Switzerland (officially, the Swiss Confederation), located in the very center of Europe, gets its name from the Swiss canton, which comes from the early German word “Schwyz.” Switzerland’s more than 700-year history dates back to 1291 when an eternal union was formed between three forest cantons – Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. Today, Switzerland is a republic formed by 26 cantons and has a population of approximately 7.5 million people.
Since antiquity, Switzerland has accepted travelers from Russia and has occasionally become a place of refuge for political exiles. In 1687, letters were exchanged between the magistrate in Geneva and Tsar Ivan V. Several years later, during the reign of Peter I, a Geneva panel of pastors responded to a request by the Protestant community in St. Petersburg and sent Pastor R. Dunant (who read his first sermon in the presence of the tsar).
Beginning in the 18th century, contacts between Russia and Switzerland increased. A significant contribution to the development of bilateral relations made by Swiss architects, jewelers, artists and military leaders coming to Russia. Among the most famous Swiss nationals living and working in Russia were Franзois le Fort, an admiral and diplomat of Peter the Great, Franзois Birbaum, who worked at Faberge, and Frederick-Cesar de Laharpe, who from 1784-1795 trained the future emperor Alexander I.
Incidentally, the history of St. Petersburg’s founding is closely linked to emigrants from Switzerland, one of whom was Domenico Trezzini, the chief manager of all construction in St. Petersburg until 1712. Among his projects were the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, the Summer Palace of Peter I and the Building of Twelve Colleges (currently St. Petersburg University).
In 1761, the first tour guide of Switzerland appeared in Russia. The guide, which was written by Rudolf Roth, rector of the University of Ulm, was intended for people “who were traveling either out of necessity or for pleasure.” It contained brief descriptions of all the major European cities, including those in Switzerland.
In the 18th century, nationals of the Russian Empire began to regularly visit Switzerland. The alpine country soon became a mandatory part of the itinerary of any Russian traveling through Europe. In 1789, for example, the Russian historian and writer Nikolai Karamzin visited Switzerland and gave the country more than one page in his “Letters of a Russian Traveler.” After Karamzin, the beauty of the Swiss Alpine region became more and more an integral part of Russian literature. The call of the ass awoke Prince Myshkin, Turgenev spoke of the alpine peaks, and Bunin sent his heroines to die on Lake Geneva.
In 1778, the first book devoted specifically to Switzerland was published in St. Petersburg. The first Russian in a literal sense to conquer Switzerland, was, of course, Alexander Suvorov, the great soldier and generalissimo who crossed the Alps with his army in 1799. In honor of the campaign, a monument was built to the “Valiant Comrades of the Generalissimo and Field Marshal Count Suvorov” – a 12-meter cross next to the famous Devil's Bridge in the Schцllenen Canyon.
At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Russia, which had become one of the great powers following its victory over Napoleon, guaranteed the neutrality of Switzerland that became decisive for the country’s subsequent political history. Moreover, Switzerland’s constitution, which is still in force to this day, was written by Ivan Kapodistria, a Russian citizen. Formal diplomatic relations between Russia and Switzerland began in 1816, and in 1819, Emperor Alexander I even visited Basel. In the same year, the Russian mission in Bern opened a home church, the country’s first Russian Orthodox church.
Throughout the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Switzerland was one of the most popular destinations for leisure travelers from Russia. It was also a haven for Russian artists and revolutionaries. Scriabin, Dostoevsky, Tsvetaeva, Herzen, Vernadsky, Repin, Kandinsky, Rachmaninov, Turgenev, Chagall, Tchaikovsky and Vrubel are just a few of the many notable Russians who have lived in Switzerland.
In 1854, the first Russian Orthodox community was established in Geneva – Switzerland’s main Russian city. In the second half of the 19th century, a growing number of Russians raised the issue of building an Orthodox church. Archpriest Petrov, who was serving at the Russian mission, was the initiator of the project, and a large sum for the construction was bequeathed by Grand Duchess Anna Fedorovna, the first wife of Tsesarevich Konstantin Pavlovich. In 1862, the leaders of Geneva provided a plot of land free of charge for perpetual use by the Orthodox community, and 1863-1869, Krestovozdvinsk Church was erected. The second Orthodox church in Switzerland was built in 1878 in the city of Vevey by Count Shuvalov. A third church was planned, although the onset of the First World War forced those plans to be canceled.
Academics and students coming to Switzerland to work and study have held a special place among the country’s Russian community since the end of the 19th century. The absolute maximum number of Russian students in Switzerland was registered in 1906-1907 when 36% of all students were Russians (2,322 out of a total of 6,444 students – 1,507 women and 815 men). It is interesting to note the important role played by female students from Russia in the development of the Swiss university system. They were the first women to study at Swiss universities, and for decades, they were among the best students in terms of performance. In 1906, 34-year-old (!) Russian national Anna Tumarkin taught at the University of Berne and went down in history as the first female professor who was on absolutely equal terms with male professors. This caused a real stir, not only in Switzerland, but abroad as well.
Despite their significant academic gains, the majority of Russian female students in Switzerland devoted most of their free time to politics, just as their male counterparts did. This is not surprising, as Switzerland in the late 19th century was a haven for political exiles from Russia.
The history of Russian political emigration to Switzerland began in the middle of the 19th century, when Swiss citizenship was granted to the Russian йmigrй Alexander Herzen. It was in Geneva that the founder of “Russian socialism,” together with Nikolai Ogarev, published the famous magazines Geneva Vestnik and Kolokol. In 1870, the well-known Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin was granted political asylum in Switzerland, and another famous anarchist, Peter Kropotkin, emigrated to Switzerland. The latter was expelled in 1881 at the request of the Russian government.
The renowned Marxist theorist Georgi Plekhanov emigrated to Switzerland in 1880, where he cofounded the Emancipation of Labor group. Plekhanov remained in Switzerland for 37 years of forced exile. Vladimir Lenin also spent a considerable amount of time living in Geneva and Zurich. On a memorial plate on the wall of 3 Rue David Dufour in Geneva, the words “Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov-Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union, lived in this house from 1904-1905.” It was here in November 1905 that Lenin received news that the Revolution had begun, and he hastily left for Russia.
Lenin was a member of the Geneva Literary Society, which to this day has maintained the notebooks bearing his marks and comments in the margins. On a bas-relief that was carved in 1921 while Lenin was still alive, a woman points with one hand to the city’s coat of arms, and the other is stretched out to a man. An inscription above the bas-relief reads “Geneva – City of Exiles.” It is believed that the sculptor, Paul Beaux, intended to depict the city of Geneva itself through the woman, and Lenin through the man. Beaux quite likely considered Lenin to be one of the most illustrious people to have visited the city.
The October Revolution of 1917 that Lenin devised had the effect of cutting off Switzerland from Russia for a very long period. It would be nearly 30 years before diplomatic relations between Moscow and Bern would be restored. This took place only in 1946…
