both Switzerland and its businesses were regarded as trustworthy partners by the new nations that achieved autonomy or outright independence from their European colonial rulers after 1945. Berne is slowly starting to revisit this legacy, as numerous parliamentary debates, motions and interventions have already shown, says Sieber, “even if this process is painful as it poses awkward questions with regard to Swiss neutrality and Switzerland’s view of itself as a nation built on equality, solidarity and humanitarianism”. Part of a worldwide debate Various European countries are now wrestling with the implications of looted art from the colonial era. Some nations, like the Netherlands, have made official apologies. The Belgian and British royal families have expressed regret, but made no apology, for their respective countries’ past actions. Others have backed their words with actions. At the end of 2022, for example, Germany became the first nation to begin returning its Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. The Kingdom of Benin, in today’s Nigeria, was attacked by British colonial troops in possibility of returning Shep-en-Isis to her homeland, in consultation with the Egyptian authorities. Property plundered by the Nazis In Switzerland, probes into the origin of foreign artistic and cultural property, referred to as provenance research, mainly relate to stolen Nazi gold and art from the Second World War. In 2002, a commission of experts headed by the historian Jean-François Bergier submitted a comprehensive report to the Federal Council detailing how Swiss firms cooperated closely with the Nazi regime. Artworks that changed hands during the Nazi era in Germany (1933–1945) ended up in private and public collections. Finding out whether these artworks were looted by the Nazis is now imperative. The Berne Museum of Fine Arts, which accepted the Naziera trove of art dealer Cornelius Gurlitt in 2014, is leading by example in this regard. The controversy surrounding Gurlitt proved to be a turning point, with the Federal Council subsequently deciding to set aside 500,000 Swiss francs every year to allow Swiss museums to carry out provenance research. A relatively small amount of money but at least it gets the ball rolling, says Joachim Sieber, who chairs the Swiss provenance research working group (SAP). Colonial legacy moving into political spotlight Swiss provenance researchers must now wade through another weighty issue: cultural property derived from trade in the colonial era. This may seem paradoxical, given that Switzerland has never had any colonies. However, Switzerland “was and is part of Europe’s colonial conversation”, according to Sieber. Precisely because it was not a colonial power, 6 Shep-en-Isis in her glass coffin at the St Gallen Abbey Library. Every evening, the library staff honour her with an end-ofday ritual: they cover the coffin with a white veil and close the doors. Photo: Keystone Domestic spat over a globe A domestic spat broke out in Switzerland almost 300 years after Zurich troops stole the 2.3-metre-high St Gallen Globe and a number of valuable manuscripts from the Abbey Library during the Toggenburg War of 1712. Many of the looted artefacts were returned under a peace treaty, but Zurich kept the globe for itself. Almost three centuries later, a legal squabble over who were the rightful owners of the globe almost ended up before the Federal Supreme Court. This was after the cantonal government of St Gallen expressed its grievance in 1996, demanding that Zurich return the globe. The federal government arbitrated in the matter, and a typically Swiss compromise was eventually reached. Zurich was allowed to keep the original at the Swiss National Museum but had to produce a replica for St Gallen. When the replica was handed over in 2009, the National Museum, the St Gallen Abbey Library, and the Zurich Central Library also agreed to develop a joint digital version of the globe. Produced in collaboration with the Zurich University of the Arts, the digital globe has been available to view online since December 2022 (www.3dglobus.ch). It seems that St Gallen and Zurich have finally buried the hatchet. (DLA) Swiss Review / March 2023 / No.2 6Focus
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