Film - Series (2) "Band of Brothers" has little impact in the Bernese Oberland
In September 2000, Interlaken airfield was the location for the filming of the TV series "Band of Brothers". The war drama was co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
Image: Keystone
Simon Margot was a teacher and mayor of Unterseen when scenes for the war drama "Band of Brothers" were filmed there in 2000. Nothing remains of the hustle and bustle of that time: the trees under which the unit parked their vehicles in the film have given way to a parking lot.
Image: Keystone
In September 2000, Interlaken airfield was the location for the filming of the TV series "Band of Brothers". The war drama was co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
Image: Keystone
Simon Margot was a teacher and mayor of Unterseen when scenes for the war drama "Band of Brothers" were filmed there in 2000. Nothing remains of the hustle and bustle of that time: the trees under which the unit parked their vehicles in the film have given way to a parking lot.
Image: Keystone
25 years ago, part of the last episode of the series "Band of Brothers" was filmed in the Bernese Oberland - although the scenes were actually set in Zell am See, Austria. Today, there is hardly any trace of the Hollywood parade of that time.
13.01.2026, 06:30
SDA
The time can just about be read from Untersee's Stadthausplatz, but it is getting foggy above the church spire. It is also bitterly cold on this December day. It's not the most pleasant moment to stand in front of the tourism museum and compare the view of the village center with a 25-year-old film scene.
When Simon Margot, a retired teacher and former mayor of Unterseen, stood in the same spot with his school class back in 2000 and watched the filming of "Band of Brothers", it was sunny and warm. A souvenir photo that he had specially picked out shows the group with narrowed eyes and in short-sleeved T-shirts. You have to imagine the glowing excitement that his pupils felt from the inside out because they were the only ones allowed to pass the barrier tape, while all the other curious people had to stay behind it, says Margot.
Austria in the Bernese Oberland
There was great interest when 40 original military vehicles arrived alongside legendary director Steven Spielberg, actors such as Damien Lewis, David Schwimmer and Ron Livingston, a huge film crew and around 300 extras. Even the road signs were changed at the time, as Unterseen was not supposed to be recognizable as Unterseen in the series clip, but as Zell am See in Austria.
There was only one person who was not put off by the hustle and bustle surrounding "Band of Brothers". "The doctor with his practice overlooking the square refused to close his shutters on the day of filming," says Margot. The cameramen therefore had to film past his windows to the right and left.
The scene that was captured that day and featured in the last episode of the mini-series on the US pay TV channel HBO from 2001 was set in the summer of 1945. Shortly after Germany's surrender, the paratroopers of the US Easy Company of the 101st Airborne were stationed in Zell am See (or Unterseen) to spend the last weeks of the war there. The summery atmosphere was emphasized with another scene filmed on the lakeshore. It shows Major Richard Winters (Damien Lewis) jumping into the water with relish and swimming a few lengths.
Places in the movie and in reality
Not so long ago, the news platform Watson published an article about a revealing video by Christoph Aufgebauer. The German Youtuber traveled to all the filming locations of "Band of Brothers" in the Bernese Oberland and meticulously worked out which scenes can be assigned to which places. For example, it can be seen that only half of the swimming scene in question was filmed in Unterseen, i.e. in Lake Thun, and the other half from the perspective of Giessbach and therefore in Lake Brienz.
The video entitled "Band of Brothers - Filming Locations in Switzerland" also shows that the occupation of Berchtesgaden in southern Bavaria was filmed in Neuengasse in Interlaken, the arrival of the company in Austria in Schwanden and Hofstetten near Brienz and the scenes in the hotel in Zell am See in the Grandhotel Giessbach. It also shows that the locations still look pretty much the same today - apart from the Stadthausplatz in Unterseen. All but one of the trees under which the unit parked their vehicles in the film have disappeared. And instead of the military parade, the square is now lined with parking lots.
Although the Bernese Oberland served as a backdrop for Bavaria and Austria in "Band of Brothers", a report on swissinfo.ch on September 3, 2000, predicted a possible "tourist advertising effect" for the region. Today, it seems to have been forgotten that the region was featured in the successful multi-million production. There are no references to the series in Interlaken Tourism's current advertising material and no specific offers, location visits or guided tours are available.
The Grandhotel Giessbach, which has already appeared in several international film productions, does not disclose any internal company information in connection with filming, as the marketing department stated on request. Which at least suggests that "Band of Brothers" is not being used for advertising purposes there either.
From film to club
Although "Band of Brothers" has not had a lasting effect on tourism in the Bernese Oberland, the series has changed one man's life. Andreas Reinhard from Konolfingen, who has always been interested in the history of the Second World War, saw the series in 2002. "I was gripped by the brotherhood it was about," he says in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. It even inspired him to invite a group of friends on a trip to Normandy, an important place in the history of Easy Company. Without telling them the destination, he set off with ten men on an "adventure trip" lasting several days.
The time with friends, the conversations, the feeling of camaraderie conveyed in the series, which had suddenly emerged in his life, led Reinhard to found an association. Today, the "Band of Brothers" has around thirty male members, continues to travel regularly to historical battlefields and is now even on friendly terms with the descendants of the real Easy Company veterans. The name "Band of Brothers" is the program, says Reinhard. "For 17 years, we have been creating new adventures that create a bond."
From Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg
"Band of Brothers" is a ten-part HBO series from 2001. Co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the war drama tells the story of the Second World War from the perspective of Easy Company, a real-life US paratrooper unit.
"With production costs of 125 million dollars, "Band of Brothers" was the most expensive mini-series produced for television to date. It was awarded six Emmys and a Golden Globe, among other accolades.
Based on the book of the same name by historian Stephen Ambrose, it follows the soldiers from 1942 to 1945, from their tough training to missions in Normandy, the Ardennes and Germany.
The series attempts to shed light on the psychological and moral conflicts from the perspective of ordinary soldiers. The makers have also committed themselves to historical accuracy. This is reflected, for example, in the fact that real veterans appear at the beginning of each episode and were also involved in the production.
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg had already worked together on the Oscar-winning film "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), Hanks as actor in the leading role and Spielberg as director.
*This text by Miriam Margani was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
