Heimatort, sweet Heimatort: the unique Swiss concept of home
“Place of birth” is a requirement in almost every passport around the world. Not in Switzerland. Swiss passports and ID cards care only about your “place of origin”. What’s the difference, and how does it affect the Swiss Abroad?
Every Swiss citizen has a “place of origin” – Heimatort in German, lieu d’origine in French and luogo di attinenza in Italian – but on a map many would struggle to find the village where a distant ancestor once lived and which is now printed on a card in their wallet.
“The concept of the Heimatort is a Swiss quirk and is unique worldwide,” wrote Jrene Rolli in Swiss magazine AnnabelleExternal link. She was surprised to discover that, following a merging of municipalities, her Heimatort had changed from leafy little Belpberg to Belp, home of Bern Airport.
+ Merging communes raises identity issues
“I was outraged – I felt robbed of my identity,” she fumed, despite admitting she’d never felt anything for Belpberg, having been born and raised in nearby Bern. “My ancestors lived in Belpberg umpteen years ago, but I don’t know who they were, how they lived or why they settled there.”
She decided to let off steam by going for a jog along the river to her new place of origin. “Right now I feel more connected to my sweat-soaked T-shirt – which fulfils its function moderately well – than to my Heimatort. Its function is more questionable.”
In Switzerland civil status data (birth, marriage, death) is not only registered at the place where the event occurs but also at each Swiss citizen’s place of origin (Heimatort/lieu d’origine/luogo di attinenza).
The place of origin, also known as “rights of citizenship”, corresponds in Switzerland to the municipality from which a Swiss citizen obtains their citizenship rights. It is mentioned in the civil status documents (e.g. birth, marriage and death certificates) as well as in identity documents (such as the passport or identity card) of Swiss citizens – unlike in some countries, which mention the place of birth.
In the Old Swiss Confederacy, the place of origin was the place where one’s ancestors lived or acquired their rights and obligations, including their rights of citizenship.
This lack of connection to one’s Heimatort, literally “home place”, is not unusual. A few years ago, German-speaking public television SRF had a gameshow, HeimspielExternal link (home game), in which “three candidates are sent back to their Heimatort and their roots”. The contestants – most of whom hadn’t lived in the town or village for years, if at all – were then tested on their local knowledge and skills. It was basically a fun way to learn about telegenic parts of the country.
The Swiss Federal Railways also saw an opportunity, and on Swiss National Day 2009 it offered a “Heimat ticket” taking people to their Heimatort and back for CHF15 ($16.50). “Many Swiss citizens don’t even know what their Heimatort looks like,” Federal Railways spokesperson Reto Kormann said in Der BundExternal link. “The National Holiday is a good time to take a trip to your roots.”
How did it come to this? How did an administrative box trigger so many emotions and end up on game shows and train tickets?
Transatlantic ticket
For hundreds of years, Swiss municipalities and their citizens had a deal: in return for citizens fulfilling certain duties – for example, being part of a town’s defence force (and paying a buy-in fee) – their municipality would look after them if they fell on hard times.
Children would inherit their father’s Heimatort, and, upon marriage, wives would assume their husband’s. Today, children are given the Heimatort of the parent whose surname they bear, and marriage doesn’t change anything (although people can switch Heimatort – or have more than one – if they want, usually for a small administrative fee).
More
7 questions on Becoming Swiss: ‘Where do I sign?’
When it was introduced, a person’s place of origin was normally also where they lived. Increased mobility, however, meant that more and more people from poorer regions started looking for a better life elsewhere, often in cities. If they needed help, their place of origin continued to bear their social welfare costs, reimbursing their new place of residence.
This was good news for the destitute: instead of being shunted from parish to parish, they could always rely on their Heimatort. However, if they were found begging in a new place of residence, they could be deported home. “As a result, numerous beggar hunts were organised and those of no fixed abode were removed from cantons in carts,” says the Historical Dictionary of SwitzerlandExternal link.
The place of origin had no influence on whether and to what extent those in need received social welfare in other cantons, but it had to pay the bill. This put a strain on local budgets, and in the 19th century some municipalities offered to buy their poorest citizens a ticket across the Atlantic – as long as they renounced their citizenship (and thus the right to welfare). Many took them up on this and settled in North or South America.
With our SWIplus app, you receive a summary of the most important news from Switzerland every day, plus the main news programmes from Swiss public television and personalised monitoring of developments in the canton of your choice. Find out more about the app here.
Throughout the 20th century the obligation to provide for the poor was gradually transferred from the place of origin to the place of residence – in 1990 the reimbursement period was reduced to two years – but one’s Heimatort could still have an influence on one’s life. Swiss writer Robert Walser (1878-1956) was born and raised in Biel/Bienne in canton Bern. In 1929 he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was committed to a mental home in Bern; four years later, however, he was transferred – against his will – to an institution in canton Appenzell Outer Rhodes, because that’s where his Heimatort (Teufen) was located.
In 2012 parliament decided that a citizen’s place of residence could no longer claim reimbursement from the place of origin in social welfare cases. “The Heimatort becomes irrelevant” was the headlineExternal link in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ).
This video looks at how ‘Heimat’ can have a profound meaning for Swiss people, especially those living abroad:
‘Symbol of identity’
Five years later the NZZ hadn’t changed its mind. “The Heimatort has lost virtually all meaning,” it wroteExternal link. “Nevertheless, nobody dares touch this symbol of identity.”
Parliament had in fact debated replacing the place of origin with the place of birth on Swiss identity documents in 2001, but nothing happened. As Walter Glur of the Swiss People’s Party argued at the time, the birthplace is too random – “birth could take place anywhere”. Many Swiss agreed.
They still do. In 2023 the Federal Office of Police (fedpol) published the results of a surveyExternal link asking the same question, or even whether to dispense with the need to state a place altogether.
“A large majority were in favour of retaining the Heimatort on identity cards,” it concluded. “This was justified in particular by the emotional and legal significance that the Heimatort still has in Switzerland. In addition, omitting the Heimatort could make identification more difficult and including the place of birth could lead to problems for people born abroad or stigmatise them.”
The main argument put forward by the few respondents in favour of switching to the place of birth was to align with standard international practice. The main argument in favour of not registering either the Heimatort or place of birth was that there were no legal requirements that make it mandatory.
More
Significance for Swiss Abroad
“One of the attractions of a Heimatort is its permanence,” argued Der Bund in 2012. “It remains in place, even if the family is scattered around the world. For the 700,000 or so Swiss nationals registered abroad [813,000 at the end of 2023], their Heimatort is probably the most tangible value they have today.”
It pointed out that for Swiss citizens who live outside Switzerland, the Heimatort serves as a place of jurisdiction, for example, in the event of a divorce. In elections and votes, Swiss citizens living abroad can choose whether they want to cast their vote in their former place of residence or their Heimatort.
More
How America’s genealogy obsession touches Switzerland
The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) was one of the umbrella organisations surveyed for the 2023 fedpol report. Pro-Heimatort, the OSA pointed out that all civil status entries are entered in the Heimatort family register, “which has advantages for the administration at the consulates, but also for the citizens”. These include having a central register, which helps identify people quickly and clear up any uncertainty, especially in consular protection cases abroad. Also close relatives can be identified quickly and notified.
It also highlighted the issue of registering a problematic place of birth abroad, which can make entry into certain countries more difficult or lead to discrimination. It gave the example of a Swiss woman born in Tel Aviv travelling to Iran.
The OSA explained that the Heimatort had an “emotional and traditional significance” for many people. “It can also be a family archive. Records of families are kept in the home parish, regardless of where they now live, and this can be valuable for researching history.”
Jrene Rolli at Annabelle also acknowledged the role a Heimatort can play for the Swiss Abroad. “The idea of emigrating to a Caribbean island and sipping coconut water while influencing the votes in Belp amuses me,” she wrote. “And it triggers stronger emotions in me than my Heimatort ever did before.”
Edited by Samuel Jaberg/gw
More
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
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.