“Strengthening people’s attachment to Switzerland”

“Both parties wanted to keep all Swiss Abroad up to date with news,” says Berne-based historian Rudolf Wyder, who was responsible for the “Swiss Review” in his role as OSA director from 1987 to 2013. Wyder also looks back at those early days of the “Swiss Review” in his 2016 book “Globale Schweiz”. He explains that the magazine was a federalist project.

It started in France

In 1970, the OSA and the federal government began disseminating news via the existing regional expatriate publications. Firstly, a large print run saw all Swiss living in France receiving an expanded edition of the “Messager suisse de France” free of charge. Around a dozen other publications gradually followed in other parts of the world, “and this new global information network was up and running within four years”, says Wyder. It was before the internet – at a time when Mother Helvetia became increasingly aware of her children scattered around the globe.

The “Swiss Review” – then and now

• The magazine was first published in 1974 for all 320,000 Swiss living abroad at the time, initially appearing four times a year in five languages and under 13 different titles. It was printed in 15 places around the world.
• The “Swiss Review” will account for a print run of 430,000 in 2024, reaching almost all 813,400 Swiss nationals living abroad. This, the standardised magazine produced in Switzerland, appears six times a year as print and online editions in four languages.

An article of the constitution was created in 1966, stating that the Confederation “shall encourage relations among the Swiss Abroad and their relations with Switzerland”. The aim of the “Swiss Review” would be to “strengthen people’s attachment to Switzerland”, it said in the first-ever publisher notes.

The magazine would contain official communications and Swiss-related articles of general interest. A piece on the successful Valais ski racer Roland Collombin fulfilled this remit in the first edition of the “Swiss Review”. The journalist described Collombin as a “straightforward, happy-go-lucky sort of guy”.

A pillar of information

It is good that the Swiss Abroad learn about the huge changes that are occurring within Swiss society, says Tim Guldimann, who reads the magazine and has lived abroad for many years. Guldimann, a former diplomat who lives in Berlin, is to date the only Swiss Abroad to have served on the National Council (2015–18). He is the president of the Museum Council of the Swiss National Museum, an institution also familiar with questions of identity. “More Kurds live in our country with its four official languages than people who speak Romansch,” he says. “Yet we still find it hard to admit how much Switzerland has itself become a nation of immigrants.” This applies to Swiss both in and outside Switzerland, he adds.

According to the erstwhile Swiss ambassador to Iran and Germany, the “Swiss Review” is a pillar of information for expatriate voters and a regular point of reference helping to foster a sense of community among the Swiss Abroad. This is important in his opinion, given that most Swiss Abroad have no affiliation to any expatriate associations. Guldimann has brought out a number of studies and is currently producing a podcast called “Debatte zu Dritt”.

Asked how the “Swiss Review” could improve, he says that the magazine could focus more on specific issues related to the Swiss Abroad, such as health insurance or Swiss bank accounts.

Magazine in hand

Former OSA Director Rudolf Wyder reports that Swiss living abroad have often held a copy of the “Swiss Review” in their hand when greeting him. “They want to show that the magazine means something to them, even if they don’t always read it from cover to cover.” Wyder has remained a loyal reader since retiring. He is involved in the Swiss Foreign Policy Society, which is why articles on foreign policy are of particular interest to him. Getting government funding for the “Swiss Review” was often hard work, he says. “And yet the magazine is still running, and I hope it keeps going for many years to come.”