60 years ago, 88 people died after glacier collapse in Valais

According to the National Museum in Zurich, it was one of the biggest disasters in Swiss construction history. The museum is currently dedicating a video installation to the construction of dams in Switzerland and is also focusing on the Mattmark construction site in the Saas Valley in Valais.

56 Italians, 23 Swiss, four Spaniards and five people from other countries died in the disaster. It was mainly migrant workers who built the dam at almost 2,200 meters above sea level. Two million cubic meters collapsed. Ice cones piled up to 50 meters high in places on the construction site.

The disaster is still remembered 60 years after the event: A commemorative event will be held at the Mattmark reservoir on Saturday. The bishops of Sion and Belluno-Feltre I will lead a memorial service. After speeches, a memorial wreath will be laid.

The President of the Valais State Council, Mathias Reynard, will be present, as will Italy's opposition leader Elly Schlein and other public officials. The organizing committee Mattmark 2025 also invited to a round table discussion on accident prevention and another commemorative ceremony in Naters VS on Friday.

"A turning point in the history of Switzerland"

Ten years ago, Toni Ricciardi told the media that the Mattmark disaster was a turning point in the history of Switzerland and in the history of migration. On the 50th anniversary of the disaster, the Geneva researcher and his co-authors presented a socio-historical analysis of the 1965 catastrophe.

After the glacier collapse, a debate arose in Switzerland and Europe about the fate of the migrants, the authors wrote in the book "Mattmark, August 30, 1965: The catastrophe". In the 1960s, open racism towards Italians was the order of the day in Switzerland.

Mattmark led to an "awakening", another of the Geneva authors, Sandro Cattacin, told the media at the time. The "foreign workers" who had suffered accidents were suddenly perceived as people who aroused compassion and deserved compensation.

The working conditions of the guest workers also became an issue - according to the National Museum, they worked 59 hours a week, including Sundays and public holidays. After the accident, solidarity campaigns were organized by trade unions and Swiss Solidarity collected 2.3 million francs.

There was great outrage among the relatives of the victims when a court in Visp VS acquitted all 17 defendants in 1972. They included engineers and directors of the Elektrowatt company and two employees of the Swiss Accident Insurance Fund Suva. The plaintiffs' families had to pay half of the legal costs. A thousand people demonstrated in Geneva after the verdict.

Blatten did better

The demolition of the Birch Glacier above Blatten VS in May of this year showed how essential professional monitoring of the mountains is, writes the National Museum in its press release from this week. Blatten's residents were evacuated. One person died.

At Saas-Almagell, there was no monitoring of the Allalin Glacier and warnings were thrown to the wind, as it was said ten years ago.

The video installation at the National Museum in Zurich will be showing and hearing testimonies from witnesses to the Mattmark disaster until the beginning of November. For example, a woman from Upper Valais talks about the death of her father and uncle and a seasonal worker from Italy talks about working on the construction site.