Travels in Switzerland

Andrea Rassel (left) and Christian Joos show Ambassador Beyer the Immigration-Emigration Museum in Zillis (Photo M. Crugnola)

Visit of the Immigration-Emigration Museum in Zillis

Impressive U.S.-Swiss ties in Val Schons

Zillis, October 21, 2009: Ambassador Beyer visits the exhibit of artefacts, which Christian Joos (middle) collected from families of the Val Schons. The hand-picked and often very personal items document a rich and vivid history of U.S.-Swiss ties in the Val Schons. In earlier times, many people of the Val Schons left the valley to try their luck in the United States. To this day, a Rumantsch saying in the Val Schons witnesses this migration to and from California. As Andrea Rassel, a Rumantsch linguist, states: "Cugls vigls va la mort, cugls giuvens la California" (The old are taken by death, the young by California).

The immigration-emigration exhibit is a prime example of many often unheard stories of ties between Switzerland and the United States.