Austria and Switzerland – two neighbours with different experiences

After having been to the Czech Republic, I gave two readings in Austria (in Linz and Vöcklabruck). There, I gained an insight into the Austrian perspective on the Second World War and the remembrance culture which I found very similar to the German one. A man told me that for a long time, the topic was a taboo in many families to talk about and was not taught in school. According to a woman, there is still a feeling of shame among some people today, also among younger generations. In Vöcklabruck, some members of the Mauthausen Committee attended my reading and told me more about their educational work to keep the memory alive.

Afterwards, I travelled to Switzerland and first went to the customs facilities behind the border. Since Switzerland is not a member of the EU and I have more than 300 books in my car, I needed to declare a temporary import and pay the value-added tax for the books – which I got back for the unsold books when I left the country again.

In Switzerland, I gave readings in Langnau im Emmental, Frutigen and Zofingen. During the talk with the audience it was important that they spoke in Swiss High German and not in Swiss dialect which would be more difficult for me to understand.

I learned that – despite being neutral – the Second World War also deeply affected Switzerland. A woman who experienced that time herself told me about food rationing and the need to cover the windows with blackout curtains at night because of bombers flying over. It happened that Allied planes mistook Swiss cities for German ones and dropped bombs, and a teenager mentioned her grandmother who experienced the crash of a bomber in the Emmental. Furthermore, I learned about the Reduit, an extensive bunker system and defensive fortification built within the mountains of the Swiss Alps.

In Mitholz, located in the same valley as Frutigen where I read in a school, there is still dangerous material left from the explosion of an ammunition depot. Therefore, the inhabitants will soon need to be resettled, which also concerns some pupils from the school. All of that illustrates that war means suffering for all, even for the people in neutral countries, and affects people for decades and generations – still today.

I was very pleased to also meet a Dutch couple among the audience in Switzerland who attended the reading because my book has a strong connection to the Netherlands. A Swiss couple told me about their experience of a holiday on the Dutch island of Terschelling in the 1970s. They were advised to put a Swiss flag at their camping garden and speak Swiss dialect instead of High German in order not to be mistaken for Germans.

It was very revealing for me to learn so much about the Swiss view on the topic, and since the country was neutral, I appreciate the interest and possibility to read there as well.