Information and data on military staff

The Swiss Federal Archives do not maintain any personnel lists of the Swiss Army. That is why you will rarely find any documents here to help you search for former fellow soldiers from recruit school or refresher courses.

The archive inventory in brief

Former military staff can usually research their own military career information in the deleted data of the personnel information system of the army (PISA). Anyone wishing to view their own information must submit an access application. Please send this, together with a copy of your valid ID, to [e-mail]. The Federal Archives also contain some documents relating to officers and their aptitude for a military career, for instance in the fonds of the Division for Adjutancy (1926-1977) or the later Federal Office for Adjutancy (1862-1995). A few documents also exist in the private archives of officers (cp. also the source fonds of Swiss military history (PDF, 1 MB, 13.08.2008), Vol.1, p. 295-337) and the fonds of women in ancillary or military service, for instance in the Women's Ancillary Army Service fonds (1939-1980).

You can also find additional documents on the subject in section 542 “Large Units and Formations” and section 543 “Personnel issues, supervision and special services” of the fonds overview, for instance in the fonds Personelles der Armee (1950-2006), Untergruppe Personelles der Armee (1814-2001), 1. Armeekorps (1939-1945), Feldarmeekorps 1 (1931-2003), Gebirgsarmeekorps 3 (1908-2004), Panzerbrigade 1 (1936-2003).

• Quellenbestände zur schweizerischen Militärgeschichte Band 1

  PDF1.56 MB11 May 2026

Tips for further research

• National Conference of Military Associations (ger): an organisation recognised by the DDPS. Provides information on military associations
• Swiss NCO Association (ger): interesting links on the subject.