The Swiss Army Museum Association

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Unlike many European countries, Switzerland does not have an official Army Museum. Various organizations, including the Swiss Army Museum Association (VSAM), have taken on the honorable task of preserving the military historical heritage of the Swiss Army for future generations.

The Swiss Army has played a significant and at times even nation-building role in Swiss society and public life over the past centuries. Given this fact, it may surprise military history enthusiasts that there is still no official museum dedicated to this history. However, there have been attempts and plans in the past to establish such an institution. To understand the current situation, it is necessary to look at the turbulent history surrounding the idea of a national Army Museum.

Painful History

The first museum to address this topic was opened in Lucerne in 1902. The focus of this institution, as the name "International War and Peace Museum" suggests, was on other topics. The museum aimed to highlight the devastating consequences of modern warfare by discussing the impact of technological advances in the art of war on the suffering of the population. Until the end of World War I, the museum was successful, attracting around 60,000 visitors annually - double the population of the city of Lucerne. However, after the end of World War I, the museum had to close its doors.

A new society subsequently took up the idea of a national Army Museum in a new location. The museum opened in Thun's Schadau Castle in 1934 and remained the institution for a historical approach to the Swiss Army until it was closed due to the war.

Even during World War II, the idea emerged from the then Commander-in-Chief of the Swiss Army, General Henri Guisan, to establish a museum that would commemorate the so-called active service and border occupation by the Swiss Army between 1939 and 1945. Corresponding concepts and papers were developed, but the institution was ultimately not founded. Nevertheless, these efforts and considerations had a decisive influence on the coming decades. General Guisan issued the order that some material should be preserved for posterity. It is ultimately thanks to this order that much historically valuable material still exists today.

The exhibition at Schadau Castle reopened after the war in 1950, but had to leave Thun in 1961 as the castle was needed by the city for other purposes. The material was subsequently stored in an arsenal.

Repeated Restart

New momentum was gained for the Army Museum when a project was launched in Murten in the canton of Fribourg. The predecessor organization of the current Swiss Army Museum Association (VSAM) dissolved in 1965, as it was believed that the federal government would now continue the project of an Army Museum, which it had deemed certain in a 1960 report. However, once again, the project failed for various reasons.

In 1978, another attempt was made to establish an Army Museum in the federal capital Bern. However, the project faced opposition, and the location of the Mechanized Troops Weapons Square in Thun was chosen as a better location. The new Swiss Army Museum Association worked with the city of Thun to develop another project. These efforts led to a submission to the Swiss Parliament, which approved a budget of 9.4 million Swiss Francs. Another ten to fifteen million Swiss Francs were to be raised by the Foundation Board appointed by the VSAM.

With this funding, a debt-free operation of the Army Museum was to be made possible. However, as this amount was not reached, the project was in serious danger. The Swiss Ministry of Defense was now supposed to save the project. Although it initially went well, the project failed again in Parliament. The disappointment on the part of the VSAM was correspondingly great, and the members set out to at least save the material. The VSAM at least benefited from a directive from the Chief of Staff for the preservation of historical Army material. This directive in 2000 replaced the aforementioned Guisan order. Furthermore, in 2001, cooperation between the Ministry of Defense and the VSAM was regulated by a corresponding agreement.

This agreement stipulated that the material remained the property of the federal government, while the VSAM managed the collection.

New dark clouds emerged in the spring of 2006 when the Ministry of Defense planned to drastically reduce the number of storage locations due to finances and the reduction in the size of the army. The storage sites were endangered.

The VSAM opposed these plans, and as a result, a new solution that was acceptable to all parties was found. In early 2009, the Swiss Federal Department of Defense created the Central Office for Historical Army Material, which manages all historical materials of the Department of Defense as well as contract partners for the defined external material competence centers. These external material competence centers were tasked, through a service agreement, with documenting, restoring, conserving, maintaining, and providing access to the material made available. The tasks are divided among the three defined centers as follows:

• Air Force and Air Defense Area - Friends of the Swiss Air Force Association
• Communication Area - Communication Interest Group
• Rest of the Army - Foundation Historical Army Material

In order to professionally fulfill this mandate, the VSAM established the mentioned foundation. As described, the material remains the property of the federal government, while the foundations are compensated for the expenses involved in managing the material.

Goals of the VSAM

Most of the material falls clearly within the responsibility of the Foundation Historical Army Material. The Swiss Army Museum Association has set itself various goals. The VSAM

• aims to be a center of competence for the history of the Swiss Army;
• promotes the establishment of a Swiss Army Museum;
• seeks to contribute to the information and documentation of the Swiss Army and ultimately Swiss history;
• advocates for the preservation and maintenance of the historical material of the Swiss Army, which will later form the material basis of an Army Museum.

Comprehensive Collection

The material legacy of the Swiss Army from the last two centuries currently comprises over 100,000 objects and can only be viewed by request and in guided groups until an actual Army Museum is opened. Visits to the collections of the HAM Foundation at the Thun, Burgdorf, and Bern locations, as well as the desired collection parts, can be arranged.

The following collections are visitable at the Thun location:

• Uniforms and personal equipment
• Historical armored vehicles
• Artillery cannons
• Anti-tank systems
• Anti-aircraft systems
• Lamps and lanterns
• Optical equipment

The following collection is visitable at the Burgdorf location:

• Around 600 historical vehicles (tracked vehicles, wheeled vehicles, wagons, equipment, trailers)

The following collection is visitable at the Bern location:

• Harnesses and wagons

Information about the collections in Thun and Bern is provided by

Roland Thommen

[email protected]

Tel. +41 79 786 83 89

Information about the collections in Burgdorf is provided by

Markus Habegger

[email protected]

Tel. +41 34 429 44 00

Thanks to the commitment and expertise, the VSAM has made a significant contribution in the past to the preservation and maintenance of historical Army material.

The HAM Foundation is responsible for inventorying, restoring, and conserving the numerous, decentralized, and partially exhibited material in line with its capabilities. Without this work, unique objects would be lost, and they would not be available to future generations as witnesses for exhibition or research.

Kaj-Gunnar SIEVERT