Swiss Review 6/2018

Swiss Review / November 2018 / No.6 30 “Migration is normal for Switzerland” is writ- ten on the back cover of the non-fiction book “Schweizer Migrationsgeschichte”. The three historians AndréHolenstein, PatrickKury and Kristina Schulz provide the first comprehen- sive description of migration movements in Switzerland from their beginnings to the present day. The starting point is the period of ancient history after the last ice age around 15,000 B.C., when humans started to arrive in the Swiss Central Plateau region. The book then covers a wide chronological range up to the French Revolution, a long period during which Switzerland aswe know it today didnot yet exist. Afterwards, the focus lies on immi- gration and emigration in themodern federal state of the 19th century up until the two worldwars. The last chapters are dedicated to the time between the post-war period and the present day. The authors illustrate the economic, political, religious or ethnic, private and family-related reasonswhy individuals, families or entire population groups immigrated to or emigrated fromSwitzerland. All migrants had, and certainly still have, in common the desire to start a new life in a foreign place. In the last chapter called “insights and outlooks”, the authors summarize how decisive migration was for Swiss history. The migration movements are the foundation of Swit- zerland’s multiculturalism and multilingualism, and have contrib- uted to the great economic prosperity of our country. The authors have succeeded in vividly illustrating the significance of migration by focusing on individual fates. The content of the book, which is clearly formulated and easily accessible for non-experts, is based on research conducted by the authors and further studies. A highly interesting and far-reaching non-fiction book, which shows how immigration and emigration have shaped Switzerland. Prof. Dr. André Holenstein is full professor of early Swiss history and comparative regional history at the Institute of History of the Uni- versity of Bern. Prof. Dr. Patrick Kury teaches modern general and Swiss history at the Historical Seminar of the University of Lucerne and is co-director of Stadt.Geschichte.Basel. Dr. Kristina Schulz is a lecturer for migration history at the Institute of History of the Uni- versity of Bern. “Schweizer Migrationsgeschichte” is currently only available in German. RUTH VON GUNTEN “It’s profitable, and that’s a privilege” Immigration and emigration in Switzerland Sounds Books ANDRÉ HOLENSTEIN, PATRICK KURY, KRISTINA SCHULZ: “Schweizer Migrations­ geschichte” Hier und Jetzt Verlag 2018 384 Seiten; CHF/€ 39.– E-Book (epub) € 30.– The duo Lo & Leduc created “079”, the most successful pop song in Swiss music history to date. It has more than 3.5 mil­ lion plays and was at the top of the Swiss charts for weeks. Nevertheless, Lo alias Lorenz Häberli needs his office job. DANIEL DI FALCO Of course he is one. But he doesn’t like the word “star”. Lo from Lo & Leduc, also known as Lorenz Häberli, prefers to call himself a “musi- cian”. Even when it comes to the problems that such a star-musician can experience when one of his songs conquers a country, the school playgrounds, the public pools, club meetings. “On the street people I don’t know feel like they know me. They expect closeness, but this closeness has nothing to dowithme.” Häberli says this apologetically. He is talking about the “imbalance” in the relationship between the “musicians” and their fans. And about how that gives him a bad feel- ing. “You have a certain amount of social energy per day. At some point it gets exhausted. Then you become taciturn.” It’s easier for himat the office. There he is not Lo, but “Lorenz who works here”, and that’s how it should remain. Häberli works in the field of corporate communications, in other words PR; he edits com- muniques, manages websites, writes blog posts. ”Everything is sec- tor-specific.” He’s in the media industry, but Häberli does not want to reveal his employer. The reason is that Lorenz doesn’t want to be bothered by Lo. It all began a little over ten years ago; Lorenz Häberli and his cur- rent partner Luc Oggier played in a high school band. Then came di- alect rap. And the decisive idea of adding something else to their rap: a musicality influenced by Caribbean, African and South Amer- ican music. Häberli and his companion Oggier continued their ad-