Westward. Encounters with Swiss American Women

During WWII their English teacher encouraged her students to go to the Red Cross Club in the Hotel Eden on the Bahnhofstrasse. “There American GIs on furlough in Switzerland would speak English with us, dance with us. I didn’t need to hear this twice. These evenings were fascinating. I met a lot of interesting people. To meet people who would freely discuss topics we were not allowed to broach at home, that was an incredible experience. At the end of my Gymnasium years the war had ended; it was also the end of those evenings – but my fondness for Americans remained.”

Ellen’s parents did not want to hear about her going to university. “And I had no idea what I could do after graduation. My father took me into his photo shop, which he had opened at the Badenerstrasse in Zurich’s 3^rd district and in which he had set up a portrait studio. But taking portraits was not my cup of tea. Nevertheless, one day he sent me on a picture hunt with an empty roll of Kodak film. I was to take pictures of people in the Landesmuseum (Swiss National Museum).”