Our Faces – Our Stories

Imagine, injustice is happening and almost all remain silent.

“Our Faces – Our Stories” sheds light on an important piece of Swiss social history that continues to have an impact today: compulsory social measures and placements in care. Several 100,000 people are affected. 32 of them talk about their experiences and put a face to the history.

Delve into the various topics through videos, pictures and texts. Find out which compulsory social measures existed, who implemented them and how those affected experienced them, what consequences they still have today for those affected and their relatives and how experts evaluate them.

Topics

It Happened Near You

Currently the map shows 1,058 facilities, children’s homes and “institutions”. They are listed under their old names which contain in some cases derogatory terms (directories considered 1933 – 1981).

Do you have knowledge of an institution that is not shown on the map?

Hand in facility to cheque

All these places in Switzerland housed people who had no place in society.

Find out more about the topic Placelessness

The website "Our Faces - Our Stories" offers teaching material for secondary levels I and II (in German).

Teaching Material (German)

We present the project and discuss the topic at accompanying events.

You can find upcoming events here