The historical documentary includes 6 interviews, with the historian Jakob Tanner, the artist Dieter Meier, the feminist Helen Faigle, the neohumanist Dani Horowitz, the activists Egon Fässler and Pascal Wehrle, the ex-police officer Fritz Hürzeler, and the musician Richard Stammherr. What these witnesses of 1968 and 1980 have to say, gives insight into transnational developments. Events in Paris, Milan, or Berlin shaped the youth movements in Zurich. But their comments also provide insight into the specific dynamics and “politics of everyday life”of the “hot summers” in Zurich in 1968 and 1980, which led to unexpected violence and repression.

The interviews were held in Swiss German by students of the history department (UZH) in fall 2017.