DECEMBER 2025 The magazine for the Swiss Abroad Switzerland and the Swiss franc – a contradictory love affair From political power to popular pastime – how choirs evolved in Switzerland Applauded, poisoned, and a mirror of its time – the story of Peterli the otter
Donate via credit card www.revue.link/creditrevue Donate via PayPal www.revue.link/revue The federal government having announced cuts to subsidies in numerous areas including “Swiss Review”, the scope to deliver the print edition of our magazine free of charge is becoming narrower. But with your help, we can safeguard the future of “Swiss Review” and continue to produce the independent quality journalism that our editorial team strives for. Please show your solidarity and donate. MARC LETTAU, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF How to reach the “Swiss Review”: revue@swisscommunity.org | Phone +41 31 356 61 10 Bank account for donations IBAN: CH97 0079 0016 1294 4609 8 Bank: Berner Kantonalbank Bundesplatz 8, CH-3011 Bern BIC/SWIFT: KBBECH22 Beneficiary: BEKB Bern Account: 16.129.446.0.98 Organisation of the Swiss Abroad FAO Mr A. Kiskery Alpenstrasse 26, CH-3006 Berne Reference: Support Swiss Review Your donations to “Swiss Review” are more important than ever Switzerland in your pocket SwissInTouch.ch The app for the Swiss abroad swissintouch.ch Exclusively available here HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME WITH REAL HANDS ON EXPERIENCE Swiss qualifications - internationally recognised Study in the heart of Lucerne – launch your career worldwide In German & English HF & Bachelor Want to know more? Scan the QR code! shl.ch © www.pexels.com Consular services anywhere, conveniently on your mobile devices www.fdfa.admin.ch Bogotá (2022) © www.pexels.com
The next time you are in Switzerland and you want to travel by tram, try using a ticket machine that still accepts cash – if only to see the dispenser spit out some change. Any 10- or 20-cent coins? Look at them closely. Some may date back 20, 30, 50 or even 80 years. My personal record: a 20-cent coin minted in 1921. Your analogue ticket purchase will be a little nod to the durability of the Swiss franc. For one thing, the design of the coins has remained unchanged since 1881. The only variable is the year of issue. If we move from cents to francs, small change takes on a whole new meaning. Imagine you have a suitcase containing one million francs in cash – 1,000 Swiss francs would be the ideal denomination of banknote. A million would only weigh a touch more than a kilo, and you could still fit the notes in your suitcase. If you carried one million francs in gold, the weight would increase tenfold. Of course, this is hypothetical. Gold normally stays in a safe, as do 1,000-franc notes. And fewer of us in Switzerland pay by cash anyway. Nevertheless, the Swiss franc is strong at the moment. Our currency is a source of national symbolism and immense pride – even among people who switched to contactless a good while ago. This is a contradiction: coins and notes have taken a back-seat role in everyday life, yet no cash at all would be unthinkable for most of us – as we explain in our lead article. Talking of everyday life, we have a couple of changes to announce. Our graphic and editorial designer Joseph Haas, who has shaped the identity of “Swiss Review” for a decade, is stepping down. I would like to express my sincere thanks to him for the thoughtful, engaged manner in which he helped to produce content for our magazine. Secondly, it is goodbye from me. This edition marks the end of my time as editor-in-chief. I feel privileged to have gone on such an enriching and stimulating journey with you, dear readers. My thanks go to everyone who has praised or criticised our work over the years. I always appreciated your feedback, regardless of whether it was positive or negative. MARC LETTAU, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 4 Focus Cash conundrum – the Swiss love their notes and coins but barely use them 9 Society How choirs heralded the birth of modern Switzerland 12 Knowledge Apertus, the new Swiss AI language model, even speaks Romansh 16 Report Thirty metres up or down – Switzerland’s shortest public transport route 18 News Zurich wants to scrap primary-school French – dismay among francophones 19 Switzerland in figures Switzerland’s trendiest dog is long and has short legs News from your region 20 Nature and the environment Applauded, then poisoned – the instructive tale of Peterli the otter 24 Politics Good news for Swiss Abroad: Switzerland to introduce e-ID 28 Notes from the Federal Palace Tenth anniversary of a landmark law for the “Fifth Switzerland” 32 SwissCommunity Who represents which country in the newly elected Council of the Swiss Abroad? 35 Puzzle A new addition to our 800,000-piece puzzle of the “Fifth Switzerland” Small change Cover photo: Swiss coins and banknotes. Photo: Keystone “Swiss Review”, the information magazine for the “Fifth Switzerland”, is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad. Photo: Peter Maurer Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 3 Editorial Contents
Keeping the nation flush with cash The Swiss franc is a symbol of stability and quality. Switzerland’s intimate relationship with its banknotes and coins is a source of national pride. Even in the age of tap-to-pay, the absence of cash would be unthinkable for most Swiss. Why is that? 4 Focus
Cash has become less popular as a means of payment. In 2024, private individuals made only 30 per cent of their daily purchases with banknotes and coins. feits are sent to the federal police. Banknotes unfit for use because they are dirty, ripped or no longer meet the required standards in any other way are discarded. These go directly into the shredder and later end up at the waste incineration plant. Some 30 million banknotes were destroyed in 2024. In turn, the SNB issued 41 million fresh banknotes. “High quality is our hallmark,” says Peter Eltschinger of the SNB’s cash department, who is accompanying us on 5 THEODORA PETER The Swiss National Bank (SNB) in Berne is the beating heart that regulates cash circulation in Switzerland, ensuring that Swiss banks always have enough cash in reserve for their private and business clients. Banknotes and coins worth a total of over 76 billion Swiss francs were in circulation in 2024 – around twice as much as 20 years ago. For the purposes of this article, the SNB gave us a rare glimpse into its heavily guarded national cash vault in Berne, where banknotes and coins arrive in numerous crates every day – delivered by cash handling companies like Loomis that move the currency from A to B, supplying it to and collecting it from banks, shops and authorities around the country. Money is sorted, checked, and replaced where necessary before it re-enters circulation. Last year, the SNB put some 244 million banknotes and 166 million coins back into circulation and withdrew 238 million banknotes and 131 million coins. In the heavily guarded vault To access the cash vault situated at the SNB’s headquarters on Berne’s Bundesplatz you must go through a security check. A lift takes you underground. After passing through a reinforced door, you walk into a labyrinth of winding corridors and staircases. The lighting in the first room that we enter is as bright as day. Equipped with machines, robotic arms, and conveyor belts, this space looks like a small industrial facility – albeit one chock-a-block with banknotes. Fifty-franc notes are being checked today. An employee puts the bundles into a machine, which verifies the authenticity and condition of every note within seconds. Counterthis tour. The SNB’s banknotes are made to last and can withstand repeated folding and washing. No one works alone A machine repacks the banknotes that remain fit for use and are earmarked to return to circulation. Wrapped in plastic, each bundle moves along a conveyor belt and is checked individually by a member of staff before landing in a transport box. If any note has as much as a slight kink, the entire package will go back into the machine to be reprocessed. More than one person is involved in each processing stage. No one works alone. All rooms and workstations have video surveillance. “This also protects our employees,” says Eltschinger. A lift takes us further down. The next stop is the coin processing facility. There is a lot more noise here than in the comparatively quiet banknote room. Twenty-cent pieces are rattling through the sorting machine today. Coins failing the quality test go directly into a separate collection point and will later be returned to Swissmint, the manufacturer. Swissmint, or the federal mint, will make these coins unidentifiable and dispose of the metal. Coins fit for further use are wrapped in paper and repacked in boxes. Each denomination is denoted by a specific colour – in this case red for the 20-cent pieces. Most of the processing steps are automated in this room too. Employees intervene to cut open coin rolls and check coins that the machine is unable to process. An incongruous red neon sign hangs on the wall. “Geld und Wert. Das letzte Tabu,” it says, which translates as “Money and its value – the last taboo”. It is a memento from Expo.02, the Before coins and notes return to circulation, they are sorted and repacked in the SNB’s underground vault in Berne. Pictured here: freshly packed rolls of 20-cent pieces. Photo: SNB Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5
in Switzerland these days, accounting for almost half of all transactions. There has been a strong upsurge in the use of payment apps like Twint. “Twinting” is particularly popular among young people, whereas the over-55s and people on low incomes still pay in cash more often. Cash doesn’t leave a data trail Although the use of coins and banknotes is becoming increasingly rare in everyday situations, 95 per cent of the population want to retain the option of paying in cash. How do we explain this paradox? “We Swiss very much value our freedom of choice,” Eltschinger replies, adding that cash will continue to play an important role in future. He believes that the various means of payment complement each other. For one thing, you can use cash immediately and at any time, without the need for electricity or an internet connection. Nor does cash leave a data trail that could Cash to be enshrined in the constitution Swiss law already states that the Swiss National Bank must supply the country with sufficient cash in the national currency, the Swiss franc. But the Federal Council and parliament are now prepared to lend this principle greater weight by enshrining it in the constitution. No changes to the constitution are possible without the vote of the people and the cantons. The authorities are responding to the 2023 popular initiative “Yes to a free and independent Swiss currency in the form of coins and banknotes (cash is freedom)”. Both the initiative and the direct counterproposal from parliament will be put to the vote on 8 March 2026. The Swiss Freedom Movement (FBS), a libertarian pressure group fronted by former SVP politician Richard Koller, is behind the initiative. The FBS first made headlines during the Covid pandemic after leading protests against mandatory face coverings and other measures such as vaccination. Its 2021 initiative “against mandatory vaccinations” was rejected in 2024 with a resounding no. The “Cash is freedom” initiative, due to be put to voters in spring 2026, has a greater chance of success. Its stated aim is to ensure that coins and banknotes are always available in sufficient quantities. The authors of the initiative criticise the increased use of electronic payment methods that leave digital trails. In their view, cash is the only sure way to protect anonymity. No obligation to accept cash One issue not being put to a vote is an initiative calling for shops, restaurants and public transport companies to be obliged to accept cash. Backed again by the FBS, this more drastic measure failed to collect the necessary number of signatures. Nevertheless, politicians are aware of the growing trend of only offering contactless means of payment. The cantonal parliament in Geneva recently decided to change the city’s local rules on hospitality. Consequently, bars and restaurants must now accept notes and coins from their guests as a valid means of payment. Other cantons are looking to take similar measures. A motion has been submitted in the federal parliament aimed at forcing all service providers to accept cash. The Federal Council rejects this obligation. (TP) Swiss national exhibition held in 2002. The SNB asked curator Harald Szeemann (1933–2005) to create a pavilion for the event. The centrepiece was a glass cabinet in which a robotic arm continually pushed 100-franc notes into a shredder. It was a provocative display – and an elaborate con: the banknotes would have been discarded anyway, a process that still takes place every day behind closed doors in the SNB’s cash vault. Our attachment to cash The lift returns us to ground level at the end of our tour. We chat to Peter Eltschinger in the SNB’s wood-panelled “Salon bleu” meeting room. “What about people’s payment habits?” we ask. Fewer of us are using cash. According to an SNB study in 2024, private individuals now only make 30 per cent of their daily purchases in cash – down from about 70 per cent in 2017. Debit or credit card is the most favoured form of payment Banknotes unfit for use go into the shredder. Some 30 million banknotes were destroyed and around 41 million fresh banknotes were issued in 2024. Photo: SNB Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 6 Focus
compromise financial privacy. Cash is also immune to the fees that are incurred for using credit cards and payment apps. Furthermore, most companies regard cash as the most economical means of payment. Cash assets The Federal Council and parliament plan to enshrine in the federal constitution that the SNB guarantee the nationwide provision of cash. This is in response to the “Cash is freedom” popular initiative that was launched in 2023. The electorate will vote on the initiative and the associated counterproposal next spring (see box on page 7). Besides using notes and coins to pay for goods and services, many people like to store their cash at home or in safes – if the number of large-denomination banknotes currently in circulation is anything to go by. Switzerland has over 36 million 1,000-franc banknotes in circulation that account for almost half of the value of all banknotes in use. The SNB is unable to put a figure on how much cash is being hoarded. “We simply don’t know,” says Eltschinger. A possible clue comes from the proportion of obsolete banknotes that have yet to return to the SNB. For example, the number of 500-franc notes that have been obsolete for the last 25 years and are still to be retrieved is over 170,000. The total value of withdrawn banknotes still lying around amounts to over nine billion francs. It is highly likely that many of these obsolete notes are languishing under the nation’s floorboards. But here is the good news: although banknotes from earlier series no longer count as legal tender, you can still cash them in at the SNB any time in the future. Information sheets on this topic are available on the SNB website (www.snb.ch). Eltschinger advises Swiss Abroad to check whether they can return their old banknotes to the SNB securely by post from their country of residence or otherwise physically exchange them at a bank in Switzerland. New banknotes from 2030 The SNB is planning to issue a new series of banknotes. Every banknote series has a life cycle of around 15 to 20 years. The current series, introduced from 2016 to 2019, showcases Switzerland in all its diversity. Ahead of the next series, the SNB recently launched a design competition entitled “Switzerland and its altitudes”. Each of the new 10-, 20-, 50-, 100-, 200- and 1,000-franc banknotes will pay homage to Switzerland’s unique topography. Six finalists This is the first time that such a competition has been subject to a survey conducted among the Swiss population. In the space of three weeks, over 100,000 people viewed the 12 design submissions and voted for their favourites. Eltschinger: “We were pleasantly surprised by how many people took part.” The SNB nominated the six finalists this autumn, from whom the winner will be announced in spring 2026. Further development of the designs will then begin. These drafts can be viewed on the SNB website. The new notes – Switzerland’s new “calling cards” – should go into circulation at the beginning of the 2030s. The SNB is currently deciding on a new design for its banknotes. Above: two of the design nominations. Photo: Keystone Used 20-centime coins run through the sorting machine. In 2024, coins with a total value of CHF 3 billion were in circulation. Photo: SNB Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 7
Bilateral agreements – the SVP says no, everyone else says yes Probably the biggest domestic political issue at present is whether Switzerland should approve its new bilateral agreements with the European Union (EU) after years of frayed relations with Brussels (see “Swiss Review” 2/2025). All of the major political parties have now stated their position on the 1,800-page package of treaties. The picture seems clear at first glance: the SVP is the only party categorically against the agreements, saying that it will oppose ratification. The SP, FDP, Centre, Greens and GLP endorse the deal – referred to as “Bilaterals III” – in principle but would also like some adjustments here and there. The electorate will have the last say, but a voting date has yet to be finalised. (MUL) Three municipalities buy up their winter sports infrastructure to deter foreign investors With US investors starting to buy up and rebrand Swiss ski resorts, three Grisons municipalities – Flims, Laax and Falera – have banded together to purchase the winter sports infrastructure of Weisse Arena Bergbahnen AG at a cost of over 90 million francs. Voters in the three villages emphatically approved the deal, which aims to safeguard local jobs and secure the ski resort’s future. (MUL) Low winter snowfall, high summer temperatures – Swiss glaciers continue to melt at speed Glacial melt in the Swiss Alps was dramatic once again in 2025. A lack of winter snow combined with heatwaves in June and August resulted in a three per cent loss in glacier volume – the fourth-biggest decline since records began. There is now a quarter less glacial ice than there was ten years ago (see also “Swiss Review” 3/2025). The Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland network and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation presented the findings in October. (MUL) Switzerland is currently home to 100,000 recognised refugees – despite a low number of asylum applications Two important facts to note: the number of Swiss asylum applications has noticeably declined since 2024, but the number of recognised refugees in Switzerland remains consistently high at over 100,000. This does not include the 70,000 or so Ukrainians who are afforded special status (“protection status S”). Switzerland’s overstretched asylum system is a particular challenge for the federal government, with cantons under pressure calling for solutions and an easing of the situation on the ground. (MUL) Susanne Vincenz-Stauffacher and Benjamin Mühlemann The FDP in Switzerland has a new leadership: the 58-year-old lawyer and St Gallen National Councillor Susanne Vincenz-Stauffacher, and the 46-year-old communications expert and Glarus member of the Council of States Benjamin Mühlemann. Left-wing parties are known for having co-leaders, but now the FDP also has its first-ever dual executive. Vincenz-Stauffacher and Mühlemann have a challenging job on their hands. The over 130-year-old FDP, one of the proud founding parties of the Swiss federal state, is in decline. Its share of the vote, continually falling in recent years, stood at a paltry 14 per cent in the last federal elections. The FDP is now only the third-biggest party behind the right-wing SVP and the SP. If it fails to improve its showing in the 2027 elections, it could lose one of its two seats on the Federal Council. This would be a new low for a party to whom all members of the Federal Council belonged during the first 40 years of the modern federal Swiss state. The new co-leaders cover a broad political spectrum: she is regarded as progressive, he is seen as conservative. Both consider this a strength and have put on an optimistic front, saying that the FDP provides a “safe pair of hands” and is focused on maintaining prosperity. Yet it was when the two were elected at the FDP’s October conference in Berne no less that potential splits in the party were laid bare. Before the event, a big row had broken out over the new package of agreements with the European Union. Framed in the media as the FDP’s “moment of truth”, delegates crossed swords on the issue in an otherwise civilised debate. The conference emphatically endorsed the Swiss-EU accords in the end, following the lead of FDP Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in adopting a European-friendly stance. Vincenz-Stauffacher voted in favour, Mühlemann voted against. It remains to be seen whether this decision by the party grassroots helps to sharpen the FDP’s profile or alienates voters. SUSANNE WENGER Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 8 Top pick News
SUSANNE WENGER Choirs are omnipresent in the run-up to Christmas. Festive concerts come thick and fast from ensembles such as the Bach Choir of Berne, the Swiss Youth Choir, the Appenzeller Mittelland Gospel Choir, and the Pro Arte Choir of Lausanne. But choirs also sing all year round. Switzerland has a rich choral scene. Federal statistics show that one in five people in the country sing in their free time – mostly every week and most often in a choir. “Compared to other European countries, Switzerland has one of the highest numbers of singers per capita,” says Caiti Hauck from the University of Bern. It is hard to pinpoint the exact number of choirs, because they come in many forms. Over 1,200 are currently affiliated to the Swiss Choral Association (SCV), the country’s umbrella organisation of secular choirs. They include male, female, mixed, children’s and youth choirs. Following a decline during the Covid pandemic, the number of choirs has levelled out, says Anna-Barbara Winzeler of the SCV. There are also hundreds of church choirs, hundreds of yodelling clubs, and many informal ensembles that do not appear in any official registers. Historical roots There is a particularly high concentration of choirs in the canton of Fribourg, whose choral scene is included in Switzerland’s national inventory of “living traditions” – a list compiled by the Federal Office of Culture in accordance with the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Yet why are choirs so popular in Switzerland? Group singing improves mental health and demonstrably strengthens the immune system, but historical factors are also at play. In the 19th century, choirs were more than just a way to make music. They gained political clout at a time of tension between liberals and conservatives, and the Reformed and Catholic Church. The federal Swiss state was born in 1848, one year after the Sonderbund War. It was Europe’s How choir music shaped modern Switzerland Choirs are extremely popular in Switzerland. Singing in a choir is a hobby for many people today. Yet in the 19th century, choirs exerted political influence heralding the birth of the modern federal Swiss state, says Berne musicologist Caiti Hauck, who has completed a pioneering study of the choral scene. first-ever modern democracy. “Male voice choirs helped to further political awareness during the infancy of the Swiss state,” explains Hauck, who has conducted a pioneering in-depth study of the choral scene in the cities of Berne and Fribourg, relying on commemorative publications, association records, membership lists, written correspondence, concert programmes, and press articles as sources of information. Political agenda Hauck found over 100 choirs in Berne and Fribourg. Notable examples included French-speaking Switzerland’s first-ever secular men’s choir, the Société de Chant de la Ville de Fribourg, founded in 1841, and the Berner Liedertafel, established in 1845. Both choirs espoused liberal-radical views – unlike the Catholic and conservative-leaning Fribourg The Chœur mixte St-Michel from Haute-Nendaz – one of over 1,200 choirs in Switzerland. Photo: Keystone Caiti Hauck of the University of Bern studied the early history of choirs in Berne and Fribourg. Photo: Dres Hubacher Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 9 Society
Cecilian Society men’s choir founded in 1877. The Société de Chant made its stance clear, singing revolutionary pieces like “Au bord de la libre Sarine”, composed by Jacques Vogt, the choir’s founder. The progressives enjoyed their hour of triumph in 1848, but the 1850s saw the conservatives regain the upper hand in Fribourg. The government feared the influence of the Société de Chant and tried to restrict the choir’s activities. It was not until 1871 that the group was able to organise another cantonal singing festival – inviting the Berner Liedertafel to the event. This reputable choir from Switzerland’s new capital city had close links to politics, with federal councillors among its non-active members. The Bernese singers supported their Fribourg counterparts in solidarity – but also “out of patriotic duty” to strengthen unity within the fledgling Confederation. Singing for the fatherland “Despite language and religious differences, the two choirs maintained close ties across the Rösti divide,” says Hauck. Their lively correspondence bears testimony to this. Male choirs not only offered men a platform to sing together and express political views, but the groups were also interested in cementing national Above: the Berner Liedertafel in 1850. The Bernese choir was passionate about singing – and politics. Lithograph by Ernst Neubauer, Berne cantonal archives Hundreds of yodelling choirs complement the stylistically diverse range of vocal ensembles. Pictured here: yodellers from Valais at the 1975 Federal Yodelling Festival. Photo: Keystone unity. The big federal singing festivals that regularly took place from 1843 celebrated this sentiment in much the same way as Switzerland’s gymnastics and shooting festivals. Repertoires included patriotic pieces like “O mein Heimatland, o mein Vaterland”, written by Gottfried Keller and put to music by Wilhelm Baumgartner. Folk songs and songs about nature were also popular, while the Berner Liedertafel attempted challenging compositions by Franz Schubert and others. Mixed and female choirs already existed in the 19th century. “Some women’s choirs took part in cantonal singing festivals, achieving top marks,” Hauck notes. Yet male choirs dominated the narrative, reflecting the gender politics of the day. Spanning the social strata Zurich composer and publisher Hans Georg Nägeli was a pioneer of Swiss choir music who promoted musical education for the people. He founded the first non-ecclesiastical singing institute in 1805, which gave birth to The Société de Chant de la Ville de Fribourg were feared (and harassed) by Fribourg’s cantonal government. Picture provided Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 10 Society
the first-ever secular male choir in 1810. Choirs spanning the social strata were a 19th-century innovation. Known in Europe as the “father of singing”, Nägeli was an influential teacher of music in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. “Many choirs still refer to him in their credits,” says Hauck. Originally from Brazil, Hauck has been living in the canton of Vaud since 2017. Why is she interested in such a previously neglected topic? “I was fascinated by choir music as a student in São Paulo,” she replies. Hauck has sung in choirs herself and recently conducted the Lausanne police male choir. She has found an effective way to communicate her findings, publishing the comic book “Three Swiss choristers in the 19th for choirs to come and go, says Hauck. As early as the 19th century, complaints about irregular rehearsal attendance appear in records, and choirs broke up due to dwindling numbers. But new choirs have sprung up ever since in a wide diversity of styles. Hauck: “Choral music is thriving in Switzerland and bringing generations together.” Political debate now plays less of a role, even if choirs continue to take a stand – on behalf Chorisma is a Schaffhausen choir in which young people hit the notes. Pictured above: a scene from the musical “Rent”. Photo: Jeannette Vogel, Schaffhauser Nachrichten The traditional Tell plays in Altdorf have relied on amateur actors and, in particular, amateur choirs since 1899. Archive photo: Keystone, 2004 of the queer community, on feminism, or as groups consisting of locals and asylum seekers. Choir organisation has changed significantly. Some choirs still meet one evening a week, but looser arrangements are now common. “Plenty of people want to sing, but not everyone wants to be tied to a specific choir,” says Anna-Barbara Winzeler of the SCV. Winzeler, who is studying music at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, conducts chorisma in Schaffhausen, a choir with singers aged between 18 and 35. She believes that young people will pass on the choir tradition. century” in collaboration with the cartoonist Julien Cachemaille. The book is available online in French and German. Between tradition and change The Berner Liedertafel remained a male choir until it disbanded in 2018 due to a lack of young singers. The Société de Chant de la Ville de Fribourg was discontinued in 2000. It is normal The comic book “Three Swiss choristers in the 19th century” communicates the results of Caiti Hauck’s study in French and German. It is available free of charge at www.clefni.unibe.ch. Listen to choirs We have put together some audio recordings of Swiss choral music. Visit www.revue.link/choirs Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 11
STÉPHANE HERZOG I make my way down the pedestrian avenues of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) campus, where I meet with Antoine Bosselut, specialist in artificial intelligence and multilingual issues for large language models (LLMs). These artificial intelligence systems, packed with billions of units of data, can answer any number of questions, in a similar manner to ChatGPT. The 34-year-old professor, born in France and educated in the United States, knows his fair share about creating machines that can master languages from Tibetan to Romansh. He is one of the fathers of the new Swiss AI model, Apertus. Its algorithms are freely accesible In early September, the two Swiss institutes of technology and the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) announced the launch of the first multilingual open-source LLM developed in Switzerland. “Apertus represents a major step forward in transparency and diversity for generative artificial intelligence,” its creators say. What makes this LLM different from Llama 4 (developed by Meta), Grok (produced by Elon Musk) or even ChatGPT, which is an entire AI system? The elements making up the Swiss system – its algorithms and computation parameters – are freely accessible. Instructions are provided, whereas ChatGPT (for example) remains an opaque commercial model. Another difference is that Apertus is not a general system. “Commercial models are not sufficiently specialised for certain specific purposes; however, the more specialised AI is, the stronger it becomes,” explains Bosselut. Hospitals could use Apertus as a tool – its algorithms and its computation system – for training systems to analyse thousands of radiographs. The AI is capable of comparing data and detecting differences barely visible to the human eye. The search for secure data The CSCS supercomputer trained Apertus using billions of data items found online. This data constitutes an LLM’s basic lexicon. For this model, data was only used when the owners did not expressly forbid the use of “crawlers”, robots that scrape the web for content, according to the EPFL. “If, for example, the ‘New York Times’ were to block access to its articles from certain crawlers, we would exclude it as a source for our data,” the professor says. Apertus’s training was based on 15 billion words taken from 1,800 languages (there are approximately 50,000 billion words on the internet). In this case, the creators of the LLM Switzerland offers the world a Romansh-speaking AI model The two Swiss institutes of technology and a partner launched the Apertus language model in September. The system was trained using words taken from 1,800 languages, including Swiss German and Romansh. Apertus has been criticised for its mistakes but experts believe it just needs time. guarantee future users – such as businesses – that the data is reliable in the ethical and legal sense of the term, in contrast to the commercial stakeholders in AI, who refuse to publish their training data. Inclusion of languages such as Tibetan, Yoruba and Romansh Large language models tend to focus on the traditional internet languages – English, French, Chinese, Japanese, etc. They use their calculators and algorithms to decode the languages’ structures. This time, however, the Swiss LLM searched for data in languages not often found on the internet, such as Tibetan, Yoruba, Swiss German and Romansh. Since these languages are not widely “spoken” online, it was necessary to create content from adjacent languages. The idea is that the model should be able to learn Romansh in spite of the scarcity of data, because it has also been trained in Italian and there are similarities between the two languages, explains Bosselut. What is the objective? Apertus has been adopted by a school in Nigeria, for example, which can now develop its lessons on the basis of a language that is largely absent from other models. This corresponds to the EPFL’s aim of “democratising AI”. City of Zurich uses Apertus To refine it further, the Swiss LLM was subjected to attempts to crack it at hackathons, a type of competition used to test systems. Students have used the tool to create services. It can be an interface for learning TiAntoine Bosselut of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne highlights the opensource nature of Swiss AI language model Apertus. It is all about democratising AI, he says. Photo provided Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 12 Knowledge
has turned out to be a modern art performance!” he complains. The attack brought reactions from internet users, including Maxime Derian, a French artificial intelligence expert. “American and Chinese opensource models had a head start. So what? The first models from those countries were also far from perfect. Your Swiss model is local. The next versions will be better and it will be useful within two to three years,” the expert predicts. The fact that Apertus makes mistakes is because the model has not yet been sufficiently trained and does not have enough data. Antoine Bosselut shares this view: “We have done the lion’s share of the work, which involved building and training the model. The model is now available free of charge to future users,” the EPFL professor says in the model’s defence. betan. Some bright sparks have created a system called “Mut zur Lücke” (daring to have gaps). It tells students which parts of their lessons they can ignore without the risk of failing. Zurich City Council also uses Apertus. “I am ZüriCityGPT and I know (almost) everything that’s published on the city’s website,” the site announces. With certain limits. How many armed police does the city have? Apertus is “unfortunately unable to help you”, the robot replies. GPT is a little savvier. “Around 1,700 agents are authorised to carry a service weapon, but there are no public sources indicating how many actually carry a weapon on a permanent basis,” it says. Surprisingly, Apertus is provided without an interface that would let its users write prompts. This was not the objective: the LLM is there to act as source material, according to its creators. However, anyone can try out Apertus via https://publicai.co, a platform developed by an American non-profit organisation. Mistakes and criticism In Switzerland, the first feedback on Apertus centred on some glaring errors. “I am learning that Chillon Castle was originally a small, fortified village built on a limestone rock in the middle of the lake,” François Pilet, a journalist from French-speaking Switzerland and one of the founders of the investigation website Gottham City, wrote mockingly on LinkedIn. He is astonished at the price of the program. “At a time when the Swiss federal institutes of technology are tripling fees for foreign students, they had no qualms about spending ten million Swiss francs to finance what Like all AI language models, Apertus had to be trained. The Swiss supercomputer ALPS in Lugano was used for this purpose. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 13
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) is one of the most important German expressionist artists. In 1933, he curated a showcase of his works at the Berne Kunsthalle. Over 90 years later, the Berne Museum of Fine Arts is hosting a new Kirchner retrospective entitled “Kirchner x Kirchner”. The highlight of the exhibition is the two oil paintings “Sunday in the Alps. The scene at the well” (from the museum’s own collection) and its pendant “Sunday of the Mountain Farmers” (from Berlin’s Federal Chancellery) being shown together again after more than 90 years. Both large-format (170 x 400 cm) tableaux hung in the entrance hall of the Kunsthalle in 1933 during Kirchner’s retrospective. But they have never been seen together since. These monumental works are now appearing side by side in Berne until January. Kirchner produced them in the mid-1920s in Davos, where he had been recovering from the First World War since 1917 – and would remain until committing suicide in 1938. After the Nazis seized power, Kirchner’s art was increasingly banned and defamed. In 1937, many of his 600 confiscated works appeared in a Nazi propaganda exhibition of “degenerate art” in Munich. As a symbol of reparation, former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt decorated the German government offices with works by expressionist artists in 1975. He gave Kirchner’s “Sunday of the Mountain Farmers” pride of place in the cabinet room in Bonn. The painting moved to the cabinet room of Berlin’s new Federal Chancellery in 2001. THEODORA PETER www.revue.link/kirchner Reunited at last Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 14 Images
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: “Sunday in the Alps. The scene at the well”, 1923–24, oil on canvas, with its original decorated frame, 168 x 400 cm © Berne Museum of Fine Arts Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: “Sunday of the Mountain Farmers”, 1923–24, oil on canvas, 170 x 400 cm © Federal Republic of Germany Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5
DÖLF BARBEN “You can take the stairs, if you want,” says Peter Maurer. Two women have just arrived at the yellow ticket kiosk. Both of them laugh. They know he is joking. Maurer, 69, is a retired radio journalist who works as the Matte Lift conductor. He refers to himself as a “lift boy”. Observe Maurer around other people and you soon realise that he is a master of dry humour. “You can keep your hat on,” he mutters to one elderly gentleman, who smiles. The Matte Lift is somewhat peculiar. Inside, you see the same buttons that are common to any lift. But the difference is that you cannot simply walk in and use it – even if you theoretically could. You first need a ticket, because the Matte Lift is a licensed, managed and subsidised mode of public transport. This elevator also covers the shortest public transport route in Switzerland: 30 metres, or less than the length of a tram. A joint-stock company manages the lift. “In legal terms, we are a cable car,” says its chair Marc Hagmann. “But we are indeed a lift, I hasten to add.” When the Matte Lift opened in 1897, it was regarded as a pioneering project. Over 700 people now use it every day, amounting to more than 20,000 passengers a month. A trip costs 1.5 Swiss francs – for dogs and bikes as well as people. Certain public transport travel cards are accepted. Operating the lift barely generates any profit, but the elevator is important for people here, says Hagmann, who believes that what they are doing has a social purpose. It was Switzerland’s first publicly accessible electric passenger lift – and is comparable to Europe’s highest outdoor lift, the Hammetschwand Lift on Lake Lucerne. The Matte Lift is also situated outdoors. Instead of being “Much more than just a lift” No form of public transport in Switzerland offers a shorter route from A to B than the Matte Lift in Berne. But this elevator has a long history. “Lift boy” Peter Maurer is familiar with it. contained within a building, it is attached to the outside of a wall. At the top of the wall is the Minster Terrace, the beautiful space situated on the southern side of Berne’s biggest and most important church. The distance from top to bottom is only 30 metres – or 183 stairs. But the journey up and down originally took passengers from one end of the social pyramid to the other, explains Peter Maurer. Berne’s wealthy families resided up in the old town, while the poor – tanners, boatmen and rafters – lived down below in the Matte district. According to Maurer, some addresses on Badgasse used to be official bathhouses but had turned into brothel-like establishments over time. “The rich opposed construction of the lift because they didn’t want anyone from Matte encroaching on their lofty perch.” There may be some truth to this. Historian Stefan Weber wrote about The Matte Lift “mountain station” towers high about Berne’s Matte district. The trip up and down originally took passengers from one end of the social pyramid to the other. Photo: Peter Maurer Higher, farther, faster, more beautiful? In search of somewhat unconventional Swiss records This edition: The shortest public transport route in Switzerland Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 16 Report
is very much a metaphor for real life, he says. There will be ups and downs. He has had his fair share of misfortune – his wife died ten years ago. But lucky breaks too. Maurer, a single father, found his current job by pure coincidence. One day, while swimming in the River Aare, he spotted an old colleague on the river bank who said he was now working as a conductor on the lift. “It sparked something,” says Maurer, who decided that very evening to become one himself. He found his calling. But the lift also found him. The job seems to suit him perfectly. “It is more than just a lift,” he says. “Much more.” And as if he cannot quite believe his eyes, he has started photographing it in his spare time. At all times of the day and the year, from every possible angle. He produces a poster every few months. The latest one, called “Sonnenblumenlift” (Sunflower lift), is situated at the bottom of the lift. More than a lift. Just ask those who live in the Matte district and make frequent use of it. Some of the elderly residents like chatting to the conductors, says Maurer. “We are always happy to talk. We are the only people with whom some of them regularly come into contact.” He and his colleagues can tell how people are doing just by engaging with them. Whether they are happy or have a lot on their mind. And if someone is not having their best day, Maurer will happily carry their shopping bag a few metres for them. The lift is a beacon for people here, he says. Particularly in winter when it is still dark in the morning. When they open at 6 a.m., a light comes on at the top of the lift. “That is when they know that one of us is here.” the early days of the Matte Lift in his master’s dissertation, describing how much opposition there was to the project. The idea that the burghers of the old town looked down – literally and figuratively – on those who lived in the Matte district is by no means farfetched, he says, although the wealthy never explicitly voiced such a sentiment, instead expressing concern that the lift would ruin the appearance of the terrace wall and “spoil” the ambience. Those times are long gone. People were grateful for the Matte Lift once it was built, viewing it as a symbol of progress. Levels of inequality have fallen dramatically since then, says Maurer. Affluent locals also live in houses at the bottom of the elevator these days. “Thanks to gentrification,” he says wryly. Maurer began working as the lift conductor five years ago. “There are seven lift boys and two lift girls. All of us are retired.” He does seven to eight daily shifts every month. He has always enjoyed talking to people. As a journalist, he was used to striking up conversations. “Now people talk to me instead.” The Swiss magazine “Beobachter” interviewed him once. Maurer has a philosophical air about him. The story of the Matte Lift In legal terms, the Matte Lift is a cable car – even though it is unmistakeably an elevator. Photos: Peter Maurer The Matte Lift is “much more than just a lift”, says Peter Maurer – who, for many local people, is more than just a lift conductor. Photo: Marc Lettau To view a selection of Peter Maurer’s lift photos, visit our online edition at www.revue.link/elevator When the Matte Lift opened in 1897, it was regarded as a pioneering project. Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 17
DENISE LACHAT The Federal Council’s reaction was direct and unequivocal. A few weeks before, Zurich’s cantonal parliament had voted to remove French from its primary school curriculum and postpone it until upper school. This decision was a “worrying” development, wrote the federal government in a statement on 19 September 2025. Zurich’s argument was that early French lessons had not been a success, with pupils only picking up a mediocre command of the language. Worse still, the curriculum had become overloaded. Children were no longer achieving the necessary standard in their own school language. Zurich’s decision has disrupted an uneasy status quo, whereby children start learning one foreign language in year 3 and another in year 5 of primary school. One of these is an official Swiss language, the other English. However, cantons can decide which language comes first. For years, French has had its work cut out in many German-speaking cantons. The cantons that teach English first are Zurich, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, St Gallen, Aargau, and Thurgau. A good few are considering postponing French until upper school, like Zurich. The news from Zurich sent shock waves across French-speaking Switzerland, where all the cantons give priority to German as a matter of course and, if anything, are increasing, not cutting, the volume of German teaching. An exasperated Christophe Darbellay, education minister of the canton of Valais and chair of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education, wondered out loud how the Swiss can live together if they are unable to speak a common language. Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, the francophone federal councillor responsible for education, believes, like Darbellay, that national unity is at stake. The many French speakers who make an effort with German would be disappointed to learn that German speakers evidently care less about Switzerland’s other official languages, she said. It is not as if French-speaking primary school children find German particularly appealing – all foreign languages pale in comparison to the lure of English, the all-pervasive lingua franca. Yet Article 70 of the federal constitution states that the Confederation and the cantons “shall encourage understanding and exchange between the linguistic communities”. Swiss from different language regions must be able to understand each other and want to live together irrespective of linguistic and cultural barriers – because Switzerland is a nation united by choice. To safeguard multilingualism in compulsory education, the Federal Council wishes to expand the scope of the Languages Act. It sees two options: either enshrine the current consensus – another Swiss language at primary level, plus English – in law, or introduce a minimum requirement that gives the cantons more leeway. The other Swiss language would have to be taught from primary school until the end of lower-secondary level. Why this flexibility? Since the founding of the Confederation in 1848, education has essentially been a matter for the individual cantons. To iron out differences in curricula, the federal government got the 26 cantons to agree on some key principles around 20 years ago. The idea behind this cross-cantonal accord, which voters also emphatically approved at the ballot box, was that school leavers across the country should have the same basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic at the end of compulsory education, even if they have moved from one canton to another. Constitutionally obliged to intervene whenever the spirit of this agreement is breached, the Federal Council can now fire a warning shot to any cantons that may wish to break rank. The Federal Council defends the French language Education is a tricky area in a country as culturally diverse as Switzerland – not least when it comes to language teaching. The biggest German-speaking canton, Zurich, plans to remove French from its primary school curriculum. This is a step too far for the federal government. French lesson at a primary school in Bungertwies (ZH). The canton of Zurich plans to eliminate national language French from its primary school curriculum. Archive photo: Keystone, 2015 Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 18 News
About dachshunds and playing cards +46% Urban trends change all the time, and dogs are no exception. Dachshunds are all the rage at the moment. The number of sausage dogs in Switzerland has risen by 46 per cent in the last seven years. What used to be a popular canine among the prim-andproper middle class is now the designer dog of choice for young urbanites. What would Otto the dachshund say? Grrrrr, woof, woof! Source: research by Tamedia 4000 But this is no game: more and more young IT specialists are losing their jobs. According to a study by the Swiss Economic Institute (KOF) at ETH Zurich, an unusually large number of digital natives in the IT sector are currently unemployed – because they have been replaced by AI. The number of young, jobless IT experts in Switzerland has doubled to 4,000 “surprisingly quickly”, the study says. Source: KOF/ETH Zurich 1 000 000 No changing trends here: the Swiss still love card games. And Jass continues to be Switzerland’s undisputed national card game. Its most popular variant is “Schieber”, which is played with a 36-card deck. It is unclear how many Swiss play Jass, but the following statistic gives an idea: over one million Jass sets are sold every year. That is enough for four million Jass players to partake in a game of “Schieber” simultaneously. Source: research by NZZ Folio 50 000 000 If your net assets are 50 million Swiss francs or more, you probably don’t have too many job worries. In recent weeks, many around the country would have been forgiven for asking: where exactly in Switzerland do the 2,500 individuals with at least 50 million live? The canton of Nidwalden has the highest density of super-rich: 22 out of every 10,000 inhabitants. Zurich leads the way in absolute terms, with 400. The canton of Fribourg is at the other end of the scale, with only 0.4 super-rich per 10,000 inhabitants. Source: data analysis by Tamedia FIGURES COMPILED BY MARC LETTAU “Swiss Review”, the magazine for the Swiss Abroad, is in its 51st year of publication and is published five times a year, in 13 regional editions, in German, French, English and Spanish. It has a total circulation of 479,000, including 311,000 electronic copies. All Swiss Abroad who are registered with a Swiss representation receive the magazine free of charge. Anyone else can subscribe for an annual fee (Switzerland: CHF 30 / Abroad: CHF 50). ONLINE EDITION www.revue.ch EDITORS Marc Lettau, Editor-in-Chief (MUL), Stéphane Herzog (SH), Theodora Peter (TP), Susanne Wenger (SWE), Amandine Madziel, FDFA representative (AM) FDFA OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS The editorial responsibility for the “Notes from the Federal Palace” section is assumed by the Consular Directorate, Innovation and Partnerships, Effingerstrasse 27, 3003 Berne, Switzerland. kdip@eda.admin.ch | www.eda.admin.ch ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Airpage AG, Uster/Zurich furrer@airpage.ch | www.airpage.ch The ordering parties are fully responsible for the content of advertisements and promotional inserts. This content does not necessarily represent the opinion of either the editorial office or the publisher. EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Nema Bliggenstorfer (NB) TRANSLATION SwissGlobal Language Services AG, Baden LAYOUT Joseph Haas, Zurich PRINT Vogt-Schild Druck AG, Derendingen PUBLISHER The “Swiss Review” is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad. The postal address of the publisher and the editorial office is: Organisation of the Swiss Abroad, Alpenstrasse 26, 3006 Berne. revue@swisscommunity.org Phone: +41 31 356 61 10 Bank details: CH97 0079 0016 1294 4609 8 / KBBECH22 COPY DEADLINE FOR THIS EDITION 5 November 2025 CHANGES OF ADDRESS Please advise your local embassy or consulate. The editorial team cannot access your address and administrative data. Thank you. Imprint Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 19 Switzerland in figures
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYwNzMx