St. Gallen – Switzerland - 17. Juni 2014
Hello everybody!
I am new to this “nuclear history” newsgroup, and actually to the global web in general. It is an amazing thing in order to get to know with people from around the world and I am happy to be on board.
I mean, I have had the opportunity to travel and get outside of Switzerland. I have been to France, Lombardy, Bavaria and even Britain. But it is dazzling to see contributions from Sweden, Australia, the USA, well, basically from all around the world. I read yesterday in the NZZ that one in ten Swiss households now has access to the global web, instead of one in twenty in 2011. And the web is expanding strongly in other countries, too! I hope that this new media helps to truly bring the world together, so that our understanding will prevent further world wars.
Of course, being 21 years of age I cannot tell you much from first-hand experience. And when the generation of my parents tells of the “hardships” which they experienced in the 1980s, I know that is nothing compared to what I read here about other places. But an interesting legacy came upon me due to the recent Death of my uncle Urs.
Urs Hörnla had been drafted into the Swiss military on the eve of World War 3 and later on took part in a lot of missions in destroyed Germany, and in other regions later on as well. He was apparently responsible for drafting a lot of reports evaluating the situation before retiring into civilian life again in 1991.
As a student of history, my family left me the mass of papers we found in his house after his burial. Written in a hard to decipher hand, they are a mass of diary-like entries (I am puzzled why he didn’t just use a book for that!). I cannot even say if these entries have been written at the date they claim, or in retrospect. Sometimes the latter may be the case. There are also first drafts of reports which he kept, and whose official originals might still be classified. I dare say that now, almost 30 years after the events and in a completely different world, this won’t count for too much, and I hope that I can contribute to this forum a little. The notes are difficult to read, but worthwhile, so I can only write something new every once in a while. I will certainly not be able to keep continuity about that, but I will try to stick to that fateful year of 1984 as much as possible.
Greetings from Switzerland
Kurt F. Hörnla
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Notes:
Kurt Hörnla as well as Urs Hörnla share my last name, but are utterly fictional alter egos. My own age (born in 1978) is too young for a relevant contemporary character.
The Swiss viewpoint is actually alien to me, having no family connection to that country (but I always seem to find very friendly Swiss people at work, currently sharing office with one); but if I would have written from a purely German perspective, it would have been to depressing for me to even start...
I will try to put the "Report On Germany" which I had created years ago for some of the other writers here in here as it belong, and also the little snippets I wrote later on, but which are still on hold. I am proud that the Report itself had been considered as near-canon for those who read it before.
As Kurt F. announced, it will less be a forthcoming story, not even a true timeline, but a random selection of documents. An addition to the P&S-verse which captured, and again and again captures, my imagination.
I guess it would be unwise to add it all in one heap....so I hope this thread remains growing for some time... And perhaps there are some discussions going with it.
Hello everybody!
I am new to this “nuclear history” newsgroup, and actually to the global web in general. It is an amazing thing in order to get to know with people from around the world and I am happy to be on board.
I mean, I have had the opportunity to travel and get outside of Switzerland. I have been to France, Lombardy, Bavaria and even Britain. But it is dazzling to see contributions from Sweden, Australia, the USA, well, basically from all around the world. I read yesterday in the NZZ that one in ten Swiss households now has access to the global web, instead of one in twenty in 2011. And the web is expanding strongly in other countries, too! I hope that this new media helps to truly bring the world together, so that our understanding will prevent further world wars.
Of course, being 21 years of age I cannot tell you much from first-hand experience. And when the generation of my parents tells of the “hardships” which they experienced in the 1980s, I know that is nothing compared to what I read here about other places. But an interesting legacy came upon me due to the recent Death of my uncle Urs.
Urs Hörnla had been drafted into the Swiss military on the eve of World War 3 and later on took part in a lot of missions in destroyed Germany, and in other regions later on as well. He was apparently responsible for drafting a lot of reports evaluating the situation before retiring into civilian life again in 1991.
As a student of history, my family left me the mass of papers we found in his house after his burial. Written in a hard to decipher hand, they are a mass of diary-like entries (I am puzzled why he didn’t just use a book for that!). I cannot even say if these entries have been written at the date they claim, or in retrospect. Sometimes the latter may be the case. There are also first drafts of reports which he kept, and whose official originals might still be classified. I dare say that now, almost 30 years after the events and in a completely different world, this won’t count for too much, and I hope that I can contribute to this forum a little. The notes are difficult to read, but worthwhile, so I can only write something new every once in a while. I will certainly not be able to keep continuity about that, but I will try to stick to that fateful year of 1984 as much as possible.
Greetings from Switzerland
Kurt F. Hörnla
#####
Notes:
Kurt Hörnla as well as Urs Hörnla share my last name, but are utterly fictional alter egos. My own age (born in 1978) is too young for a relevant contemporary character.
The Swiss viewpoint is actually alien to me, having no family connection to that country (but I always seem to find very friendly Swiss people at work, currently sharing office with one); but if I would have written from a purely German perspective, it would have been to depressing for me to even start...
I will try to put the "Report On Germany" which I had created years ago for some of the other writers here in here as it belong, and also the little snippets I wrote later on, but which are still on hold. I am proud that the Report itself had been considered as near-canon for those who read it before.
As Kurt F. announced, it will less be a forthcoming story, not even a true timeline, but a random selection of documents. An addition to the P&S-verse which captured, and again and again captures, my imagination.
I guess it would be unwise to add it all in one heap....so I hope this thread remains growing for some time... And perhaps there are some discussions going with it.