Books to read
For almost four years, we have been researching the history of labor migration in Switzerland and Europe. It is a huge topic with an incredible number of facets, and rich in anecdotes, reports and stories as diverse as the people who tell them. There are many shocking stories and just as many beautiful moments of love and closeness.
For all those who have not yet collected all their Christmas presents, we have put together a list of the 5 books that have always accompanied us during our work and have had a great influence on our project. We wish you happy gift-giving and/or an exciting read!
Der Siebte Mensch – Eine Geschichte über Migration und Arbeit in Europa
John Berger and Jean Mohr
This book is groundbreaking and pioneering in many ways. Thinking on the pulse of his time, he was one of the first to deal with the phenomenon of labor migration in Europe without taking national borders into account. His analysis is captivating in that he can put forward clear political and sociological theses in one sentence, only to recount personal details from the lives of migrant workers with impressive empathy in the next. The text alone is an absolute must-read, and still of burning topicality. The fact that Berger was accompanied and supported in his work by the photographer Jean Mohr, who portrays the lives of the so-called "guest workers", enriches the book even more. This book was and is also a great inspiration for our film and has had a major influence on both the content and form of our narrative.
Jagt sie weg! – Die Schwarzenbach-Initiative und die italienischen Migranten
Concetto Vecchio
Based on the story of his own parents, Concetto Vecchio tells the story of an entire generation of Italian migrant workers in Switzerland. The intimate insight he provides into the background and motivations of his parents gives us a unique inside view of the lives of "guest workers" in Switzerland, an insight that is by no means limited to the negative. Vecchio, who himself was born in Lenzburg and re-emigrated to Italy with his family as a teenager, manages to interweave the global and family, macro and micro levels in a magnificent way. His book revolves around the major turning point in the Swiss migration debate. The "Überfremdungsinitiative", initiated in 1968 by National Councillor James Schwarzenbach.
Tra due Culture – Otto ritratti di donne italiane in Svizzera
Rosanna Ambrosi
One of the most important topics in our film deals with the experiences of women who have come to Switzerland to work. Their stories are often underrepresented in research and in the media, which makes Rosanna Ambrosi's book all the more important. She collects the stories of 8 women from the first and second generation of Italian workers in Switzerland and thus provides what is probably the most important contemporary document on this topic. While women in Italy had already had the right to vote and stand for election for decades, in Switzerland they encountered a society that actively kept the female sex small. At the same time, by emigrating, women left the often rigid family and role models in which they had grown up and emancipated themselves in this way. The stories told by the author show how they lived in this enormous field of tension. She herself came to Zurich in 1964 and also tells her own story in our film.
Verbotene Kinder – Die Kinder der italienischen Saisonniers erzählen von Trennung und Illegalität
Marina Frigerio
This book, originally intended primarily for the Italian market, tells of one of the darkest chapters in recent Swiss history. About the so-called "closet children". About thousands of families who were faced with an inhumane decision due to the ban on family reunification: Do we leave our children with relatives (at best) or in children's homes, or do we take them (illegally) to Switzerland. Which for them meant: hiding. In contrast to the Verdingkindern, the allegalized children of migrant workers are still waiting for a public apology or satisfaction. In our film, Marina Frigerio also reports on the fate of the many forbidden children she met. In this book, Frigerio also lets the eyewitnesses tell their stories, resulting in an impressive collection.
Grazie a Voi! – Ricordi e Stima.
Fotografien zur Italienischen Migration in der Schweiz
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Marina Widmer, Giuliano Alghisi, Fausto Tisato and Rolando Ferrarese
If you don't want to read quite so much written text, you're in good hands with this great illustrated book, which tells no less than all the other books in this list despite having very little text. The pages of this book provide a comprehensive account of all the stages in the lives of the migrant workers. Where they came from and where they finally went. But not least how they live and have lived. It also shows how much they changed Switzerland through their presence here and how they shaped the attitude to life.