Bettina Kurz13.05.2026Instances of kidney disease spiked in the Jura mountains during the 1960s. This was the legacy of the local watchmakers’ decades-long penchant for painkillers.
Helmut Stalder07.05.2026Eighty years ago, the residents of two Swiss mountain valleys managed to avert two huge reservoir projects. In Rheinwald, an early citizen movement took hold, while in the Urseren valley, it took a full-blown riot. It was the first time the people really stood up and reined in technology.
François Wisard05.05.2026Harald Feller was kidnapped by the Soviets in Budapest in 1945. While he languished in Stalin's prisons for a year, Swiss authorities placed him under investigation. After his return, Feller was cleared of all charges. But nobody was interested anymore.
René Roca30.04.2026Glarus holds its People’s Assembly every first Sunday in May. This tradition goes back to the early days of democracy in the Middle Ages.
James Blake Wiener28.04.2026The life of Rachel Félix was one of contrasting fortunes and artistic passions. Born into a family of impoverished Jewish peddlers in Mumpf, Rachel captivated theater-going audiences from New York to Moscow with her electric acting and stirring voice. She revived the fortunes of the Comédie-Française in Paris and received universal acclaim as the leading actress of her era before dying tragically of tuberculosis at the age of 36.
Reto Bleuer23.04.2026In the spring of 1972, a 45-metre high drilling rig was erected at the foot of the Kurzenberg hill, amid cows grazing in green pastures. Its drill head penetrated kilometres deep into the layers of rock – in search of ‘black gold’.
Noemi Steuerwald21.04.2026The Scout and Guide Movement is one of Switzerland’s biggest youth associations. It is open to both boys and girls who mix freely as members of one organisation, but it wasn’t always like that.
Géraldine Lysser16.04.2026For a long time, beer was a seasonal product of varying quality. The invention of mechanical refrigeration changed all that, freeing breweries from their reliance on natural ice.
