Gabriel Heim is a book and film author and exhibition organiser. He is principally concerned with research into topics of modern and contemporary history and lives in Basel.
In 1929, mountain film pioneer Arnold Fanck shot his global hit The White Hell of Piz Palü in southern Graubünden. The secret star of filming was the Bernina railway, a track system that could handle tough winter operation.
In 1925, the Schweizerische Maschinen- und Lokomotivfabrik in Winterthur was contracted to build ‘Krokodil’/‘Crocodile’ locomotives for the Great Indian Peninsula Railway.
Shortly before the war ended, the Nazis managed to spirit away a hoard of gold they had stashed in Bern. The trail of all this precious metal goes cold in the basement of the German embassy.
In the late 19th century, La Chaux-de-Fonds was a popular destination for Jewish immigrants. This also benefited the watchmaking industry and the urban landscape, which gained the country’s largest synagogue.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the city of Zurich attracted scores of Jewish families. They brought their culture with them to their new homeland, also building synagogues. Like the one on Freigutstrasse, for example.