Culture|Television review
Historical research has shown that peace and neutrality had their price in Switzerland as well.
Switzerland and the Swiss have cherished for hundreds of years an image of neutrality and integrity, which the country did not give up even in the Second World War and its aftermath. But in the late 1990s, the image was badly tarnished, if not completely tarnished.
Among other things, it was revealed that some of the banks had been money launderers of Nazi Germany that had prolonged the war and had not really lost the account information of tens of thousands of Jews. Not to mention the strict, heartless refugee policy.
According to an in-depth report by historians commissioned by the Swiss government, at least 20,000 Jews were turned away at the country’s border stations during the last five years of the war.
In the Swiss in a drama series The price of peace (2020) questions about the past are illustrated with the help of one bourgeois family and three young people fresh in the summer of 1945, right after the end of the war. “Here, the war is only starting now,” says the politician to one of the young people, summing up the six-part series in five words.
At the beginning, there is no sign of the coming “war”, on the contrary. The only child of a rich family that owns a textile factory, Klara, who graduated as a teacher (Annina Walt) is going to marry Johann (Max Hubacher), who also recognizes the practical side of the union.
As he already works at the factory, he might become its manager – as long as his father-in-law, Alfred, who himself once married the manager of the factory (Urs Bosshardt) retire.
Johann (Max Hubacher, center), a Swiss who married the daughter of a textile manufacturer, wants to renew the factory’s product range by hiring a German chemist for development under special arrangements. Father-in-law Alfred (Urs Bosshardt, left) is reluctant but gives in.
A woman after all, the place is not in the factory management, even if he is qualified and trained. Klara’s mother didn’t have it, and Klara doesn’t have it, whose part is to be an understanding, tender caregiver and work in a reception center for Jewish youth survivors of concentration camps.
It develops from its many events The price of peace a central melodramatic plot, the purpose of which is probably to emphasize the relationship of official Switzerland to the Jewish victims of the war on a practical level.
Egon (Dimitri Stapfer), who worked as a border guard for five years during the war, tries to make amends for his actions by tracking down Nazis hiding in Switzerland, but soon realizes that he shouldn’t be too thorough in his new job.
Petra Volpen written by and based on extensive background work, the most interesting character in the series is Johann’s older brother, Egon of conflicting emotions (Dimitri Stapfer). He was a border guard during the war and tries to make up for his actions by tracking down Nazis hiding in Switzerland. But at the same time, he is bitter about the life of his privileged little brother.
Egon’s actions trigger The price of peace another central plot that messes up the family, which justifies the origami-like logo of the series. In it, a dove of peace is folded from a banknote, and the olive tree branch caught in its beak shines like gold.
The price of peace, TV1 at 19:00 and Yle Areena. (K12)
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