Up in arms: controversial legacies in Switzerland

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Robert Dubler, the creator of the "Mohrenkopf" (blackamoor) chocolates. Large retailers have taken the products off their shelves because of the name; Dubler says he is not going to change it. Keystone / Gaetan Bally

These coats of arms of Swiss municipalities with so-called "Mohrenköpfe" (blackamoors) are also being kept: (from top left to bottom right) Möriken, Flumenthal, Avenches, Mandach, Cornol, Oberweningen. zVg

However, the statue of David de Pury in Neuchâtel is set to topple. The banker left the city a huge fortune after his death in Lisbon in 1786. He acquired most of it by trading diamonds, slaves and financial products at the Portuguese court. Citizens are now demanding the statue's removal. Keystone / Leandre Duggan

Café Mohrenkopf in Zurich was renamed by the city authorities in spring 2020, after 40 years. It is now called "Frisk Fisk". Sabina Bobst / Lunax

The old and new logos of the Basel Fasnacht group "Negro Rhygass". After a debate, the group changed its logo but kept its name. zVg

The controversy has also reached this plaque commemorating Johann August "General" Sutter in Rünenberg, canton Basel Country. The Swiss emigrated to America in 1843 and laid the foundation stone for California's capital, Sacramento, but according to historians he was also a slave driver. Severin Furter / Volksstimme

Remove or add an explanatory sign? The statue of Swiss politician, businessman and railway pioneer Alfred Escher outside Zurich's main train station. Until 1845, his family owned a coffee plantation in Cuba, where slaves worked. Keystone / Christian Beutler

The Zunfthaus zum Mohren (guild house for Moors) in Bern with its controversial logo, during carnival in 2015. Keystone

A commemorative plaque to Paul Sarasin in the Swiss National Park. He is considered a respected natural scientist, but he also helped major European powers commit atrocities against indigenous people in the tropics of Southeast Asia. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Swiss natural scientist Louis Agassiz's views on racial hygiene were much admired by the Nazis. His statue can be seen next to that of the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt at Stanford University in California. In Neuchâtel, the Espace Louis Agassiz has been renamed Espace Tilo Frey, after a female politician of African descent. An explanatory notice has been added to Avenue Agassiz in Lausanne, and in canton Valais there are calls to rename the Agassizhorn mountain peak. Mauritius Images / Jason O. Watson

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The United States is not the only place where historical statues have become the target of protests, following demonstrations against police racism and violence. The debate about dealing with the past, and its monuments, has also been rekindled in Switzerland.