Bern, 22 August 2018 PRESS RELEASE Temporary exhibition, Grand Prix Suisse 1934–54 – racing fever in Bern, 23 August 2018 to 22 April 2019 Bern and the need for speed: when the engines echoed around Bremgarten Between 1934 and 1954, the Swiss Grand Prix, at the time Switzerland’s biggest sporting event, turned Bern into a showcase for world motorsport. The captivating travelling cir- cus that is international motor racing arrived in the Swiss capital every summer, leading to the city’s first traffic jams as enthusiasts from Switzerland and abroad – over 120,000 of them at the event’s peak in 1948 – flocked to the Bremgartenwald circuit. The Ber- nisches Historisches Museum’s new exhibition, Grand Prix Suisse 1934–54 – racing fever in Bern, opens on 23 August 2018, and will place this historic event in the context of its technological, social and economic impact on Bern and Switzerland as a whole. For a few days each summer between 1934 and 1939, then again from 1947 to 1954, Bern be- came the centre of world motorsport. The race, run on the Bremgartenwald circuit, was consid- ered one of motorsport’s great classic events, along with those at Monte Carlo, Silverstone and the Nürburgring. Car races were held in a range of different categories, and from 1950 onwards, the main race was part of the newly created world championship series, known today as the Formula 1 World Championship. The circuit also hosted various classes of motorcycle racing. The Swiss Grand Prix – Swiss racing history “The exhibition will examine the complex significance of the Swiss Grand Prix for Bern and for Switzerland. We will highlight the technological progress it brought and the effect it had on soci- ety, the economy and everyday life in Bern. Visitors will be able to experience the intense racing fever the event generated, as well as the challenges and the darker side associated with what was once Switzerland’s biggest sporting event,” explains Dr Jakob Messerli, Director of the Ber- nisches Historisches Museum. The exhibition is designed to transport visitors to the famous old Bremgartenwald circuit. They will be able to marvel at photographs, illustrations and memora- bilia, not to mention 20 historic racing cars and motorcycles dating from the 1930s to the 1950s. The models featured will include the legendary Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows, Swiss racing leg- end Willy Daetwyler’s Alfa Romeo and the NSU Rennmax motorcycle, known as the “Blue Whale”, which was famous for its aerodynamic design. A society gripped by racing fever “Before the era of mass motoring and the construction of the national road network, at a time when only very few people could afford a car, there was immense enthusiasm for powerful cars and high speeds,” says Curator Severin Rüegg, describing society’s fascination with the automo- bile at the time. The Swiss Grand Prix was a byword for high performance and technological in- novation – and the public wanted to witness it first-hand. The event brought more than a touch of glamour to Bern and the races became an experience capable of captivating all sections of soci- ety. The record in terms of attendance was set in 1948, when 126,634 visitors from Switzerland and abroad packed the venue. The flood of spectators made the city – which had a total popula- tion of 141,000 at the time– buzz with activity, and was a huge boost to local manufacturers and hoteliers alike. The Swiss national railway responded by organising extra trains, and new parking facilities were created for both cars and bicycles. Bern also experienced its first traffic jams. Helvetiaplatz 5, Postfach 149, CH-3005 Bern, Phone +41 31 350 77 11, [email protected], www.bhm.ch Racing in the shadow of global politics International power politics were also in evidence at Bremgarten. Before the outbreak of the Sec- ond World War, the all-German duel between the Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union AG works teams – both of them backed by the Nazi regime – held spectators spellbound. The Nazis used the dominance of the German vehicles as a propaganda tool, with the swastika and the Hitler sa- lute both making appearances at the Bern races. During the war, the engines fell silent in Bern. It was not until 1947 that racing resumed and drivers from the Italian Alfa Romeo and Ferrari works teams gained the upper hand – the German teams were excluded from Grand Prix racing until 1953. The end of the motorsport era While the event was popular, it was the subject of controversy right from the start. Critics con- demned the dangerous races and the frequent accidents, some fatal, which came with them. The Swiss Grand Prix went ahead in all weathers, the site was poorly laid out and the drivers had to contend with treacherous road conditions without safety belts or – until 1952 – helmets. Inadequate safety measures also claimed the lives of a number of spectators. At the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours in France, an accident left 84 people dead and over 100 injured. The Swiss Grand Prix was cancelled that year, and a nationwide ban on circuit racing was imposed throughout Switzerland soon afterwards. It would prove the end of racing at Bremgarten. The Swiss Grand Prix machines are back Sunday, 26 August 2018 will see the third instalment of the Grand Prix Suisse Berne Memorial, this year entitled “The myth lives on”. The event is organised by the Grand Prix Suisse Berne Memorial Association and will see around 350 classic racing and sports cars take to the roads west of Bern for a demonstration run. The festivities will begin with a parade through the Old Town of Bern on the previous day, 25 August 2018, featuring around 150 classic vehicles. Swiss racing driver and winner of the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours Neel Jani will also take part at the wheel of a Porsche 550 Spyder – the same model in which James Dean was killed in an acci- dent in 1955. The parade will start at Westside Shopping and Leisure Center at 4 p.m. From there, the cars will head down Freiburgstrasse and continue on to Loryplatz, before parking in front of the Bernisches Historisches Museum from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., where they will be available for viewing by the general public. Accompanying catalogue To mark the new exhibition, the Bernisches Historisches Museum is publishing the accompanying catalogue Grand Prix Suisse 1934–54 – racing fever in Bern, in partnership with the Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte. This beautifully illustrated catalogue is available in the museum shop and online (in German only) at www.bhm.ch/en/information/shop/online-shop for CHF 19. High-resolution images: www.bhm.ch/en/information/media/pictures-for-the-media A programme of accompanying events is available here: www.bhm.ch/grandprixsuisse Contact persons at the Bernisches Historisches Museum Merja Rinderli, Head of Marketing & Communication, Phone +41 31 350 77 83, [email protected] Nicole Hoppler, Marketing & Communication Assistant, Phone +41 31 350 77 36, [email protected] .