Sixty years have gone by since the end of World War II, and the history of European psychiatry during this critical period is now well known. In the last 30 years, German academic research has uncovered the extent of psychiatric collaboration with the Nazi regime. In France, less research has taken place, but the fate of the mentally ill under the Vichy regime has attracted substantial media attention. Sandwiched between these two influential nations but protected by its neutrality and thus spared the full impact of World War II, Swiss psychiatry had an independent history: Although eugenics and psychiatric coercion existed, they were not particularly tied to the war period. Within the Swiss Confederation, Romandy (Suisse Romande) constitutes an important study location as it is homogeneous in its language, although divided by politics and religion. We focus on two areas: the influence of eugenics on the thinking of the medical elite in Romandy and on the conditions of life of patients living in what were then called psychiatric asylums. The asylum of Cery in the canton of Vaud is used as the main example. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)