Vortrag "Söldner, Sklaven, Zuckerhändler" von Hans Fässler

Mercenaries, slaves, sugar traders

Colonial traces from Chur via Savognin and Sent to Soglio

Swiss colonial history deals with transatlantic trade and financial flows, mercenary service, slavery, and racism. For a long time, it was assumed that this was mainly a matter for the large cities of the Mittelland. However, more and more traces have emerged that lead to small country towns, villages, and even mountainous regions. The St. Gallen historian Hans Fässler has been engaged with this subject for 25 years. In a illustrated lecture, he tells exciting Graubünden colonial history stories. The journey starts in Chur (Jeremias Theus as a slave owner in Charleston), goes over Oberhalbstein (Paul Cadusch in Haiti as a sugar plantation owner) to Soglio (Baron von Salis as a colonial officer in Dutch East Indies) and up to Sent (the Corradini brothers as major colonial goods traders in Italy).

Hans Fässler

Hans Fässler (born 1954) is a retired secondary school teacher and historian in St. Gallen. His "Journey in Black and White. Swiss Local Dates on Slavery" (2005) was one of the first books to put the colonial history of our country on the agenda. Since then, Hans Fässler has been active as a speaker, publicist, researcher, and city guide. About three years ago, he discovered in Bever that there are also Engadine and Graubünden colonial stories and developed a lecture from it, which he has successfully held (in locally adapted forms) so far in Bever (twice), Splügen, Maloja, Val Fex, Sent, Avers, Chur, Muttenz, Winterthur, Zuoz, Stampa, and Ittigen BE. He is always pleased with subsequent questions and discussions with the audience.