The Catastrophe of Mattmark in 1965

50 years ago, on August 30 1965, a glacial slide of the Allalin-glacier near Mattmark in the Valais buried and killed 88 mostly Italian construction workers under 500 000 m3 of ice. While the migration treaty of 1964 had helped to ease relations between Italy and Switzerland, the catastrophe of Mattmark led to their renewed deterioration. Cf. dodis.ch/G9174.
e-Dossier: The Helsinki Final Act of the CSCE in 1975

«The Conference on Security and Co-Operation in Europe does not end with the ceremonial signing of the final act in Helsinki on August 1st of this year. In fact in many ways it is just beginning» stated a circular of the FDFA in October 1975. Nevertheless, it marks a milestone of European history, reached at that time. For Switzerland, it designated a decisive step in the opening of its foreign policy.
Übergabe des Nachlasses von Generalkonsul Arnold Dumelin (1844–1905)

Die Diplomatischen Dokumente der Schweiz, das Schweizerische Bundesarchiv, das Europainstitut der Universität Basel und die Universität Zürich laden ein zur feierlichen Übergabe des Nachlasses des schweizerischen Generalkonsuls in Yokohama (Japan), Arnold Dumelin (1844–1905), an das Schweizerische Bundesarchiv und zur Aufschaltung einer Auswahl an Dokumenten des Nachlasses auf der Datenbank Dodis.
e-Dossier: Geneva Summit of 1955

No less than the leaders of the Great Powers gathered in Geneva. On July 18 1955 the summit of the «big four» began: US-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Soviet Minister President Nikolai A. Bulganin as well as Antony Eden and Edgar Faure, the British and French Prime Ministers, convened in the international city.
Successful Start of Metagrid.ch

On June 19, the official kickoff event of the Metagrid.ch project took place at the Swiss National Library. At the event, almost fifty participants from areas like edition and database projects, libraries, archives and long-term projects of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHAS) were able to gather information on developments and functionalities of the web service.
40 years of DDS – 20 years of Dodis

2015 truly is the «ultimate year of jubilees»: In April, the research group of the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland celebrated the 20th anniversary of the data base Dodis and, on June 7, the research project of the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland turned 40!
Happy Birthday: Dodis turns 20!

Today, everyday life without the Internet is hardly conceivable. In 1995, however, not even half a percent of the world’s population was using the World Wide Web. Twenty years ago, on March 11, 1995, when the world was constituted in such a manner, the first document was integrated in the Dodis database. Thus, Dodis celebrates its 20th birthday today.
Dodis@Swiss Open Cultural Data Hackathon 2015

On February 27 and 28, the first Cultural Hackathon of Switzerland was held at the Swiss National Library. The DDS are pleased with the interest in their data and would like to thank all who have participated in this project.
Positive evaluation of the DDS

Commissioned by the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAHS), the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland (DDS) were thoroughly evaluated by an external authority in 2014. The evaluation fully confirmed the positive developments of the last few years, especially attesting a «high frequency of book publishing», a «high quality» of the DDS products, «high standardization» and...
Launch of volume 4 of the Quaderni di Dodis

On October 30, 2014 the launch of the latest volume of the Quaderni di Dodis, the academic journal of the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland, will take place at the Federal Archives in Bern. The Historian Bernd Haunfelder publishes in volume 4 of the Quaderni di Dodis the political reporting of the Swiss representation in Vienna from 1938 to 1955.