The Club’s archive
The full record of the Swiss Club Namibia since 1969: the history year by year, the gatherings, the people who carried the Club, its papers and its photographs. The Club page tells the story in brief; here it is kept in full.
The full timeline
The founding
The idea comes from Dr Hans W. Hartmann, economics editor of the Allgemeine Zeitung, and from the Swiss printers at John Meinert. The invitation appears in German, English and French. On 16 April 28 people found the Schweizer Club Südwestafrika at the Hotel Thüringer Hof; Dr Hartmann is its first president, and Victor Grimm is among the founders.
A shooting section
The club writes to the consulate in Cape Town and to the Federal Military Department. Two years later the first shoot is held at the Hamman range, with rifles and ammunition supplied by the Department.
The section ends
Interest fades in 1979. The General Meeting of 1985 dissolves the section, and the rifles go back to Cape Town.
Independence
On 21 March Switzerland opens a Consulate General at Uhlandstrasse, Windhoek. Consul General Robert Müller and his wife Margaretha become great friends of the club, which takes its present name. Erica Morla, the club’s president, raises the Swiss flag there for the first time.
700 years of Switzerland
On 12 October the club marks the Confederation’s 700th anniversary with a “journey into the blue”: an evening train to Aris, with a gala dinner on board and a dance carriage.
A stone for Bern
At the invitation of the Consulate General, a dolerite boulder from “Klein Switserland” near Keetmanshoop is handed over at the town hall on 2 June. It joined the stones from places named Switzerland around the world, gathered by the Federal Palace in Bern.
Twenty-five years
On 29 October the club travels by train, with a salon bar and a dance carriage, to Hotel Aris. The same year it forms a committee to argue against the planned closure of the Consulate General.
The years of Peter and Christa Hess
Peter Hess presides and Christa Hess keeps the minutes. Fifteen Bundesfeiern, General Meetings, raclette and fondue evenings and the Sunday meeting are held at their Fäschthütte.
The Consulate General closes
At the end of June Pretoria takes over. At the Bundesfeier the club names its first honorary members.
Thirty-five years
Celebrated on 24 April at the restaurant The Gourmet / Kaiserkrone.
Forty years
Celebrated on 24 April, together with the General Meeting, at Restaurant Aloe, the hotel school of the Polytechnic.
A new president
Peter Hess hands over to Rudolf Imhof and is named Honorary President.
The Rütli under palms
At Fabienne Schuwey’s Farm Neuweiler the meadow becomes the Rütliwiese, with an alphorn, a Glockenspiel and 1 August Chüechli. The Bundesfeier has been held there since.
Kept, not closed
No committee can be found. Rudolf Imhof and Irmela Jordi keep the club going as administrators, and the General Meeting and the Bundesfeier continue.
Fifty years
The Festschrift gathers half a century of the club’s life, edited and designed by Rudolf Imhof. A small ember still glows.
The route opens
In June the club is among the guests when Edelweiss opens the direct flight between Switzerland and Namibia, and presents the airline with a wing carved in white marble.
A new beginning
On 30 September a new committee is elected unanimously. In October the club opens its website, the monthly Letter and Panorama, in four languages.
Sixty years
On 16 April 2029 the club turns sixty.
Namibia drawn in a fine line, and Switzerland held within it at Windhoek: a piece of home in the host country. The outline of Namibia has been the club's own since 1994.
Those who carried the Club
The presidents are listed on the Club page. These are some of the others the Festschrift remembers.
Secretary for as long as Peter Hess presided.
Treasurer for more than thirty years; the books kept by hand, the reports remembered for their humour.
Vice-president and editor of the newsletter.
At the founding meeting and in office until 2013; remembered for his 1 August Chüechli.
The oldest member at the fiftieth jubilee.
Kurt Neuenschwander, Horst Morla, Victor Grimm, Imgard Metje, Erica Morla, Katharina von Quittzow and Tilly Neuenschwander.
Christa and Peter Hess, Urs Gamma, Bruno Jordi, Fritz and Nelly Kübli, and Rudolf Imhof.
How the Club met
1 August, always the high point: first at various places, then at the Consul General’s residence, fifteen times at the Fäschthütte, and since 2014 at Farm Neuweiler.
Fondue, raclette, Wähen and goulash soup: the food evenings were the heart of the club.
The Lumpenball, the spring dance, bingo and quiz evenings, outings and visits.
A Sunday meeting at host families, which for a time took the place of the Stammtisch.
Chlauskegeln, skittles for St Nicholas, with Grittibänzen for 6 December.
1994 by train to Hotel Aris; 2004 at The Gourmet / Kaiserkrone; 2009 at Restaurant Aloe; 2019 the Festschrift.
The papers of the Club
The originals are kept by the Club. What is marked for members is sent on request through the Swiss Desk until the members’ area opens.
The club’s newsletter, “our little paper” in Swiss German. Its mastheads from 1994 to 2014 are kept; Panorama continues it from 2026.
Some forty pages compiled by Kurt Neuenschwander for the jubilee: the founding minutes, the General Meetings and the 1 August celebrations year by year, the outings, the shooting section and the club’s ties with the Swiss representations.
Fifty years in one book, edited and designed by Rudolf Imhof.
Adopted at the founding on 16 April 1969 and amended in 1972, 1975 and 1990.
The General Meetings since 1988, where the surviving records begin, and the Extraordinary General Meeting of 30 September 2026.
Liederbüchlein · Livret de chants · Libretto per cantare, issued by the Secretariat for the Swiss Abroad in Bern: over 150 songs in the national languages.
From the Namibia silhouette with a Swiss cross of 1994 to the seal and the mark of 2026.
Who can see what
What tells the Club’s story is open to all. What belongs to the life of its members stays with the members. What concerns individuals stays with the committee.
- The history year by year, the people and the gatherings
- Selected pages and photographs from the Club’s papers
- The statutes
- The marks of the Club
- The full Festschrift (2019) and the 25-year chronicle (1994)
- Every issue of Euses Blettly, Panorama and the Letter
- The minutes and annual reports of the General Meetings
- The songbook
- The photo albums, as they are scanned
- The register of members and their contact details
- The accounts and bank records
- Correspondence with authorities and partners
- Anything about a person’s private circumstances
Pictures from the Club’s life
Many of the club’s photographs were lost in a burglary at the Fäschthütte. The pages below come from the Festschrift of 2019. The albums that remain, Rudolf Imhof’s among them, are being scanned and will appear here year by year.
From the 25-year chronicle, 1994
From the Festschrift 1969–2019
Do you have photographs of the Club?
Lend them to be scanned: they are returned to you with a digital copy. People are named only with their consent.
