6_quando-gli-italiani-mangiavano-i-gatti/46432480

Adolfo Saenz
Adolfo Saenz
The following contribution has been automatically translated from ES.

Hello I travelled to Switzerland last year, I am from Costa Rica called the Central American Switzerland, I mentioned to many people what we say in CR and it turned out that some of them had visited and they were surprised by my idea of saying another Switzerland, I was really fascinated by Switzerland, I went with my daughter and we rented a car at Zurich airport and we travelled through all the provinces, we went to Interlakes and we really had a great time.

Hola viaje a Suiza el año pasado, soy de Costa Rica llamada la Suiza Centroamericana, le mencione a muchas personas eso que decimos en CR y resulto que algunos habian visitado y se extrañaban de mi ocurrencia de decir otra Suiza, realmente quede fascinado de Suiza, fui con mi hija y alquilamos un vehiculo en el aeropuerto de Zurich y viajamos por todas las provinvias, fuimos a Interlakes y realmente la pasamos muy bien.

D3SWI33
D3SWI33

What about Swiss cheeses ? I can name three. Swiss wines ? And chocolatiers besides Lindt and Läderach ? I want to know more.

Denix
Denix
The following contribution has been automatically translated from FR.
@D3SWI33

https://www.davidchocolatier.ch/fr/accueil/

https://www.davidchocolatier.ch/fr/accueil/

stephengeis1949
stephengeis1949

Foreign Policy Magazine has devised a method for ranking the countries of the world by stability. This is displayed in a sort of "Periodic Table"
The country with the highest stability rating is Switzerland.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/13/periodic-table-states-rankings-strength-stability-stateness/

Mark Rohner
Mark Rohner
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.

Fascinated is not quite accurate, rather shocked. I was offered an online job on Linked in to correct and write texts in Swiss German, so that the AI probably has a basis. It speaks in favour of AI to even have the idea. In my experience, our living language has no written language. And it should stay that way. I find this attempt strange and it affects my feeling of being Swiss. In a way, it is an encroachment by a modern instrument to take over everyone and everything.

Fasziniert ist nicht ganz zutreffend, eher erschüttert. Auf Linked in wurde mir ein Online Job angeboten, Texte in Schweizerdeutsch zu korrigieren und zu verfassen, damit die KI wohl eine Grundlage hat. Es ist sprechend für KI, überhaupt die Idee zu haben. Unsere lebendige Sprache kennt nach meiner Erfahrung keine Schriftsprache. Und das sollte so bleiben. Mir ist dieser Versuch befremdlich, tangiert mein Gefühl Schweizer zu sein. Gewissermassen ein Übergriff von einem modernen Instrument alle und alles zu vereinnahmen.

newsletter@jplienhard.ch
newsletter@jplienhard.ch
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.

Regarding home town: I'll try to reconstruct it from memory, as this was not mentioned in the article. Before the founding of the state in 1848, many people lived in the forests (Gottfried Keller: "Der schwarze Geiger") on the approximate territory of today's Switzerland, which was cobbled together after 1815, as people who had become homeless as a result of the European wars, or had to move around because they lost their land through inheritance. The wise attitude of the "liberals" and philanthropists who prevailed at the time recognised the misery and decreed that all "homeless" people on the territory of the municipality in which they were located automatically became Swiss citizens at the time the state was founded and the municipality became their "home town" so that these people were no longer considered "stateless" or even "homeless". This explains a certain accumulation of names in certain hometowns. This was a major social phenomenon at the time. But the communities had to serve in the case of poor people... This explains why there were "poorhouses" in poor communities, because the communities where these people moved to but then became poor were deported to their home town in order to avoid social costs. Over time, a major social problem became a new problem that persisted until the recent past, even before the turn of the millennium.

Betr. Heimatort: Ich versuche es mal aus meinem Gedächtnis zu rekonstruieren, weil dies im Artikel gar nicht erwähnt worden war. Vor der Staatsgründung 1848 lebten viele Menschen auf dem nach 1815 zusammengeschusterten ungefähren Territorium der heutigen Schweiz, als durch die europäischen Kriege heimatlos gewordenen Menschen in den Wäldern (Gottfried Keller: «Der schwarze Geiger») oder mussten herumziehen, weil durch Erbteilung sie ihr Land verloren. Die weise Einstellung der damals vorherrschenden «Liberalen» und Philantropen erkannte das Elend und verfügte, dass alle «Heimatlosen» zum Zeitpunkt der Staatsgründung auf dem Territorium der Gemeinde, in der sie sich befanden, automatisch Schweizer Bürger und die Gemeinde zum «Heimatort» wurde damit diese Leute dann nicht mehr als «Staatenlose» oder gar «Obdachlose» galten. Das erklärt eine gewisse Häufung von Namen in gewissen Heimatorten. Das war damals eine soziale Grosstat. Doch die Gemeinden mussten eben im Falle der Armengenössigkeit herhalten… Das erklärt, weshalb es dann in armen Gemeinden eben «Armenhäuser» gab, weil die Gemeinden, in denen diese Leute hinzogen, aber dann armengenössig wurden, eben in ihren Heimatort abschoben wurden, um Sozialkosten zu vermeiden. Aus einer sozialen Grosstat wurde dann über die Zeit ein neues Problem, das bis in die jüngste Vergangenheit noch vor der Jahrtausendwende anhielt.

philsinclair
philsinclair

I always find it funny that because the British helped to build the Swiss railway system, that Swiss trains drive on the left-hand side of the tracks.

Denix
Denix
The following contribution has been automatically translated from FR.
@philsinclair

The same goes for France!

Idem pour la France !

Bea Kay
Bea Kay
The following contribution has been automatically translated from ES.

Swiss companies smuggled mercury, without paying taxes in Argentina via Chile, and transported it illegally, violating the Basel Treaty and evading taxes. Then the Argentinean government intervened, so that the mercury was declared as such and exported from Argentinean ports. They take great care of the environment, they make many agreements, in their territory, but it's all hypocrisy, because the Earth is one. Just like the Austrians who clear thousands of hectares in the Argentinean Chaco. Europe is the tick of America.

Si claro..Empresas suizas que contrabandeaban mercurio, sin pagar las tasas en Argentina via Chile, y transportandolo de manera ilegal Violando el Tratado de Basilea y evadiendo impuestos. Luego intervino el gobierno Argentino, para que el mercurio fuese declarado como tal y exportado como corresponde desde puertos Argentinos. Cuidan mucho el ambiente, hacen muchos acuerdos, en su territorio, y pero es todo hipocresía, porque la Tierra es una sola. Igual que los austriacos que desmontan miles de hectáreas en el Chaco Argentino. Europa es la garrapata de América.

Eddy
Eddy
The following contribution has been automatically translated from IT.

I have always been interested in military activity inside mountains, hidden Hangars, highway landings and take-offs, etc.

Sono sempre stato interessato alla attività militare all interno delle montagne, agli Hangar nascosti, agli atterraggi e decolli in autostrada etc.

MohGomaa
MohGomaa

As I considered my self a Swiss person and since I get married from a great Swiss women as will as our wonderful boy,I can say the country side is great from the green to the leaks also the people are very helpful and kindness.
Also the organization and the rules are helping me out of enjoying my time with my family and never felt that I am out of my country.
You guys have a great country

Bit oy
Bit oy

One thing I have found a little strange is that when people are selling their house they want to interview prospective buyers. Don’t really understand why. Is it to determine if they are worthy in some way.

Mark Rohner
Mark Rohner
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.
@Bit oy

I can't generally confirm this statement. There are different sales motives. The highest price is one argument. But there can also be idealistic reasons. My own experience: my parents got our house because the deceased owner wanted it to go to a large family. We also sold it again to a family. Or it might be a special property whose long-standing purpose could be lost if the maximum price counts, e.g. a restaurant full of character. These are often co-operatives that want to preserve the character of old properties.

Die Aussage kann ich nicht generell bestätigen. Es gibt verschiedene Verkaufsmotive. Der höchste Preis ist ein Argument. Es kann aber auch ideele Zwecke geben. Selber erlebt: Meine Eltern erhielten unser Haus, weil der verstorbene Eigentümer wollte, dass es an eine grosse Familie geht. Auch wir haben es wieder an eine Familie verkauft. Oder es handelt sich z.B um eine spezielle Liegenschaft, deren langjähriger Zweck verloren gehen könnte, wenn der maximale Preis zählt, z.B. ein charaktervolles Restaurant. Oft sind das Genossenschaften, die alte Liegenschaften in ihrem Charakter erhalten wollen.

7789282060
7789282060

I am a proud swiss citizen living in Vancouver Canada for the last 47 years
I am disturbed that a beautiful, fair and neutral country such a Switzerland would host the questionable WEF (World Economic Forum) in Davos

Mark Rohner
Mark Rohner
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.
@7789282060

Switzerland is diverse and many organisations with an international and/or economic purpose are active in or from Switzerland. I like my country very much, but I don't think all its peculiarities are great.

Die Schweiz ist vielfältig und viele Organisationen mit internatiolem und/oder ökonomischen Zweck sind in bzw. von der Schweiz aus am Wirken. Ich mag mein Land sehr, finde aber nicht alle Eigenheiten nur toll.

Gabriel Medina
Gabriel Medina
The following contribution has been automatically translated from ES.
@Mark Rohner

At the request and effort of the Jáchal no se toca Assembly, Robert Moran, PhD in Geological Sciences from the University of Texas, USA, recently deceased, visited the Veladero mine in April 2016 as an expert witness for the lawsuit in the case of the mega-spill of cyanide solution__"Moran reported that the precariousness of safety at the Veladero mine over the years is alarming. He said that the Almirante Brown glacier is sectioned and cut in half by the mining road. In addition, he corroborated that the Valle de Lixiviación, where the ore piles are deposited to be sprayed with cyanide, is located on the headwaters of the Potrerillos River, which is a huge periglacial environment. Something serious: the course of the Potrerillos River was diverted to pass under the entire Leach Valley. As if all this were not enough: the road to the Veladero and Pascua Lama mines is violating the glaciers law, i.e. law 26.639". Red Nacional de Acción Ecologista____ the spill was totally contaminated with something much more dangerous than cyanide, which are hundreds of toxic compounds. But there is no information about them. The cyanide solution has a pH of between 10 and 12, because if it were to drop, it would generate cyanide gas, which is the same gas that the Nazis used. So a low pH could kill your employees. So they keep it high. The issue is that with that pH, heavy and highly toxic metals such as uranium, zinc, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium or cobalt fall into the solution. Infobae____ One month after Moran's visit to Veladero, the Supreme Court ruled that it will be up to the local courts to determine the responsibility of Barrick Gold and provincial officials. Federal judge Sebastián Cassanello will only be able to investigate national officials in the case of the cyanide spill. In 2017, Judge Cassanello summons former officials to testify and prosecutes former heads of the Ministry of the Environment for violating the Glaciers Law.

A pedido y esfuerzo de la Asamblea Jáchal no se toca, el doctor en Ciencias Geológicas de la Universidad de Texas, Estados Unidos, Robert Moran, recientemente fallecido, visitó en abril de 2016 la mina Veladero como perito de la querella en la causa sobre el megaderrame de solución cianurada__«Moran informó que la precariedad en materia de seguridad en la mina Veladero durante años es alarmante. Dijo que el glaciar Almirante Brown esta seccionado y cortado a la mitad por el camino minero. Además, corroboró que en el Valle de Lixiviación, donde se depositan las pilas del mineral para rociar con cianuro, está dispuesto sobre la naciente del Río Potrerillos, que es un enorme ambiente periglacial. Algo grave: el curso del Río Potrerillos fue desviado para pasar por debajo de todo el Valle de Lixiviación. Como si todo fuera poco: el camino a las minas Veladero y Pascua Lama está violando la ley de glaciares, vale decir, la ley 26.639«. Red Nacional de Acción Ecologista____el derrame estuvo totalmente contaminado con algo mucho más peligroso que el cianuro, que son cientos de compuestos tóxicos. Pero no hay información de ellos. La solución cianurada tiene un pH de entre 10 y 12, porque si bajara, generaría gas cianuro, que es el mismo gas que usaron los nazis. O sea que un pH bajo podría matar a sus empleados. Entonces, lo mantienen alto. El tema es que con ese pH, los metales pesados y altamente tóxicos como uranio, zinc, arsénico, bario, cadmio, cromo o cobalto, caen en la solución. Infobae____Un mes después de la visita de Moran a Veladero el Máximo Tribunal determina que será la Justicia local la que determinará la responsabilidad de Barrick Gold y de funcionarios provinciales. El juez federal Sebastián Cassanello sólo podrá investigar a los funcionarios nacionales, por el caso del derrame de cianuro. En el 2017 el juez Cassanello cita a declarar a ex funcionarios y procesa a ex titulares de la Secretaría de Ambiente por vulnerar la ley de Glaciares

Gabriel Medina
Gabriel Medina
The following contribution has been automatically translated from ES.
@Mark Rohner

And the Inca's truck was also destroyed _____ ______ the photo shows the glacier almirante brown km 56.5 of the access road to the mine that counts 151 km in the middle of the mountain range broken in half ... they try to make it disappear from the records of glaciers prior to the presidential veto 2010 where it was obliged to make a new national inventory and not stop the activity __ 32 years have passed since the law of mining investments that gave 30 years. The extracted gold is taken unrefined in simple affidavits in trucks to the Mendoza airport and flown to Switzerland to be finished.

Y el camión del inca__También lo destrozaron ____https://pueblosoriginarios.com/sur/andina/san-juan/conconta.html__En la foto se ve el glaciar almirante brown km 56.5 del camino de acceso a la mina que cuenta 151 km en el medio de la cordillera partido a la mitad .. lo tratan de hacer desaparecer de los registros de glaciares anteriores Al del veto presidencial 2010 donde se obligaba hacer un nuevo inventario nacional y no parar la actividad __ Ya pasaron 32 años de la ley de invercionesmineras que daban 30 años . __El oro extraído se lleva sin refinar a simple declaración jurada en camiones de caudales hasta el aeropuerto de Mendoza y vuela a suiza para terminación

Silk
Silk

I have a daughter who lives in the countryside of Bern and her mother was Yenish and I was wondering what is known about this tribe of switzerland that lives in the country for some 400 years..

josephzucc
josephzucc

One thing I would really like to know about switzerland every day life is about national, regional or local corruption news, involving misuse of public funds, or misuse of power authority. I hardly know or read about it so it make me think about it. Another is to know stories about how the citizens that are not heard, or keep her interests out of the political systems, how they manage to get heard by the authorities. Thanks in advance, Switzerland seems so perfect in some ways that is kind of strange or curious not to heard on international or national news, any of these topics about.

Mark Rohner
Mark Rohner
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.
@josephzucc

What are you trying to achieve with your request? I don't understand (may be the translation or other cultural origin) who keeps out of politics and yet wants to be heard by the authorities. Switzerland, with its federalist democracy, has citizens and the press close at local, regional and national level. The small-scale nature and many small communities are good ground for this. This means that such issues are taken up in the political process and in the press. Of course, as everywhere else, not everything is totally monitored and transparent, which would require a fundamentally mistrustful understanding. As a nation of the will with several cultures, this is not a priority.

Was bezwecken Sie mit ihrem Wunsch? Ich verstehe nicht (kann die Übersetzung oder anderer kultureller Ursprung sein), wer sich zwar politisch raushält und doch von den Behörden gehört werden will. Die Schweiz mit föderalistischer Demokratie hat Bürger und Presse nahe auf lokaler, regionaler und gesamtstaatlich. Die Kleinräumigkeit und vielen kleinen Gemeinwesen sind dafür guter Boden. So werden solche Fragestellungen im politischen Prozess und in der Presse aufgegriffen. Natürlich wie überall ist nicht alles total überwacht und transparent, was ein grundsätzlich misstrauisches Verständnis voraussetzen würde. Als Willensnation mit mehreren Kulturen steht dies nicht im Vordergrund.

Marvirflo
Marvirflo
The following contribution has been automatically translated from ES.

It has always puzzled me why banks in Switzerland are allowed to safeguard fortunes of dubious provenance, such as those of Germans in the Second World War and more recently those safeguarded by the Crédit Suisse bank.

Siempre me ha intrigado la razón por la que se permite en Suiza que los bancos resguarden fortunas de dudosa procedencia, cómo es el caso de alemanes en la 2da guerra y más recientemente las resguardadas por el Banco Crédit Suisse

Mark Rohner
Mark Rohner
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.
@Marvirflo

In relation to the size of the country, we have large and international banks. Unfortunately, politically dubious transactions do occur. However, the regulations have been tightened considerably.

Wir haben im Verhältnis zur Grösse des Landes grosse und auch internationale Banken. Da kommen politisch zzweifelhafte Geschäfte leider vor. Die Regulationen sind aber stark verschärft worden.

DianaW
DianaW

The rental of cemetery plots in Switzerland is something quite different from experience in other countries. Some of the most beautiful cemeteries I have ever seen are there.

CocoMimi
CocoMimi
The following contribution has been automatically translated from FR.
@DianaW

If you're passing through Zurich, take a stroll through the Enzenbühl Cemetery. It's a beautiful setting, with many magnificent ancient funerary monuments.

Si vous passez à Zurich, allez vous promener au Cimetière d’Enzenbühl, le cadre est très beau et de nombreux monuments funéraires anciens sont magnifiques.

Rissa
Rissa
@DianaW

Yes they are gorgeous! My question is why do they eliminate the graves every 30 years? We went looking for old family members there, but there are no old graves. I suppose it’s because of the lack of space, but it’s sad.

Mark Rohner
Mark Rohner
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.
@Rissa

Cemeteries belong to municipalities. Every deceased person has the right to a grave and the municipality pays for the burial. The municipality also decides how long the burial lasts. That is tradition here. It may be that it is a question of space at the origin. But you can rent a grave for a long period of time, usually for families who want a large grave for several generations.

Friedhöfe gehören Gemeinden. Jeder Verstorbene hat Anrecht auf ein Grab und das Begräbnis bezahlt die Gemeinde. Wie lange die Grabesruhe dauert, bestimmt auch die Gemeinde. Das ist Tradition hier. Mag sein, dass es eine Platzfrage ist im Ursprung. Man kann aber ein Grab langjährig mieten, in der Regel machen das Familien, die ein grosses Grab für mehrere Generationen wollen.

Rissa
Rissa
@Mark Rohner

Okay thank you for explaining! So the municipality decides when graves will be dug up, unless the family is still paying for the grave plot?
We weren’t even sure where our family members were buried.. I think I have the town identified now though. So I will look there next time I come. They would be from 1860 and earlier though. So probably not much chance they are still there.

ghay49@gmail.com
ghay49@gmail.com

We had the pleasure of visiting Switzerland in 2019. Unfortunately, towards the end of the scheduled trip, my wife became ill with pneumonia and was hospitalized in a Swiss hospital for 10 days. We were very pleased with the care she received in a rather small town hospital. Whenever I have told the story about this adventure to friends here in the states, the first question is, “How was it under socialized medicine?”. They always seem very surprised when I explain to them that the Swiss system is actually more like the US system than it is the socialized systems in other European countries. The universal coverage in Switzerland is one of the main differences from the US. I was surprised to learn that private insurance is mandatory for those who can afford it. Seniors are covered by a program similar to Medicare in the US, and the disadvantaged are covered by a program similar to our Medicaid. The other big difference is that the Swiss seem to be able to handle healthcare much more cost-effectively than we do in the states.

Mark Rohner
Mark Rohner
The following contribution has been automatically translated from DE.
@ghay49@gmail.com

The costs can vary depending on where you live. In my view, the biggest difference is that everyone must be insured and has the same entitlement to basic care, regardless of age and place of residence. Various insurers have a licence from the state to offer this insurance. They are not allowed to be profit-orientated for basic insurance. The standard of basic care is high. Those with little money receive premium subsidies, possibly even the entire premium. Many people have supplementary insurance for greater comfort or treatment by the head physician or something like that.

Je nach Wohnort können die Kosten verschieden hoch sein. Aus meiner Sicht ist der grösste Unterschied, dass alle versichert sein müssen und einen gleichen Anspruch auf Grundversorgung haben, unabhängig vom Alter und vom Wohnort. Verschiedene Versicherer haben die Lizenz vom Staat, diese Versicherung anzubieten. Sie dürfen nicht profitorientiert sein für fie Grundversicherung. Der Standard der Grundversorgung ist hoch. Wer wenig Geld hat, bekommt Prämienzuschüsse, eventuell gar die ganze Prämie. Viele Leute haben Zusatzversicherung für höheren Komfort oder Behandlung durch den Chefarzt oder so.

Jorg Hiker
Jorg Hiker

How people live in the high Alps is an endless source of news abroad. In the BBC documentary, among Tibetans, Incas of the Andes etc they shown Swiss mountain rescue!

Gabriel Medina
Gabriel Medina
The following contribution has been automatically translated from ES.
@Jorg Hiker

I recommend you to see what your settlers are doing in South America with the Inca trail and the glaciers https://pueblosoriginarios.com/sur/andina/san-juan/conconta.html

Le recomiendo que vea sus colonos lo que hacen en sud América con el camino del inca y los glaciares https://pueblosoriginarios.com/sur/andina/san-juan/conconta.html

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

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