Korea collection
Specific peace support – how did Swiss soldiers experience their mission in Korea? The Library Am Guisanplatz BiG Korea collection provides insight into the work and daily routine of the Swiss peace mission in Korea.
Panmunjom, Korea.
Panmunjom, Korea. Sign leading to the NNSC buildings of Sweden and Switzerland. In the background the roof of the ‘freedom pagoda’ can be seen. Photo by Pierre Barbey 1967/68.
Journal of Fred Bieri in Korea in 1953 and 1955
The sketch of the Korean peninsula appeared in one of Fred Bieri’s journal entries.
Children working in Korea, 1953
Heinrich Herter not only produced illustrations of his deployment for the Swiss Korea Mission, he also took photographs of the country and its people.
Swiss soldiers looking into the distance, 1953
The mountainous landscape fascinated the Swiss members of the Korea mission. This photo was taken by Heinrich Herter, 1953.
The demarcation line in Panmunjom is guarded on both sides.
The border between South and North Korea runs between the blue barracks, photographed here by Alexandre Zermatten during his deployment in Panmunjom 2004-06.
Negotiation table in the blue barracks in Panmunjom, Korea.
Swiss and Swedish representatives are still in the service of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) today. Polish delegates still take part in the commission meetings twice a year. Photo by Alexandre Zermatten, 2004-06.
Swiss military personnel have been stationed in Korea since 1953. At the end of the Korean war, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland and Czechoslovakia took on the task of monitoring the ceasefire between North and South Korea.
To achieve this, these neutral states formed two commissions: the NNSC (Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission) and the NNRC (Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission, 1953-1954).
Journals, films, photo albums, slide collections
Switzerland’s involvement in the Korea Mission is the oldest peace-keeping mission of the Swiss Armed Forces and even today Switzerland has five NNSC delegates engaged in confidence-building between the two Koreas.
In 1954 former Korea Mission delegates founded the Korea Association, whose archive has been housed at the Library am Guisanplatz since 1999. Private documents, diaries, films, photo albums and slide collections portray the operations of Swiss officers in Korea, and also record personal impressions and journeys to remote parts of Asia.
The Korea collection inventory is not listed in the Alexandria search portal. However, the Korea collection catalogue can be consulted on the library premises.