Bern, Bear pits
Manipulation: The bears were moved and repositioned
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
Le Mouret / Fribourg sometime before 1943
Manipulation: The church remains untouched but telephone cables were removed, and a few clouds were added in the background.
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
Bern, Terrace behind the federal palace
Manipulation: The palms were darkened and clouds were added to the sky.
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
New Year’s card, Bern - a sea of fog viewed from the top of the Gurten hill
Manipulation: The trees in this postcard were covered with a light dusting of snow.
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
Thun and the Alps
Manipulation: The Alps were dropped into the scene to produce a more pleasing overall picture. The house on the left was considerably brightened.
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
La Roche / Fribourg, 750m above sea level, Hotel-Restaurant Boucherie aux Montagnards, sometime before 1944
Manipulation: The picture was cropped to get rid of a house standing to the left of the hotel, which was built in a contrasting style. The façade under the roof was brightened so that the name of the hotel was more legible.
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
Thun
Manipulation: The church in the background was brightened and two additional swans were added.
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
Heimberg and the Alps, 1939
Manipulation: A copy of the negative was created, a church was added on the right edge of the photo, and a new version of the card was produced.
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
Bauma, Zurich, sometime before 1941
Manipulation: Two pedestrians were removed from the middle of the photo.
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
Cure hotel Blumenberg-Bad, 1100m above sea level, Sigriswil, Schwanden
Manipulation: The flag in the original hung limply; now it stands erect in the wind.
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
Rapperswil sometime before 1945
Manipulation: The mountains were strongly emphasised and the church was brightened.
Burgerbibliothek Bern, FI Franco-Suisse
Photo archives of the publishing company Franco-Suisse show how some historic picture postcards scenes weren't perfect enough, and had to be adjusted. The archives were recently made available to the public online.
This content was published on
Gaby Ochsenbein worked at Swiss Radio International and later at SWI swissinfo.ch from 1986 to 2018. She lives in Bern.
The pictures hail from the period 1920 to 1970, and depict a Switzerland that in many respects no longer exists.
Many of the postcards include touristy subjects that still figure in postcards today. But there’s more. There are pictures of less well-known villages in the Jura mountains and other outlying areas. Where today there are suburbs, we see intact landscapes with little traffic, and in winter, snow even at low altitudes.
The Franco-Suisse archives also make it possible to follow the evolution of postcards from the initial picture to the final product. We can see how pictures were manipulated and retouched much before the advent of Photoshop. Unattractive telephone wires and unwanted people were removed, trees were covered with snow, and inappropriate backgrounds were replaced by panoramic views of the Alps.
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