Mountain Warfare and Reduits in Literature

This SNSF project examines reduits as a cultural concept. Long before the Swiss Alps were declared to be a Second World War military fortress, time and again throughout history they had served as a historical-philosophical ‘quarantine area’. As such it is not only Switzerland but the entire Europe that views the idyllic Alps as a refuge, thus perpetuating an idea derived from ancient times. Such views really render the Alps compatible with ideologies of all stripes and colours. The central object of this research is thus not so much military concepts as literature and political discourse. Geographical ideologies such as those put forward by Philipp Etter, Meinrad Inglin and Max Eduard Liehburg are examined at length, as are their deconstructions by Hermann Burger, Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Christian Kracht.