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. Nadja Ackermann is a scientific archivist responsible for company archives in the Burgerbibliothek Bern.
The first attempts involved buried bombs before dropping the high-explosive and finally firebombs. An illustrated report in weekly newspaper Zürcher Illustrierte contained a number of striking photographs demonstrating the effect of a high-explosive bomb, which fell about a metre from the building. The article said: “The detonation could be heard over 10 km away. It…
Hans Peter Tschudi was proud of his wife, whom he had married in spring 1952, and of her success as a scientist: “Towards the end of my time at the Trade Inspectorate, I had the good fortune to meet Irma Steiner, Dr. med. et phil. nat., a qualified lecturer and assistant at the pharmaceutical institute…
Gottfried Strasser was born on 12 March 1854 in Lauenen near Gstaad. His father Johannes, a clergyman, was married to Emilie Katharina Ludwig, whose father Emanuel had been a pastor at Bern Minster. The family moved to Langnau in the Emmental region in 1855. Gottfried grew up there, in a lively household of two sisters and…
In the early 19th century, Switzerland was traumatised by the French invasion of 1798 and there were fears that France would attack again. In Switzerland’s defence planning, Aarberg was a strategic military location as French armies could potentially cross the River Aare there. An obstacle was therefore needed. Dr. phil., Curator of the Information and…
The setting in which Jesus actually came into the world remains a mystery – but the way it has been imagined has shaped Christian Christmas culture for centuries. In art and crib building, the nativity scene has been depicted in various locations, including a stable, a cave, a ruin, and a house, in each case…
Medievalist Marcel Beck kept a diary throughout his military service. It reveals a different, rarely seen side of active service during the Second World War.
Between 1974 and 1976, Marcel Beck published several short extracts in the Badener Tagblatt newspaper from a diary he had kept during the Second World War, and which was subsequently believed to have gone missing. It was acquired from a private owner by Jakob Tanner a few years ago. The diary consists of a total…
Born in 1885 into a modest Romanian-speaking family in Transylvania, Liviu Rebreanu needed to learn both Hungarian and German to acquire a basic education in what was then the Kingdom of Hungary, and part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After getting higher education, he also learned the “foreign languages” taught through the imperial school system. To…
“Nepal is a closed country.” These were the first lines penned by Byodo Tsushō, a Japanese Buddhist monk who published an account of his travels in Nepal in the 1935 issue of the Pan-Asianist journal, Dai Ajiashugi.[1] Three years earlier, Byodo Tsushō was sponsored by the Hongan-ji sect of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism to study in…