When Switzerland legalized homosexual acts in 1942, Werner Bandi took advantage of that fact and a rather vague age of consent concept that apparently varied from canton to canton to take up a relationship with Alfred "Bob" Steffen who was still in school. For the next 17 years, the two of them traveled together and lived together off and on with Werner frequently taking high quality photographs of Bob, mostly nude, but sometimes clothed or in fancy dress. Here they are with Werner's car, a vitrually unheard of luxury in 1940's Switzerland.
In Europe at that time car ownership differed greatly by country -
ReplyDeleteEngland, France, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland had the highest rates of car ownership 1 out of 5 to 1 out of 8 families owned a vehicle.
In Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland it was about 1 out of 10 to 15.
In Germany 1 out of 40. - Or in another context in Italy there were 500,000 autos in the whole country in 1950, for a population of 40 million. And in Spain
were 75,000 autos for 25 million people in 1950. -RJ in the IE.
Werner Bandi und Bob Steffen waren der schwulen Community in Bern, Schweiz, gut bekkant. Und schliesslich die Schwulengemeinsch aften im deutschs-prachingen Europa. Beide haben an der Zeitschrift Der Kreis mitgearbeitet und schwules Leben in Bern. Herr Bandi verliebte sich in den jungen Steffen und sie entwickelten eine dauerhafte Beziehung.
ReplyDeleteSieht aus wie eine Dodge von 1946-48, autos wurde in der wohlhabenden Schweiz nach dem Krieg alltaglich.
-austriche