"I was simply nobody" - welfare and coercion in Switzerland

The mobile guest exhibition will be stopping off at Zeughausplatz for three weeks and shedding light on the compulsory welfare measures that affected hundreds of thousands of children, young people and adults in Switzerland. Until 1981, the authorities were able to take coercive measures against people who were considered neglected or whose lifestyle contradicted social norms. Children, adolescents, single mothers, addicts or people with disabilities could be placed in homes, psychiatric clinics, work institutions or foster families without a court order.

The exhibition sheds light on a long-suppressed chapter of Swiss history, reveals the tension between care and coercion, gives those affected a voice and asks: when does welfare become coercion?

Storytelling café and history workshop
The exhibition is accompanied by a participatory project. It consists of a storytelling café and a history workshop and is open to all interested parties. In the storytelling café, interested parties and those affected can discuss the topic of care and coercion and tell their stories. The storytelling café is moderated.

Storytelling café in the foyer of Museum.BL
Thursday, 11.6.2026, 18.00-20.30 hrs

Interested parties can find out more about the History Workshop at the Storytelling Café on 11.6.2026 and register for it. In the weeks and months following the exhibition, the history workshop offers interested parties the opportunity to research their own history or that of family members under expert guidance.