Get Swiss or die trying (Swiss Stories 2014, by Evan Ruetsch) - Swiss Press Award

VICE Magazine Schweiz/Österreich

Evan Ruetsch

Short description (who, what, when, where): "Get Swiss or die trying" is a report about the living conditions of asylum seekers in temporary accommodations. The article consists of a portrait of the residents of the federal asylum center on the Lukmanier Pass, embedded in the context of comparable Swiss asylum accommodations. The asylum center on the Lukmanier Pass is a military bunker converted for this purpose between June and November 2013. The idea of ​​the article was to convey the situation; the moods, thoughts, experiences, and life circumstances of the residents to a young, international readership in a vivid and realistic way. Background With the rejection of the referendum against the revision of the Swiss asylum law in June 2013, a legal instrument was created to systematically convert federal facilities such as empty bunkers or former military barracks into asylum centers (Art. 26a). The current design of the asylum system increasingly tends to create living spaces that are disconnected from the lives of the population: peripheral locations of facilities, frequent relocations of inmates, selective restrictions on freedom of movement, or work bans have increasingly become the norm. Authors: This report was created in September 2013 as a collaboration between photographer Evan Ruetsch and VICE editors Philipp Cron and Philipp Spillmann. Where was the article published? The article appeared in VICE Magazine (October issue) Switzerland/Austria with a circulation of 36,000 copies and on the VICE websites in Switzerland/Austria/Germany and the UK. The article was viewed online almost 100,000 times.