https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Switzerland in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed People across Switzerland get busy brunching, lunching and setting off fireworks when the country celebrates its national day on August 1st. But why is it held on the first day of August? https://www.thelocal.ch/20190801/why-the-swiss-national-day-is-celebrated-on-august-1st Thu, 01 Aug 2019 10:45:08 +0200 why-the-swiss-national-day-is-celebrated-on-august-1st From dodgy bankers to cuckoo clocks, William Tell to Swiss soldiers, Switzerland is a country where myths and stereotypes abound. We separate the facts from the fiction. https://www.thelocal.ch/20220801/myth-busters-five-things-about-switzerland-you-should-not-believe Mon, 01 Aug 2022 14:05:37 +0200 myth-busters-five-things-about-switzerland-you-should-not-believe Switzerland acknowledged Thursday that its past role in the forced placement of children from the itinerant Yenish and Sinti communities with other families amounted to a "crime against humanity". https://www.thelocal.ch/20250220/switzerland-accepts-crime-against-humanity-against-minority-groups Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:50 +0100 switzerland-accepts-crime-against-humanity-against-minority-groups A new exhibition at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich is shedding light on a chapter in the Alpine nation's history, in a bid to understand how Switzerland benefited from the colonial era. https://www.thelocal.ch/20240916/switzerlands-little-known-colonial-past-revealed-in-zurich-exhibition Mon, 16 Sep 2024 12:05:16 +0200 switzerlands-little-known-colonial-past-revealed-in-zurich-exhibition A Swiss foundation must do more to trace the provenance of works in a vast art collection acquired in questionable circumstances during World War II, a team of experts said Friday. https://www.thelocal.ch/20240629/experts-press-swiss-foundation-over-nazi-era-art-collection Sat, 29 Jun 2024 10:53:23 +0200 experts-press-swiss-foundation-over-nazi-era-art-collection If you are a descendant of a Switzerland-born person and would like to find out more about them, there are ways to do that. https://www.thelocal.ch/20240418/how-to-research-your-swiss-ancestry Thu, 18 Apr 2024 17:29:47 +0200 how-to-research-your-swiss-ancestry Swiss German is notoriously difficult for many people to understand, even those who speak 'Hochdeutsch'. But there is a famous term that has made it into the global vocabulary. https://www.thelocal.ch/20230803/putsch-how-one-swiss-german-word-became-known-around-the-world Thu, 03 Aug 2023 16:56:09 +0200 putsch-how-one-swiss-german-word-became-known-around-the-world Towering majestically in the Alps, the mountain of Mont Blanc is naturally completely indifferent to political disputes over borders - but that doesn't stop the three countries arguing over it. https://www.thelocal.ch/20220802/france-italy-or-switzerland-which-country-is-mont-blanc-in Tue, 02 Aug 2022 13:18:30 +0200 france-italy-or-switzerland-which-country-is-mont-blanc-in