It would take a keen observer to notice that life in the village has evolved in recent decades: a new road and bus stop are evidence of Thommen’s improved infrastructural links with the outside world. Where a telephone pole once stood, there is now an electricity pylon. The village cemetery also appears to have been relocated.
The two pictures conceal the fact that behind the façades, even in a village society, many developments have taken place: Probably the most influential development in rural life over the last few decades, and especially since 1970, has been the widespread death of farms, which has completely restructured the social and economic life of rural areas.
Source image: Postcard collection Kurt Andres (private archive)