Interview von BBC

There is a particularity of Swiss University life which is given by the fact that our small country which has less inhabitants than London, has no less than seven university and each of these university, from which Basle is the oldest one, has his own character given by the tradition and the history of the place and of the special developments , spiritual and economical and so on. And so the Uni|371versity of Basle and of Zürich and of Berne is not the same, not to speak of the French-speaking Universities, and this implies a certain richness of our University life. We are able to produce very different kinds of science, of learnings. Maybe that in the near future, the difference will melt away because the world has become so small and also Switzerland has become smaller, but for this very moment, one can speak of a particular spirit so to say, from Basle, from Berne, from Geneva and so on.

I’m not a person who is representative of the University of Basle.

I have become a professor twenty-seven years ago here in Basle. Perhaps you know that before I come to Basle I have been fifteen years professor in Germany. A very different kind of situation there; it ended with disaster in the Hitler time. I have been expelled from there and then I was glad to find here in Basle a place, and I tried to make good use of it. Maybe interesting for you - I’m a theologian, but the two men who were responsible for my nomination here in Basle were two outspoken atheists. Well, such a good description of the situation! Here we have the state of Basle with this University who is not a Christian state, but a secular state, and these two men have called me to come to Basle.

What then is the Swiss contribution?

It is my feeling that we Swiss like too much to speak of ourselves and to give explanations and glorifications of our Swiss attitude and importance for the world. We are a kind of example not only for Europe but for the whole world, this old democracy and our industry, our activities, and the we like also to give descriptions of our modesty, we are so modest, and the we glorify our modesty, such a general remark about the character of our life.