Patrik Süess20.10.2026In July 1876, two inmates broke out of Basel’s ‘Schällemätteli’ prison, killing three guards in the process. Their escape attempt was prompted in part by the dire living conditions in the penitentiary.
Patrik Süess26.03.2026A healer from Worb in Bern attracted a mass following during the 1840s. However, there was controversy surrounding the methods employed by ‘Längmatthansli’ as he was known and some of his patients even died after being treated by him.
Patrik Süess10.02.2026In 1853 the hunt was on for a man who killed two women in the Zurich area. He had strangled them. The criminal investigation was a major test for Zurich’s fledgling police force, the "Zürcher Polizeikorps".
Patrik Süess17.10.2025In October 1878, a mother murdered her ten-year-old daughter in Fribourg. The case of Henriette Ruchat-Berger shook the whole of Switzerland.
Patrik Süess04.11.2024The murder in 1835 of German student and spy Ludwig Lessing in Zurich uncovered a network of espionage and political activism among German exiles in Switzerland. His death increased international pressure on Switzerland to adopt a hard line against revolutionaries seeking refuge on Swiss soil.
Patrik Süess24.09.2024With the help of a homeless woman named Klara Wendel, in 1825 the authorities in Lucerne hoped to uncover a conspiracy behind the death of the city mayor, Franz Xaver Keller, nine years earlier.
Patrik Süess15.08.2024 The restrictive divorce laws of the 19th century repeatedly led to human tragedies. In the case of the Buser couple, they even resulted in murder.
