Swiss Temple

On August 19, 1906, Church President Joseph F. Smith told Saints in Bern that the time would come “when temples of God … will be built in different countries of the earth.” In 1923 President Heber J. Grant reaffirmed Smith’s promise but warned it would not come until the prevalent “spirit of selfishness … between nations” had been supplanted by a greater “spirit of peace.” Grant died in 1945, still waiting for that day.

After World War II, Saints in Europe worked to promote lasting peace. Helene Zimmer of Birsfelden, Switzerland, for example, worked with the Red Cross to relieve needs and welcomed 14 refugee children into her home. By 1952 Church leaders felt the time for a temple had come. While touring Europe, Church President David O. McKay counseled with European mission leaders about where to build it. Helene’s husband, Wilhelm, who was serving in the Swiss Austrian Mission presidency, was present as they knelt in prayer and decided to build a temple in Bern. Switzerland’s history of religious tolerance, its multilingualism, and its convenient location for Saints across Europe made Bern an ideal location. In Glasgow, Scotland, the last stop of his European tour, McKay announced plans for the temple in Switzerland.

Wilhelm, an architect, was soon assigned to translate the plans for the temple into German. The Swiss temple would be different from previous temples; to accommodate Europe’s multilingual Saints, President McKay and architect Edward O. Anderson collaborated with film professionals to integrate a video presentation with the endowment for the first time.

Many Swiss Saints were involved in the construction of the temple. The Basel Branch president, Michael Jager, for example, constructed the metal doors and the basin for the baptismal font. Even Therese Leuschner, an 80-year-old widow, supported the project. Though she didn’t expect to live to see the temple’s completion, she saved enough half-franc silver coins to donate 100 francs.

In early September 1955, as the scheduled dedication approached, workers labored day and night to finish construction, and Gordon B. Hinckley arrived with the temple films as leaders and members gathered for the dedication. Translators worked through nine dedicatory sessions. The Tabernacle Choir attended and opened the services by singing “The Morning Breaks.” President McKay later recalled that “the veil between those who participated in those exercises and loved ones who had gone before seemed very thin.” In addition to the Saints’ ancestors, President McKay acknowledged the heavenly presence of past Church leaders, including Joseph F. Smith and Heber J. Grant.

Swiss Temple, 1955.

The days following the dedication were crammed with 40 hours of back-to-back endowment sessions in six different languages so that Saints would be able to return to their home countries endowed with power and sealed to their loved ones. Erica Riva, who later served as a temple ordinance worker, remembered finishing sessions at 4:00 a.m. “We were very touched,” she said. “It was a great experience for the first time.”

In the following years, many European Saints spent their summer vacations in Switzerland doing temple work. Missionaries prepared for service there, and families came there to be sealed together for eternity. In 1958, after a group of 40 widows from Germany attended the temple, the temple president remarked, “It [is] a great comfort to all the war widows that have been alone for many years to have the opportunity to be sealed to their departed husbands.” Many Saints also brought names of their afflicted relatives and friends for the prayer roll—some reporting miraculous healings occurring at the very hour when prayers were held.