»I like being Swiss« Dürrenmatt often said. The Switzerland he was talking about was not the nation celebrated in myths, but the juxtaposition and problematic co-existence of its four different cultures. A small nation which emerged from its conquest by Napoleon, Switzerland was for the pragmatic Swiss writer a political opportunity: a confederation of states in miniature, and as such a kind of model for Europe. As a fatherland, Switzerland often annoyed him. He made fun of the discrepancy between the small-state reality and its heroic history. But even as a very young man, Dürrenmatt was disturbed by the very fact which now irritates the whole world and a great many Swiss: the way in which Switzerland has covered up its past – its isolated role and its sparing in World War II – under a cloak of legends.