You never know what's hiding in those hillsides in the Swiss Alps, but there is more than just stone under the grass

The Swiss continue to recycle their second world war bunkers deep in the mountains, Helena Bachmann (from Vaud) writes for Time Magazine. Forget about the gold under the streets of Zurich; it’s the corporate digital data stored under one of Saanen’s peaks that’s worth a fortune today. Article published 24 July 2010.

Neutrality’s flip side in Switzerland, a strong defense of the homeland, has resulted over the years in the creation of a collection of mountain bunkers and nuclear shelters, the first designed to protect the population from the Germans in the 1940s, the second from the Soviets during the Cold War. Some are owned by local authorities and communes, others by the federal government and yet others are in private hands.

The alternate uses or recycled lives of these shelters and bunkers have enduring appeal, showing a quaint and truly odd side to Switzerland that feeds our love of clichés. They’re also a useful reminder that Switzerland remains that little bit different, for better and for worse.

Over the years there have been several media reports about them. Leo Fabrizio, a Lausanne-based photographer, had a travelling exhibit in 2008, “Bunkers” that was especially popular in France (scroll down to see TF1 report). Zurich-based Imogen Foulkes in 2007 reported for the BBC on cold war shelters, with the world’s largest one in Lucerne. Some years ago I reported for People Magazine on the 20,000 bed hospital  inside a Lucerne city mountain, which you reach via an emergency exit in an autoroute tunnel. China Daily ran a similar story about Lucerne’s tunnel shelter in 2006.

Der Spiegel in 2008 ran a story about the two brothers who opened the zero star hotel in a reconverted bunker in Sevelen, canton St Gallen.

But beware, wannabe investigative reporters, warned swissinfo in a 2008 article entitled “Bankers go bonkers for bunkers”: “Swiss military justice is usually swift to act when journalists reveal the locations of the country’s underground hideaways.”

If you’re keen to see the many ways you can camouflage a bunker, wikimedia has a page of wonderful photos.

Click on image to view larger

Worth reading, in this week’s media:

Why more and more Americans are giving up their citizenship

Helena Bachmann, a contributor to Time Magazine, based in Vaud, has a long report in this week’s magazine about the growing number of Americans who are giving up their citizenship, a trend driven by changes in the tax situation: “According to government records, 502 expatriates renounced U.S. citizenship or permanent residency in the fourth quarter of 2009 – more than double the number of expatriations in all of 2008. And these figures don’t include the hundreds – some experts say thousands – of applications languishing in various US consulates and embassies around the world, waiting to be processed.”

Swiss see how the Swiss like to describe themselves to newcomers

Le Temps today carries a feature on an event organized by social network Glocals.com where local politicians and business people were invited to help newcomers to Geneva become better integrated. The usual caricatures of the Swiss surfaced, as they always do for newcomers, including, says the newspaper, “Punctuality, organization rather than improvisation and consensus are key words for the perfect little Swiss.”

But, the article points out, the heat was turned on when it came to discussing housing, that impossible thing to find in Geneva.

New name for GenevaLunch blog: Living in Geneva

Laila Rodriguez, a journalist and blogger for GenevaLunch, is celebrating the fact that she is no longer a total newbie to Geneva by changing the name of her blog to Geneva Living, to better reflect what it is about. The blog offers a wealth of information to newcomers to the city, as well as to the larger region. Laila also handles our events pages, and she is a wonderful source of news on a community level, for newcomers but also people who have lived here for years.

Helena Bachmann, who lives in the Lake Geneva region, has written a good overview for Time magazine on assisted suicide and Switzerland’s efforts to rein in death tourism. She reminds us that the current law dates back to 1942 and brings us up to 2009, with the Swiss government saying the law is now too lax and must be rewritten. Bachmann includes an interesting interview with maxillofacial surgeon Jerome Sobel in Lausanne, who is the president of French-speaking Switzerland’s Exit office (Dignitas is the other main organization that offers suicide assistance). As with so many issues, this one is not as black and white as we might like it to be and her article explores some of the gray areas. Recommended reading.