The CBB :: View topic - Why Switzerland?

#1: Why Switzerland? Author: Elle,

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 10:31 am

I was re-reading "Barbara" and I noticed that somewhere it said that the schoolwas re-locationg to Switzerland in preperation for returning to the Tirol. At least I think that is what it said. So my question is, why didn't the school return to the Tirol after the war?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, I don't own all the books , and the ones that I do own are the cut editions.

Please help!

Laughing

#2: Author: Cazx, Location: Swansea/Bristol

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:04 am

I think it was due to the political situation in Austria after the war officially.
But I've read somewhere that it went to the Platz because it could be somewhere imaginary and EBD could be creative with it. Whereas Tyrol as a real place did not offer the same scope for being creative.
I know I haven't phased this well, and I'm sure someone else could phase it much better!

#3: Author: Miriam, Location: Jerusalem, Israel

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:15 pm

Later on when they are well setteled in Switzerland (could be in Coming of Age) I thnik that someone says they are unlikely to pick up and move the whole school again because of the expense that would be involved.

I think that once they were back in a mountanious area, people could generally accpet that is being similar enough to Austria not to worry - and she did go back to the Tiernsee for occasional holiday stories.

#4: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:34 pm

Austria, like Germany, was partitioned after the end of the Second World War, so it was under the control of the Allied powers until the mid-1950s. I think that the area where the Tiernsee was meant to be would have been in the Soviet-controlled sector, which would have made things even more difficult.

#5: Author: Róisín, Location: Dublin

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:40 pm

It's nice to have variety. And I'm sure she wanted opporotunity (sp?!) to describe new walks and scenic views etc.

#6: Author: Miriam, Location: Jerusalem, Israel

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:41 pm

How did thjey arrange the visits for Coming of Age (and Jo buying a house there)?

Would that have been after the Soviets relinquished control, or just EBD ignoring reality?

#7: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:42 pm

Soviet control of eastern Austria ended in 1955 and at that point Austria became reunified and self-governing again. Trying to think what date Coming of Age would have been ... trouble is that the dates are all so inconsistent!! I think that a few times the idea of moving from Switzerland to Austria once things in Austria'd calmed down was mentioned, but they said that it would've been too expensive and too much hassle to move again. & they couldn't've moved unless the San'd moved too, because then there wouldn't've been enough doctors around to provide husbands for the staff/old girls!

#8: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:52 pm

I remember watching this on the news a few weeks ago I think. It's 50years since Austria got their independence back and they had a commemoration service.

Did anyone else see it and automatically think of the CS in Exile? Very Happy

#9: Author: Ann, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:03 pm

Alison H wrote:

By my reckoning (which is probably wrong and someone will probably point out my error!) Coming of Age should be summer 1953 - working on the assumption that the triplets were born in 1939.

#10: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:14 pm

Frieda had already gone back to Innsbruck by Joey Goes at the lasted (possibly even by the time of Peggy), but I imagine, considering their experiences under the Nazis, the school would have been less willing to take the school back into that tense sort of environment.

#11: Author: Caroline, Location: Manchester

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 8:42 am

Ann wrote:

Alison H wrote:

By my reckoning (which is probably wrong and someone will probably point out my error!) Coming of Age should be summer 1953 - working on the assumption that the triplets were born in 1939.

EBD wrote Coming of Age in 1957/58 (published 1958) so when she was *writing* the book, Austria was free and independent again.

OK, OK, I'm like a stuck record when it comes to trying to 'date' the series versus EBD writing in 'real' time Wink

. Sorry!

Caroline.

#12: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 8:51 am

Still, assuming she wrote it in 1957, that's only two years after the Russians left and I imagine there may have been concerns that they could view Austria as a rogue state and come back, in a similar manner to the way they crushed uprisings in Hungary in 1956. I don't blame the school for not wanting to go into a country that would be seen as political. Neutral Switzerland seems much safer!

#13: Author: Caroline, Location: Manchester

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 12:38 pm

KB wrote:

Too true - I only meant that, by 1957, EBD would have thought it safe to go to Austria / take a party of schoolgirls to Austria for a holiday, whereas in 1953 (or any time post-war and pre-1955) it wouldn't.

I don't reckon EBD would ever have moved the school again after setting it and the San on the Gornetz Platz, whatever the situation in Tirol - doesn't Helen McClelland suggest in one of her companion books to the series that EBD liked the freedom of a more fictional location for once?

Caroline.

#14: Author: Elle,

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2005 7:39 am

Thank you!

Mexican Wave

The CBB -> Anything Else

output generated using printer-friendly topic mod, All times are GMT + 1 Hour

Page 1 of 1