4. What Can I Help You With Mr. Fido?
While we’re talking of animal rights, don’t feel like your pet got his day in court? Want to speak out against animal abuse and for animal rights? Well look no further than Swiss lawyer Antoine François Goetschel, who focuses on animal rights law. This plucky lawyer’s not one to mess with and once prosecuted a fisherman who took too long to catch a pike. He was also a driving force in the March 2010 Swiss referendum, which would have led to animals being given legal representation in Swiss court cases. Though it was unsuccessful, this hasn’t stopped Goetschel, who continues to defend the rights of animals in cases where animal abuse is involved.
5. Kindlifresser Was Here
Kindlifresser or “Child Eater” is found in Bern, Switzerland and no one’s quite certain why the 500-year-old statue of a man eating a sack of babies was built in the first place. Some believe it’s a portrayal of the Greek Titan Kronos and the story of him devouring his godchildren so they could not take his throne when they were older. Others feel it is the elder brother of the founder of Bern, Duke Berchtold, who was so jealous of his younger brother’s time in the spotlight that he went crazy and ate all the town’s children. Another casts a foreboding light on future events, where the belief is that it was constructed to warn the town’s Jewish community, especially as the hat the statue wears is very similar to the pointy Judenhut that was forced on Jews during that period. Whatever its reason for being, Kindlifresser’s 1546 construction makes it one of the oldest fountains in the city.
6. Believe It Or Not…
If you don’t believe the Holocaust actually happened, it’s best to keep that fact to yourself while in Switzerland. Though denial of the Holocaust itself isn’t technically illegal, denial of crimes against humanity is, and this includes genocide. Talk like that can land you in a Swiss prison, and Holocaust denial is generally seen as a conspiracy theory of an anti-Semitic nature, and is illegal in many other countries too.
