The Open Book

ys'c Yves Schumacher Communications

A new phase of professional life

Authoring books and articles, giving lectures and curating exhibitions.

ys'c – Then and Now

The company “ys’c – Yves Schumacher Communications Ltd. liab. Co” – no longer exists. I formally dissolved it upon retiring at age of 78.

Today, “Yves Schumacher Communications” (now without Ltd. liab. Co) is still going strong. It continues to communicate with the same spirit of engagement.

Current focus

My current offer focuses on publishing services. Preferably for subject areas that have been close to my heart since my youth: art, history, ethnology and natural history.

I am always open to commissions for journalistic work and exhibitions, provided they correspond to my areas of interest and allow me to draw on my training and professional experience.

I remain open to collaboration with non-profit cultural and humanitarian organizations.

Experience in the NGO sector

Founding member and long-standing member of the board of directors of the Swiss foundation “Aids &Child”, which was internationally committed to helping children affected by AIDS. Direct aid to children affected by HIV/AIDS. The foundation focused on direct aid. As medical progress advanced, the foundation was dissolved and its assets transferred to “SolidarMed” , a humanitarian organization.

From 2012 onward, I served to the steering committee of “Noma-Hilfe-Schweiz”, an association co-founded with Bertram Piccard, Peter Junker, and Ernst Notz. The organization is still continues to support children in the sub-Saharan region suffering from Noma, a disfiguring bacterial disease.
→ www.noma-hilfe.ch

I was also part of the founding committee of the “Wett-Stein-Haus”, which sought to preserve and sell a limestone house created by sculptor Dieter Wettstein (1959–2009). For this work, the artist transformed more than 200 tons of limestone into cut stones, often decorated with filigree patterns. After successfully completing its mission, the association was dissolved.

My network

Many of my former colleagues are now retired, so my network has inevitably narrowed. Nevertheless, I continue to work with graphic designers, translators, and attorneys. For complex tasks, I call on experts in their respective fields.

Yves H. Schumacher's professional background

As the owner of a public relations company, I offered my clients a full range of traditional services:

Strategic communications consulting

  • Development of communication strategies and PR concepts
  • Positioning of companies, brands, and personalities
  • Crisis communication and issue management
  • Stakeholder and target group analysis

Media relations

  • Writing and distribution of press releases
  • Establishing and maintaining press contacts
  • Organization and support for press conferences, interviews, etc.
  • Media resonance analysis (press review, monitoring)

Content creation & storytelling

  • Writing of specialist articles
  • Development and implementation of storytelling formats
  • Production of content for websites, newsletters, white papers, etc.
  • Ghostwriting

Internal communication

  • Development of internal communication strategies
  • Support for change processes (mergers, cultural change)
  • Writing of internal magazines, intranet content, newsletters

Exhibitions

  • For two decades, I served as Managing Director of the Zurich Museum Association. As part of this role, I launched the “Long Night of Zurich Museums.” I also curated numerous exhibitions on cultural history and art.

Examples

Alpine Scents at the “Forum of Swiss History”, Schwyz
Alpine Panoramas at the “Forum of Swiss History”, Schwyz
3D Paper Art at the “Shanghai Arts and Craft Museum”, PRC
yellow! The exhibition of a color at the ”Gelbe Haus", Flims

Journalism

  • Regular contributor to daily newspapers and the Swiss trade journal Kunst+Stein (Arts+Stone).

Publications

The following books reflect my thematic interests and writing style. Each title demonstrates my curiosity and commitment to exploring lesser-known topics. Whether they are historical narratives, cultural reflections, or documentary research, my books embody an approach that is both rigorous and accessible.

I do not sell my books myself. I leave that task to bookstores. The works available there are marked with a light bulb in the bibliography below. Some out-of-print books are available at secondhand bookstores and libraries. I have marked them with an hourglass . You can find these books on websites such as https://www.zvab.com oder https://kvk.bibliothek.kit.edu.

Selected Titles

Cultural studies and documentary essays:
  • Following in the Footsteps of the Anabaptists in Switzerland: a Travel Guide.
  • Ein Sklave aus dem Entlebuch – historical novel about piracy, religion, and navigation
    in the Mediterranean.
  • Die Motteneierzählung – a botanical and entomological adventure in Australia.
  • Leonhard Thurneysser – portrait of a Renaissance physician and alchemist.
  • Sklaven und Hofmohren – Africans in Europe between the 15th and 19th centuries.
  • Hofmohren und Kuriositätenkabinette. Exotism in German court culture – exotic worlds in German courts.
  • Nazis! Fascists! Fascisti! – Fascism in Switzerland (1918–1945).
  • Kunst am Himmel. Drachen über China – Chinese kite tradition.
Mythology and Folklore:
  • Tiermythen und Fabeltiere – animal myths in Switzerland.
  • Steinkultbuch Schweiz – guide to stone cults.
  • Es Härz wie ne Ankeballe – regional memoir on butter production.
Collective Works and Exhibition Catalogues:
  • Hofmohren und Kuriositätenkabinette. Fremd wahrgenommene Welten an
    nordwestdeutschen Höfen der frühen Neuzeit – court Blacks and cabinets of curiosities in northwestern Germany in the early modern period.
  • gelb! Die Ausstellung einer Farbe – monograph on the color yellow.
  • AIDS in Romania: The Indignity of the Nameless – social and medical memories of
    the commitment of the “Aids & Child” foundation for direct help to affected children in Romanian orphanages.
  • Q – commemorative document for the Swiss agronomic association SVAMH.

Bibliography

Please follow the links below for detailed reviews and images of selected works.

Yves H. Schumacher: Following in the Footsteps of the Anabaptists in Switzerland
A historical Travel Guide in English

Non fiction
Pandora Press Academic Inc. Hamilton, ON, Canada, 2025
ISBN-13 ; 978-1-77873-030-6
Available on Amazon via https://mybook.to/1jx1DHW
Book review: Accessible via the Amazon link

Yves H. Schumacher: Hofmohren und Kuriositätenkabinette. Fremd wahrgenommene Welten an nordwestdeutschen Höfen der frühen Neuzeit.

(Black attendants at European courts and cabinets of curiosities. Worlds perceived by outsiders at early modern courts in northwestern Germany). In: Henning Steinführer, Meike Buck (eds.): Aspekte des Kolonialen in der Geschichte von Niedersachsen und Bremen. (Aspects of colonialism in the history of Lower Saxony and Bremen.)
Nonfiction
Wallstein Publishers, Göttingen 2025
ISBN: 978–3–8353–5836–2

Yves H. Schumacher: Ein Sklave aus dem Entlebuch. Historischer Roman über Seeräuber, Religion und Schifffahrt.

(A Slave from Entlebuch. Historical novel about pirates, religion, and seafaring.)

Weber Verlag AG, Thun, 2024
ISBN: 978–3–905927–88–7

The novel weaves three narrative strands into a dazzling mosaic. It primarily tells the story of Andreas Stalder’s emigration from Flühli in Entlebuch to Venice, where he has bitter experiences as a galley rower. Privateers attack his ship and enslave him in Algiers. He is fortunate in his misfortune because he is well treated by his master. He overcomes his prejudices against Muslims and Jews, is freed, moves to the Moroccan pirate city of Salé as a ship’s draftsman, and marries.
The second, artfully woven narrative strand sheds light on the background to the armed conflicts between America and France and the Islamic Mediterranean states. Thirdly, the book offers a lesson in Mediterranean shipping, which Andreas Stalder and his son Idir experience at first hand.

Yves H. Schumacher: Nazis! Fascistes! Faschisti! Faschismus in der Schweiz. 1918-1945.

(Fascism in Switzerland 1918–1945.)

Nonfiction
First edition: Orell Füssli, Zurich
Revised new edition: Zocher & Peter Publishers, Zurich, 2022
ISBN-10: 3280056896
ISBN-13: 978–3280056899

When Mussolini seized power in Italy in October 1922, Hitler’s tyranny had not yet been established. A characteristic feature of Italian fascism was the absurdly constructed link between Mussolini’s rule and the glory of Roman antiquity. The mythological bond between the young Italy and the Roman Empire had already been established in the 19th century and served the state in particular to place European cultural heritage above “Oriental decadence” and thus legitimize colonialism as noble state behavior. Although fascist ideas did not have the same sources north of the Alps after the First World War, the first Italian fascist fervor was undoubtedly kindled in Latin Switzerland. It was not a uniform entity, but drew on various sources and had different regional characteristics. The representatives of the fascist movements in Switzerland were united in their contempt for democratic processes and their intention to rule the state with an iron fist.

Yves Schumacher: Die Motteneierzählung

(The Moth Egg Story)
Ecological Novel
Zocher & Peter Publishers, Zurich, 2022
ISBN: 978–3–907159–43–9

This is the bizarre life story of the Bohemian botanist and cactus collector Stanislaus Kurz. Fate took him to Australia, where his life took a dramatic turn. He joined the fight against the cactus plague that ravaged Queensland and parts of New South Wales in the 1920s, overgrowing the land with an impenetrable thicket of about twenty-four million hectares. The invasive weeds mainly consisted of two species of introduced prickly pear cacti. These plants, which belong to the Opuntia genus, were successfully eradicated by a small South American cactus moth called Cactoblastis cactorum. Its larvae burrow into the opuntias and eat them from the inside out. Stanislaus Kurz monitored the insects in a quarantine station and calculated the number of eggs required for the campaign. Hundreds of Australians then spread millions of moth eggs in the cactus desert. Within ten years, the caterpillars destroyed ninety percent of the population. This is the story of the world’s first large-scale ecological pest control campaign. It shows that there are natural alternatives to the use of pesticides. The book will appeal to succulent plant enthusiasts and fans of Australia as well as readers interested in new cultural history.

Yves H. Schumacher: Sklaven und Hofmohren. Afrikaner in Europa zwischen dem 15. und 19. Jahrhundert.

(Slaves and Black attendants at European courts. Africans in Europe between the 15th and 19th centuries).
Nonfiction
Zocher & Peter Publishers, Zurich 2021
ISBN: 978907159323

Europe and Africa are linked not only by the history of slavery, but also by the way in which the European aristocracy exploited Black people. On a large scale, the slave trade was a transatlantic mass business. In contrast, the European continent was more of a highly segmented niche market for slave traders. While slaves were so popular on the Iberian Peninsula as laborers and objects of prestige that breeding stations were operated, the rule in France was that anyone who crossed the border was free. In the colonies, however, slaves were indispensable — a divided sense of justice that is still evident today, for example in commodity companies. Slaves were raw materials, things. Even in the 1840s, the US Supreme Court could not bring itself to recognize Black people as human beings – they remained objects and property. Beautiful Black slaves were coveted by German aristocrats as a sign of sophistication. Princes liked to give each other Black children as gifts. Only a few lucky ones managed to climb the social ladder: Amo, a Ghanaian, became a professor of philosophy. Angelo Soliman, believed to be from northern Nigeria, rose to become a chamberlain to the archduke and a Freemason in Vienna. Finally, the African Hannibal became chief engineer of the Russian army under Peter the Great.
Yves Schumacher tells stories and history about the terrible relationship between the exploitation of humans by humans.

Yves Schumacher, Carmen Gasser Derungs (Eds.): gelb!.

(yellow! The book accompanying the exhibition on a color)
Nonfiction, edited collection
Das Gelbe Haus Flims, Flims 2016
Available from: Das Gelbe Haus Flims, Via Nova 60, 7017 Flims Dorf,
+41 81 936 74 14, info@dasgelbehausflims.ch
https://www.dasgelbehausflims.ch/de/publikationen
ISBN: 9783033056831

For the French painter Paul Cézanne, colors were real concepts and pure entities of thought with which he could interact.
In this book, eighteen authors allow themselves to be guided by lively reflections and considerations on the color yellow, illuminating its many facets. They use a palette that includes all shades, from delicate beige-yellow to sunny corn yellow. Together, they paint a shimmering picture oscillating between cultural history and magic, fashion, and technology

Yves Schumacher: Leonhard Thurneysser. Arzt – Alchemist – Abenteurer

(Leonhard Thurneysser. Physician – Alchemist – Adventurer)
Römerhof Verlag, Zurich 2012
ISBN-10: 3905894114 / ISBN-13: 978–3905894110

Leonhard Thurneysser (1531–1596) is a Renaissance phenomenon. Born in Basel, he was a goldsmith, mercenary, mineralogist, alchemist, doctor, pharmacist, astronomer, moneylender, writer, and publisher.
After a restless life of extensive research trips, he became personal physician to Elector Georg Friedrich of Brandenburg and built up Berlin’s first large-scale enterprise. Thurneyssers reputation as a powerful alchemist soon spread to all the princely courts and brought him immense wealth. As meteoric as his social rise in Berlin was, his fall in Basel was just as dramatic.
Completely embittered, he died in Cologne in 1596, where he was buried by Dominican monks in the monastery “ad latus” Albertus Magnus.

Yves Schumacher; Andrea Fanconi: AIDS in Romania: The Indignity of the Nameless

In: Carol Bellamy , Jean Zermatten (eds.), Peter G. Kirchschläger et al.: Realising the Rights of the Child
Swiss Human Rights Book, Vol. 2

Rüffer & Rub, Zürich, 2007
ISBN/EAN: 9783907625347

Yves Schumacher, Andrea Fanconi: AIDS in Romania: The Indignity of the Nameless. in: Carol Bellamy, Jean Zermatten, Peter G. Kirchschläger et al.: Realizing The Rights of the Child.

The rights of the child protect children and ensure that every child has the opportunity to live a life of dignity and worth. Children are human beings and complete persons, not things or commodities. Most violations of children’s rights stem from treating children as objects that can be owned, bought, sold, used, and abused at will. In this book, leading experts address the main issues surrounding the implementation of children’s rights. The various important contributions address different cultural and historical contexts and explore different perspectives on this pressing issue.

Yves Schumacher: Markenartikel mit Fleisch am Knochen. (Branded products with meat on the bone.)

In: Anne Burger-Liebrich (Editor) ; Yves Schumacher (Co-Editor / Concept) : Q. Q wie Kuh, Q wie Qualität, Q wie Quer. Ein Zeitdokument zum 25-jährigen Bestehen der Schweizerischen Vereinigung der Ammen und Mutterkuhhalter (SVAMH), Brugg. (A contemporary document on the 25th anniversary of the Swiss Association of Wet Nurses and Suckler Cow Farmers (SVAMH), Brugg.

Anthology
SVAMH, Brugg 2002

Yves Schumacher: Tiermythen und Fabeltiere. Mythologische Streifzüge durch die Tierwelt der Schweiz. (Animal myths and mythical creatures. Mythological excursions through the animal world of Switzerland.)

Edition Amalia, Bern, 2001
ISBN 10: 3905581159 / ISBN 13: 9783905581157

Yves Schumacher: Tiermythen und Fabeltiere. Mythologische Streifzüge durch die Tierwelt der Schweiz. (Animal myths and mythical creatures. Mythological excursions through the animal world of Switzerland).

Dangerous glass dogs, flying cats, and singing bees. Alongside them are dog-headed humans, witches in fox form, and men who transform into werewolves. “Animal Myths and Mythical Creatures” brings together countless traditions from all regions of the country to form a holistic picture. Yves Schumacher unfurls a colorful tapestry that reaches back to prehistoric times and interweaves legends from all regions of the country with historical facts. The result is a dazzling cultural history of the relationship between humans and animals. It is both an amusing and frightening reflection of how we treat animals.

Yves Schumacher: Steinkultbuch Schweiz. Ein Führer zu Kultsteinen und Steinkulten. (Stone Cult Book Switzerland. A guide to cult stones and stone cults.)

Nonfiction
Edition Amalia, Bern, 1998
ISBN: 978–3–905581–06–5

Yves Schumacher: Steinkultbuch Schweiz. Ein Führer zu Kultsteinen und Steinkulten. (Stone Cult Book Switzerland. A guide to cult stones and stone cults).

The fascinating stone structures in Malta, Brittany, Ireland and England are well known to everyone. These sites have been popular tourist destinations for years. But what about stone cults closer to home? Are there sites in Switzerland and the surrounding area that are associated with ancient stone cults? This book aims to answer this question and others like it by providing an accessible overview of the stone cult in Switzerland. It presents the most important sites and locations, as well as describing lesser-known finds and traces. It also contains explanatory references to sites outside Switzerland, particularly in the Alpine region, and features selected photographs taken by the author during his research. What lies ahead is an accessible and inspiring read that will enable you to discover your own cult sites.

Yves Schumacher: Es Härz wie ne Ankeballe. (Dialect quote from the Bernese writer Jeremias Gotthelf. Free translation: “A heart like a lump of butter.”)

A contemporary document about butter production in the Emmental region.
Nonfiction. (Commissioned work).
Self-published, Butterzentrale Burgdorf, 1992
ISBN: Not applicable.

Yves Schumacher: Kunst am Himmel. Drachen über China. (Art in the sky. Kites over China).

Nonfiction
Herold Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Vienna, Munich, 1986
ISBN: ISBN: 3–7008–0316–8

Yves Schumacher: Kunst am Himmel. Drachen über China. (Art in the sky. Kites over China). At the beginning of the 1980s, the author observed and photographed the lively tradition of Chinese kite art on site. Yves Schumacher explains what led to it, how it developed and spread to other continents, including Europe, as well as the construction, characteristics and poetry of individual kite types. They mediate between dream and art, history and the present.

Contact

I am based in Zurich and work in German, French, Italian, and English. I look forward to hearing from you.