Michael van Orsouw

Michael van Orsouw has a PhD in history and is a performance poet and author. He regularly publishes historical books.

The guillotine maker

Michael van Orsouw 05.04.2024 Johann Bücheler was a regular carpenter from Kloten. In 1836, he was commissioned by the canton of Zurich to build a guillotine. That proved the end of “normality” as he knew it.

The Zurich guillotine was tested on a sheep in 1836. Illustration by Marco Heer

The dramatic rescue of a composer’s remains

Michael van Orsouw 27.02.2024 Alberik Zwyssig (1808–1854), the musical monk from Uri who composed the Swiss Psalm, had an unhappy life. And then, after his death, his remains were dug up and reburied during the Second World War.

Macabre memorial: the glass sarcophagus containing the remains of Alberik Zwyssig.

The undead lady of Lucerne

Michael van Orsouw 04.12.2023 Marie Josse d’Hemel was a distinguished lady who married a Lucerne patrician. She is also said to have died twice. The first time a gravedigger wanted to steal her expensive clothes, which prompted her to return from the dead and live on for another 20 years – a cautionary tale for any would-be grave robbers.

Marie Josse Pfyffer-d’Hemel is said to have had 20 years added on to her life because of a grave robber.

Bernese whey receives royal approval

Michael van Orsouw 24.08.2023 Sisi, the famous Empress Elisabeth, was a much more frequent visitor to Switzerland than previously known. She visited the Bernese Oberland in 1892, where she very much enjoyed a local product normally used as pig feed...

Sisi felt very much at home in the Bernese Oberland. And not just because of the excellent whey, which she drank by the litre.

The VW camper van: an iconic vehicle with a Swiss connection

Michael van Orsouw 06.07.2023 Nowadays, the VW camper van has cult status. It was invented by a Dutchman named Bernadus Pon who spent a lot of time in Switzerland after building a villa there. In 1965, Pon, who by then had become very wealthy, gifted every schoolchild in a small Swiss village with a savings account.

A rough sketch of the first VW camper van: Ben Pon’s notebook from 1947.

When Chaplin's corpse was kidnapped

Michael van Orsouw 13.06.2023 Celebrated actor-director Charlie Chaplin died in 1977 and was buried in the cemetery at Corsier-sur-Vevey. But then, grave robbers dug up his body and demanded large sums of money from the family for its return. A macabre story that could have come straight from one of Chaplin's films, but did in fact happen.

Stop, the story isn't quite over yet! Charlie Chaplin in front of his house in Corsier-sur-Vevey, circa 1965.

Puttin’ on the Ritz: the global hit with Swiss roots

Michael van Orsouw 11.05.2023 César Ritz was not only a pioneering Swiss hotelier, he also established a luxurious way of life that was immortalised in a song. ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’ became a global hit after Ritz himself had sadly died following a decades-long battle with depression.

Fred Astaire’s dance performance to the song ‘Puttin' on the Ritz’ in 1946.

World-famous typefaces from Kriens

Michael van Orsouw 27.04.2023 Roman Scherer’s highly specialised factory in Kriens manufactured wood type for the whole world – including for Pravda, the official newspaper of Russia’s Communist party in Moscow.

Crossing linguistic borders: Roman Scherer’s typefaces conquered the world in the early 20th century.