Resistance movements of indigenous organisations and societies have traditionally found a route through Switzerland. This is connected with the presence of the UN headquarters in Geneva. But there’s more to it than that.
Ukrainians are fleeing westwards into the unknown, with some also heading to Switzerland. More than 200 years ago, Swiss settlers migrated east to Ukraine and established two Helvetic colonies: Zürichtal in Crimea. And Shabo near Odessa.
In 1860, Alois Wyrsch from Stans was the first non-white member of parliament. A Nidwalden citizen “of colour”? Wyrsch’s mother came from Borneo, where his father had served as a mercenary soldier.
A tobacco box with a tale or two to tell – or, how a gift from King Frederick I of Württemberg to Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg fell prey to a notorious art thief 200 years later.
The Swiss-British artist John Webber (1751-1793) served as the draughtsman in Captain James Cook’s third expedition to Oceania, Canada, and Alaska. Webber’s artwork captures a unique moment in time – the first encounters of the British with indigenous peoples from around the Pacific Rim.
Emperor Haile Selassie (1892-1975), who was crowned ‘King of Kings’ in Addis Ababa in 1930, was believed in Ethiopia to have been chosen by God. The Rastafarians in Jamaica even ‘recognised’ him as their Messiah and God. A look at the dual ‘careers’ of a 20th-century figure who was as remarkable as he was controversial.
The Swiss artist Karl Bodmer took part in the North American expedition of Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied in 1832. Bodmer recorded his impressions in some 400 drawings and watercolours, which are still considered today to be the best and most important depictions of the vanished Native American culture along the Missouri.
