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City politics reacts to the historian’s report on Zurich’s involvement in slavery. The monument to the famous industrialist totters.
The main train station to the rear, the Bahnhofstrasse in view: the statue of Alfred Escher in Zurich.
The mission was clear. Just over three years ago, the municipal councils of SP and AL asked the city of Zurich to carry out a historical and critical investigation into the Escher family’s involvement in slavery. This in light of Alfred Escher’s 200th birthday in 2019.
This report is now available. Three researchers from the Department of History at the University of Zurich wrote it on behalf of the city. The nearly 50-page document lists numerous references to slavery by Zurich and its citizens. The role of Alfred Escher and his father is also discussed.
Regarding the country’s most famous industrialist, researchers come to the same conclusion as other historians before them: Alfred Escher was not involved in the slave trade nor did he operate a slave plantation, according to the report. The extent to which their wealth is based on the benefits of slavery cannot be clearly answered in the light of the sources.
Tackle the dark side
However, voices are already being heard in Zurich’s urban policy wanting to ban the Escher monument on Bahnhofsplatz. The AL councilor, David García Núñez, says: “The statue belongs to the museum.”
For him, it is not a question of downplaying the achievements of the industrialist, but of not idealizing him without question. “He has done a lot for the city and Switzerland. But he was far from being a saint, ”says the city council. In a museum, you could also discuss the dark side of the Escher empire.
García Núñez emphasizes that this is his personal opinion. The issue is still being discussed within the group. In any case, the debate on monuments revolves mainly around symbolic issues. It would make more sense to promote the topic and drive the discussion. Slavery was a problem in Switzerland. We have to make it transparent. “
SP’s Michael Kraft agrees with his colleague on the council. The studied historian finds a conceivable solution for moving Escher’s monument into a museum and placing it there in historical context. In addition, Kraft demands that the social debate over who is remembered in urban areas intensifies. “That’s still not happening enough,” says Kraft. “The city has a hard time with such awkward questions.”
Kraft is convinced that statues and other historic landmarks in the urban landscape are an excellent starting point for dealing with the past. However, they should not be left standing, but should become places to remember and reflect. This has not yet been the case with the Escher memorial. Thousands of travelers would go by every day without even considering it, says Kraft. “The monument does not stimulate thought.”
Pflüger: “Let it rest”
When asked what should happen to the Escher statue in front of the main train station, FDP councilor Severin Pflüger has a short and concise answer ready: “Leave it standing.” The lawyer agrees with his two colleagues on the left that historical figures should be questioned and all their facets revealed. But that doesn’t mean you have to remove a statue from the pedestal.
Escher’s contribution to modern Switzerland is indisputable, and therefore the monument is absolutely justified, Pflüger believes. If the statue were removed, many others would also have to disappear from the urban landscape. Ultimately, the reformer Ulrich Zwingli did not claim fame regarding anti-Semitism.
Pflüger welcomes public debate on the subject. But it is wrong for historical issues to be instrumentalized in politics. “History does not fit into a left and right scheme, and where there is light there is also shadow.”
New times, new questions
Regardless of the current discussion, two committees work within the city administration that deal with monuments, but also with place names that can have a racist effect. On the one hand, there is the Art in Public Space working group, which is not only in charge of transmitting art, but also makes recommendations on existing works of art. It is subordinate to the Department of Civil Engineering and Waste Management.
On the other hand, the interdepartmental working group on racism also deals with possible racism in the urban landscape. This can also include place names or restaurant names. Recently, the city changed the name of its own restaurant from “Café Mohrenkopf” to “Frisk Fisk.” Norwegian salmon specialties are now available.
All three authors of the report on slavery take the issue of treating monuments seriously. It is in the essence of the story that it is always written with new questions, the report says. This raises new questions about monuments that are historical sources themselves.
According to the researchers, Escher’s memorial could be a reminder of two things: not only the modernization of Switzerland, but also the city’s first global interdependencies – “with all its complexities and ambivalences, also with references to the transatlantic system in which slavery was an essential part. ‘
Historians do not answer how this idea could be implemented. Rather, they give the ball back to the local council. “The critical examination of historical heritage – also in public space – using the example of personalities honored with monuments does not take anything away from history, but adds something to it,” they quote the historian Gesine Krüger of the University of Zurich.
Therefore, the researchers conclude, a municipal history policy should leave room for a social debate about who and what is remembered and how in urban space.
