The Fifth Switzerland puzzle: 1/800 000
Puzzle
- Puzzle
Marcus Deiss, Zambia
14.07.2026
The “Fifth Switzerland” is a colourful, varied and multilingual puzzle with well over 800,000 pieces. Today’s puzzle piece is ...
… Marcus Deiss, born in 1973, an ICT/B2B adviser and author who has been living in Zambia since 2022. Deiss writes books that explore landscapes, cultural identity and the stories of places. His work includes the three-volume series “Timeless Switzerland”.
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What does ‘homeland’ mean to you?
Home to me is not a fixed place but a feeling of familiarity. It is the moment when landscape, language and behaviour need no explanation – they are simply understood.
Is it possible to have several homelands?
Yes. Home is where you live, take responsibility and build relationships. Switzerland is where my roots are – Zambia is the place I currently choose to call home.
What is it like for you being connected to more than one country?
It creates distance – but also gives clarity. You begin to see differences more clearly and question what you used to take for granted. This perspective has a direct influence on my writing.
What relationship do you have with Switzerland?
A calm and consistent one. It manifests itself less in the day-to-day and more in how I see the landscape in which I live, and in my view of orderliness and cultural structures. Many things about a place only become apparent when you no longer live there.
What do you miss the most about or from Switzerland?
How the whole country is easily accessible. The proximity between lakes, cities and mountains – and that everywhere is well connected as a matter of course.
Has your attitude to (Swiss) traditions changed since you emigrated?
Yes, I have become more aware of them. Distance makes traditions less self-evident but more important at the same time.
Which Swiss values does your family consciously uphold?
Reliability, structure, and a certain restraint. Going through with things without fuss.
When I think about Switzerland …
… no single image comes to mind, but a succession of landscapes and moods. It is precisely this interplay between places, memories and identity that I try to reflect in my work.
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