Upon the outbreak of World War II, Switzerland immediately set about securing its borders. Including the line along the Rhine. Diaries give an insight into the everyday life of the border guards.
The Thirty Years’ War devastated Europe. Though not involved in the war, Switzerland also suffered. Many people left the country, moving north, and also eastwards. Some emigrants, such as goldbeater Heinrich Schlatter, found a happier future in their new homelands.
In the 18th century, straw-weavers and hatmakers had a bad reputation in Switzerland. They were condemned as lazy. A century later, hat-making became a flourishing business.
The biography of Johann Jakob Meyer from Zurich reads like an adventure novel: womaniser, confidence trickster, and up to his eyeballs in debt. How could such a man become a Greek hero?
The great names in global history weren’t the only ones who dreamed of flying. Even in the Zürcher Unterland, people were designing and building. Lack of money and scarce resources gave rise to some exceedingly creative aircraft.
It’s one of nine quarry sites in the Canton of Zurich, and certainly the most eccentric. The silica sand quarry at Buchs in Zurich was created by chance in 1898, and hit the headlines in April 1910.
