Swiss Review 1/2021

Swiss Review / February 2021 / No.1 The news was “hard to grasp” and “al- most surreal” for many people in the village, says mayor Roman Lanz. Photo: Danielle Liniger complex operation involving robots – the first operation of its kind any- where in the world. However, this will increase the detonation risk to such an extent that the 170 inhabit- ants will have to be evacuated from their village for around ten years, starting in 2031. The whole exercise will cost one billion Swiss francs. “Mitholz, the ghost town.” The news came like a bombshell. Lanz, whoworks as amanager at a car body repair business, was suddenly giving interviews to foreign television sta- tions and attending meetings with federal councillors in his capacity as mayor. Mitholz was on everyone’s lips. “But the people I talk to here in the village still find it hard to grasp,” says Lanz. “It’s almost surreal to them.” Mitholz residents live just as near to the depot as they did before. But now these people have an un- certain future ahead of them. Their livelihoods are on the line. Lanz stands in front of the reinforced northern entrance to the depot, where ammunition and explosives used to be transported into the depths of the cliff by rail. Just a stone’s throwaway is a farmhouse. It belongs to the Künzi family, who rear cattle on the slopes surrounding the depot. For decades, they have been farming land that is now sup- posed to be in the danger zone. You cannot just decamp from one place to another with cows. The Künzis will have to build a completely new life somewhere else. Lanz is in touch with locals like the Künzis practically every day. “Few people from outside the village will appreciate what the past two years have been like for us since they announced the news.” He explains that reality has been slow to dawn on some residents, who still hope that the government will decide not to spend somuchmoney after all and everything will remain the same. Emotions are one thing, money is another. What about compensation? What will the value be of houses that are likely to be left to the army during the evacuation period, then possibly Samuel Künzi’s farm is situated on a rocky ledge. Thousands of tonnes of old ord- nance are buried in the rocks below. Photo: Danielle Liniger 11