Chronist der sozialen Schweiz

Ernst Koehli's name is missing from the major publications on the history of photography in Switzerland. He belonged to the guild of contract photographers who carried out client commissions in their studios, worked as photo reporters for magazines or worked for picture agencies. The book focuses on a central part of Ernst Koehli's work: the labour movement. With his origins in the working-class milieu and his commissions from trade unions, political parties, aid organisations and the public sector, Koehli became a chronicler of social Switzerland during and after the Second World War. Professional portraits, meetings and reports from holiday homes provide an intimate insight; together with the authors' essays and research, they bring the events of the time into focus and provide access to the different living environments.

Edited by Christian Koller, Director of the Swiss Social Archives, and graphic artist Raymond Naef, who saved the estate from destruction and handed it over to the Social Archives. With contributions from the writer Melinda Nadj Abonji, the city chronicler Hannes Lindenmeyer, the journalist Koni Loepfe and the historians Christoph Schlatter, Stefan Länzlinger and Bruno Meier.