From Brazil, Tanzania, Morocco, Australia with love
"Anyone for a ride?" (H.F. in Barbados, October 1953)
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"My daughter and the youngest boy eagerly await the first outing with the Wisa-Gloria pram." (The Fankhauser family, Curityba, Parana, Brazil)
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"Anna and I in our backyard,where we sometimes listen to your broadcasts on a fine evening." Ernst und Anna Zulliger, Cumberland, Wisconsin, US)
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"Crossing the Steppe on a draisine ". (Ferdi Pfister, H. Meier, Beira, Portuguese East Africa)
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"Estate, Campinas, Sao Paolo, 1951."
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"Greetings to the shortwave service - Easter hunt in Olmoloc" (Tanzania) 1938.
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"Your Melbourne listener A. Adler, with a real little Koala bear, one of the pets in a Wild Life Sanctuary near Brisbane Queensland, where I went for Christmas Holidays, 1952."
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"Our Swiss cows, January 1933". (Augusto Gähwiler, Lezama, Argentina)
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"The last days of rest in my home in Brazil. The neighbour's boy looks at the Schweizerspiegel magazine. This boy was given away by unknown people (Brazilians) who never came back for him! " (Frederic Fankhauser, Curityba, Parana, Brazil)
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"28.8.1958. Myself and one of my grandsons taken in a main street of Joinville Est. S.C. I'm sending you this so you do not forget me. As you see, I have bought another Lambretta for cruising around in. Greetings from the bicycle city. Jacob Bachmann snr. in Brusque, Brazil."
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"Dear Isabelle, hoping you will make many more happy, by your lovely announcing". (Carl A. Millar)
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"Camp atmosphere at night in the Tinejdad oasis, southern Morocco." (Arthur Bouhélier, Casablanca)
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"August 1, 1952 [Swiss National Day]. In Lebanon you don't go hungry!" (Hannelore Baer)
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"Hoa Binh (Indochina), August 1, 1951. My Chinese friends." (Ewald Aemisegger, Fés, Morocco)
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"1949: A failed attempt at photographing the Christmas tree. It looks terrible but was in fact wonderful." (Fred Maierl, Deschênes, Canada)
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"Peterli the tomcat and the tortoise Joggeli Buume were transported to Switzerland by plane in March 1948 and were reunited in Richterswil." (Charles Schlosser, Long Island, US)
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"This is our kitchen." (Gähwiler family, Lezama, Argentina)
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"The radio listener". (Jaeger Kingsford, Sydney, Australia)
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When swissinfo.ch marked its 75th anniversary in 2010, we delved into our archives and published some of the many fascinating photos sent in over the years by listeners from all over the world.
This content was published on
Born in London, Thomas was a journalist at The Independent before moving to Bern in 2005. He speaks all three official Swiss languages and enjoys travelling the country and practising them, above all in pubs, restaurants and gelaterias.
The mostly black-and-white pictures are essentially self-portraits of people – and several animals – who, for whatever reason, had left Switzerland to start new lives in countries ranging from Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) and Barbados to Australia and Madagascar.
Whether it’s celebrating Swiss National Day in Lebanon, setting up a Christmas tree in Canada or just chilling in a garden in Wisconsin, the images from a pre-selfie age are valuable historical and personal documents that show the universal attachment to one’s country of origin.
Some scenes could have been captured in Switzerland – playing cards around the kitchen table, for example – but most subjects are seen embracing the new customs and opportunities of their adopted homelands.
The Swiss shortwave service was set up in 1935 and was renamed Swiss Radio International in 1978. This evolved into swissinfo.ch in 1999 but letters – and memories – continued to arrive from former listeners for many years.
(Picture editor: Christoph Balsiger; text: Thomas Stephens)
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.