Skip to content
DeEn

Series: Monthly Topics

«Babies to order – the Swiss adoption trade»
Beobachter

Talk

A series of talks organised by Gessnerallee in collaboration with various editorial teams: once a month, a topical journalistic focus is discussed with the audience. This time, the focus is on the high human cost of questionable adoption practices.

LinkedIn
Facebook
Telegram
WhatsApp
E-Mail

  • Wed 13/0119:30–21:10

    Stall6

Gessnerallee presents a series of journalistic focus topics in collaboration with different editorial teams. Copyright: Bodara GmbH
  • German spoken language
  • Steplessly accessible

Solothurn, 1966: The young, unmarried Margrit Schweizer gives birth to a child at the Obach Clinic. The day after the birth, the president of the guardianship authority stands by her hospital bed and urges her to give her daughter up for adoption.

Sri Lanka, Colombo, 2017: After several failed attempts, Sarah Ineichen finally stands before the woman who, according to the birth certificate, is supposed to be her biological mother. But the woman explains to her that she had only pretended to be her mother in court – in return for payment.

Although these two stories are half a world and half a century apart, they are linked. For what began in the 1950s and 1960s – when newborns were snatched from young, unmarried mothers in this country – developed into a global business in the decades that followed. And the Swiss authorities turned a blind eye all those years. Today, thousands of those affected are searching for their origins and their families.

The Beobachter has reopened this dark chapter in Swiss history. Beobachter editor Otto Hostettler describes how, through many years of research, he has uncovered an international network – based on the machinations of a particularly unscrupulous adoption agent and organisations that brought thousands of children to Switzerland under the guise of humanitarian aid. From November 2026, the five-part podcast series ‘Babies to Order’ will be available to listen to.

Together with those affected and experts, Editor-in-Chief Dominique Strebel sheds light on the systematic child trafficking surrounding adoptions and its impact on the lives of those affected.

Host:

  • Dominique Strebel, Editor-in-Chief of the Beobachter

Guests:

  • Otto Hostettler, editor of the Beobachter

  • Sarah Ineichen, Back to the Roots

  • Prof. Dr Andrea Abraham, Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bern

Journalistic research:

Information about the host

The Beobachter is the Swiss magazine for law and justice. Our aim is to contribute to a fairer Switzerland through impartial journalism and legal expertise. We expose abuses, analyse relevant issues and help save money, time and stress. We tell inspiring stories and lead important debates. Through the Beobachter Advice Centre, we also run Switzerland’s largest independent legal advice service. Our lawyers, financial experts and social workers provide over 35,000 pieces of advice each year.

Accessibility information

  • Step-free access

  • Duration: An approximately 100-minute event with an intermission

  • Language: In spoken German

  • Once a month, an editorial team selects a journalistic focus topic and shares it live with visitors on site. Gessnerallee's new series of talks takes place in cooperation with various editorial teams. The ‘monthly topics’ were inspired by the highly acclaimed ‘Kosmopolitics’ series, which took place at the former Kosmos.

  • The Beobachter is the Swiss magazine for law and justice. Our aim is to contribute to a fairer Switzerland through impartial journalism and legal expertise. We expose abuses, analyse relevant issues and help save money, time and stress. We tell inspiring stories and lead important debates. Through the Beobachter Advice Centre, we also run Switzerland’s largest independent legal advice service. Our lawyers, financial experts and social workers provide over 35,000 pieces of advice each year.

    CORRECTIV.Schweiz is a non-profit research centre. Together with the population, they conduct research to strengthen democracy. They use innovative approaches and methods, such as the CrowdNewsroom they developed. They also network local journalists and uncover social injustices, either alone or together with partners.

    REFLEKT, Switzerland's first independent and non-profit research team, was founded in 2019. Since then, a small, powerful team has been carrying out major research with a big impact. In order to uncover abuses and promote transparency, they focus on investigative research projects lasting several months, which traditional editorial teams are increasingly unable to handle. By presenting their work in an attractive way and publishing it via various channels, they make their work accessible to the widest possible audience. In this way, they promote quality in journalism, increase public awareness and contribute to media diversity and a functioning democracy.

    The Republik is a digital magazine covering politics, economics, society and culture, which has been published since January 2018. It is financed by its readers and publishes one to three articles every day.

    Tsüri.ch was founded in 2015 by Simon Jacoby together with a group of young journalists with the aim of producing independent local journalism. A city magazine that is always critical, on the pulse of the city and transparent. Every year, they organise focus months on topics such as housing, addiction and mobility. The content of these focus months includes panel discussions, city walks and workshops.

    WAV is a twelve-member research collective from Zurich. They have been research partners for journalists and editorial offices, civil society and the non-profit sector since 2021. Their research critically scrutinises and opens the doors of boardrooms and boardrooms where decisions that affect everyone are quietly made. They create transparency - so that those responsible are not judged by their words, but by their actions.

    WOZ – Die Wochenzeitung is an independent, left-wing green weekly newspaper from Switzerland. Since 1981, it has been reporting critically on politics, economics, society and culture, placing particular emphasis on background information, power relations and social justice. WOZ is organised as a cooperative and is largely independent of advertising and corporate interests. With carefully researched analyses, reports and commentaries, it sees itself as a countervoice to the mainstream and as a contributor to an informed public and a vibrant democracy.

More Shows

To the programme overview