Helvetisms are features distinctive of Swiss Standard German,that distinguish it from Standard German. The most frequent Helvetisms are in vocabulary and pronunciation,but there are also some distinctive features in syntax and orthography.
The Federal Minister of Intra-German Relations was a federal cabinet minister of the Federal Republic of Germany. The office was created under the title of Federal Minister of All-German Affairs in 1949,being also in charge of the German lands east of the Oder–Neisse line which had been put under Polish or Soviet administration. In 1951,the first Minister of All-German Affairs Jakob Kaiser openly raised claim to even greater territories including Austria,parts of Switzerland,the Saar area and Alsace-Lorraine.
Heidi Tagliavini is a Swiss former diplomat. She is noted for her service with international aid and peacekeeping missions;a 2003 profile in the monthly magazine of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung called her "Switzerland's outstanding diplomat". She was charged with leading the European Union investigation into the causes of the 2008 Russo-Georgian War,and represented the OSCE in the 2015 negotiations about the Minsk II agreement concerning the war in Donbass.
A by-election to the Swiss Federal Council was held in Switzerland on 16 September 2009,after incumbent Federal Councillor Pascal Couchepin announced his intention to retire on 31 October 2009.
An election for all seven members of the Federal Council,the government of Switzerland,was held on 14 December 2011,following the federal election on 23 October 2011. Micheline Calmy-Rey announced she would not run for re-election to the council. According to a traditional informal convention,the successor has to come from the French-speaking or Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. The candidates for her post announced by their respective cantonal sections are Alain Berset (Fribourg),Pierre-Yves Maillard (Vaud),Stéphane Rossini (Valais),and Marina Carobbio (Ticino).
Thomas Maissen is a professor of modern history at Heidelberg University and co-director of the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context". From 2013 to 2023 he was director of the German Historical Institute in Paris.
Thomas Gustav Borer is a Swiss management consultant,lobbyist and former diplomat. From 1996 to 1999 he headed the Switzerland –Second World War Task Force. He then was Switzerland's ambassador to Germany until 2002.
Frances Elizabeth Willis was an American diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland,Norway and Sri Lanka. She was the third woman to enter the U.S. Foreign Service in 1927 and the first woman to make a career of it.
The American Swiss Foundation is a private non-profit foreign policy organization headquartered in New York. It was founded in 1945 "to preserve and strengthen the historic friendship between the United States and Switzerland".
Albert Rösti is a Swiss businessman,lobbyist and politician who has been a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 1 January 2023. He previously presided over the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) from 2016 to 2020 and served as a member of the National Council for the canton of Bern from 2011 until 2022. Rösti resides in Uetendorf near Thun.
Andrea Bekić is a Croatian diplomat,current Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to The Swiss Confederation. Formerly,she was Croatian Ambassador to The Republic of Poland.
Michael Ambühl is the former Swiss state secretary for foreign affairs. He was Head of Chair of Negotiation and Conflict Management at the Department of Management,Technology,and Economics of ETH Zurich. In 2018/19,he was Head of this Department (Faculty).
Thomas Greminger is a Swiss diplomat. He served as Secretary-General for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) from July 2017 to July 2020. Since May 2021,he has been the Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). He is a general staff officer in the Swiss army.
Alexander Georg Nicolas Schallenberg is an Austrian diplomat,jurist,and politician who has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the government of Chancellor Karl Nehammer since 2021,previously holding the office from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP),he held the position in the second government of Sebastian Kurz,before briefly serving as 28th chancellor of Austria as Kurz's successor from 11 October to 6 December 2021.
Shawne Fielding is an American-Swiss actress and model who has appeared in US,German,and Swiss television series and movies. Notably,Fielding had been married to Thomas Borer,former Swiss ambassador to Germany,and twice to American billionaire Charles Addison Williams of Sammons Enterprises,her current husband again.
Eva Herzog is a Swiss politician who has represented Basel-Stadt in the Council of States since 2019 and has served as the President of the Council since 2023. She is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS).
Peter Richard Coneway was an American investment banker and politician. He served as the United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 2006 to 2008. He was the founder of the Houston office of Goldman Sachs in 1975. He also served a six-year term on the Board of Regents at the University of Texas System appointed by governor Ann Richards in 1993.
Pascale Baeriswyl is a Swiss diplomat,Ambassador and currently Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations (UN) in New York. She was the first woman to hold the post of State Secretary of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and has headed the Swiss Mission to the UN in New York since June 2020. From January 2023 to December 2024,Baeriswyl will represent Switzerland on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC),during the country's first ever term as an elected member of the council.
Robin S. Quinville is an American diplomat. She was an envoy at the Embassy of the United States in Berlin from July 2018. She was chargéd'affaires of the embassy in Germany from June 2020 to July 2021.
Helene Budliger Artieda is a Swiss diplomat and Director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) as State Secretary since August 2022. She is a former director of resources at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and was ambassador to Thailand,Cambodia and Laos,based in Bangkok,from 2019 to 2022.
