Michael van Orsouw12.11.2024Father Athanasius Tschopp (1803–1882) was a monk in Einsiedeln, and something of a science whizz. Besides his daily monastic duties, he always found the time to make pioneering discoveries – one of his many accomplishments was inventing the precursor to the fax machine.
Noëmi Crain Merz07.11.2024He wrote scandalous novels, masqueraded as an anti-fascist activist and spied for Mussolini. After fleeing to Switzerland, Pitigrilli’s true colours were revealed.
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.
Katrin Brunner31.10.2024Through his sometimes unconventional methods, Michael Schüppach made a name for himself as a barber-surgeon well beyond the Emmental region.
Peter Haenger29.10.2024British cannons paved the way for the Basel Mission to Kumasi, the capital city of the West African Asante Empire, in the 19th century. Swiss missionary Fritz Ramseyer also played a key part.
Ernst Ziegler24.10.2024During the Second World War, Ernst Schrämli from St. Gallen was sentenced to death for spying and executed on 10 November 1942 in a small wood in eastern Switzerland. Schrämli had relayed military secrets and information to a German agent.
Adi Kälin22.10.2024120 years ago, many people complained of severe diarrhoea and vomiting following a visit to the Rigi. For a long time, people blamed the ‘Rigikrankheit’ (as the condition was known) on the mountain air, until a high profile defamation trial uncovered a major environmental scandal.