Trudi Gerster (6September 191927April 2013) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

actress,

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

and politician.

Education and early life

Prior to attending school, Gerster was already well-educated and literate. As a student, she entertained her classmates by narrating her favourite fairy tales. Following her graduation from the gymnasium, she performed in several plays, singing and acting, while taking rhetoric lessons in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Around this time, she had been offered an education in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, but her father did not support the idea of Gerster studying in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

due to the growing influence of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. In 1939, she was employed as a fairy tale narrator at the

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

Children's Paradise of the . Her performance received wide acclaim, and in the following year she was employed by the National Swiss radio station SR DRS.

Professional career

While working as a fairy tale narrator, Gerster made extensive use of the

LP record The LP (from long playing or long play) is an Analog recording, analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of revolutions per minute, rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use ...

a new medium at the time. She learnt new techniques so that she could adapt her voice to a multitude of characters through a variety of vocal ranges. She performed all of her characters' sounds and would rehearse all of the squeaks, grunts and hums specific to them. In 1941, Gerster received a contract as a "young naive" at the Theater St. Gallen and was a member of the ensemble until 1946. She then married Walter Jenny and moved to Basel. When her daughter was born in 1950, she adapted her professional life and focused once again on fairy tales. From 1950 onward, she moderated a children's program for the radio station DRS 1. As some opponents tried to ban her from the state radio, it caused fierce resistance by her listeners, whose protests were more successful than her opponents. She also appeared as a guest on the Swiss TV soap opera '' Lüthi and Blanc'' in 2005. Her last public appearance, at over 90 years of age, was in

Fribourg or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...

Political career

After Basel allowed women to take part in political life in 1966, she became a member of the Grand Council of Basel in 1968, which she stayed until 1980. She was elected as an independent in 1968, the first elections of the council which allowed women to run. She later joined the

Alliance of Independents The Alliance of Independents, Ring of Independents, or National Ring of Independents, (, , ) was a social liberal political party in Switzerland that existed between 1936 and 1999. History of the party Formation Gottlieb Duttweiler – the ...

. She advocated for the abolition of

nuclear power plants A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power s ...

, the protection of trees, and supported initiatives related to cultural affairs. Due to her proficiency in public speaking, her speeches in parliament were often acclaimed.

Personal life

Gerster married Walter Jenny in 1946. They had two children, a son and a daughter.

Legacy

Trudi Gerster was well known amongst the general public and by the early 1970s has recorded over fifty LP's. But she also performed in cafes or warehouses and often disguised as a fairy lady. The Swiss actor and talk show moderator

Viktor Giacobbo Viktor Giacobbo (born 6 February 1952) is a Swiss writer, comedian and actor. Life After school in Winterthur, he made an apprenticeship as a typesetter. Afterwards, he was a corrector, reader and media documentalist. Initially, he was an a ...

described her as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

for fairy tales in the Swiss-german region. In 2009, the film ''Trudi Gerster– Die Märlikönigin'' (Trudi Gerster–Fairy Tale Queen) was released.

Awards

* 2005

Prix Walo The Prix Walo is a Swiss award given for showbusiness. Awards since 1994 Honorable - Walo - awards * 1983: Charly Fritsche * 1991: Eynar Grabowsky * 1992: Willi Schmidt, First Harmonic Brass Band * 1993: Caterina Valente, Ettore Cella * 1994: ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerster, Trudi 1919 births People from St. Gallen (city) 20th-century Swiss women politicians 20th-century Swiss politicians 1993 deaths Fairy tales Swiss-German people Swiss German language 20th-century Swiss actresses 21st-century Swiss actresses