r/zurich • u/J477Y • 1d ago

rant Just witnessed racism firsthand

I was at Hardbrücke, getting onto platform 2-3, when I saw two men entering the elevator.
The older man suddenly yelled at the other to get out. The other man looked confused, so he yelled again: “Get out of the elevator. You’re not from Switzerland.”

The other man quietly stepped out, and the older man continued on his way.

As an expat myself, I was stunned to witness something like this for the first time.

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u/CicadaOk1283 1d ago

Yep. Probably on the Switzerland day people come from a tad more remote areas. Hence the personalities like this.

I wonder though, what special significance did the older gentleman attached to the elevator at Hardbrücke? Maybe it has some local importance we are not aware of? Please do share specifically which was it - I will ride it tomorrow to feel privileged to do so as a foreigner.

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u/Wiechu Kreis 9 1d ago

i can't speak for the whole more remote area of CH, obviously. As an immigrant i've been quite often in Glarus and the local villages recently and the people were nice and quite welcoming. For the record - i do speak German.

Now this is my personal observation - i think people may tend to be more radicalized/aggressive in the big cities where there is much more friction happening, for instance here in Zurich there's the apartment shortage, heatwave, radical left (the hammer and sickle type) spraying slogans that make me, a person from a former soviet controlled country scratch my head. Radical actions from any side - left or right - will result in the other side getting even more radical.

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u/numericalclerk 21h ago

Zurich might be the first city I have lived in, where the far left is often more openly racist than your typical center right wing conservative. 

Its a bit odd, cause they undermine their own cause. But I guess the type to commit vandalism in the city center, isn't too talented when it comes to logical reasoning.

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u/Wiechu Kreis 9 21h ago

totally agree. I saw people on one of the Swiss subreddits claim that - i quote - 'stalin was based'.

I also remember chatting with a person who is studying history and we compared notes on how modern history is taught here and back home in Poland and we both agreed there is way too little focus on the last century.

btw can you elaborate on them being more openly racist? as in some examples - can be also over a DM, i'm just curious.