Swiss believers condemned to the galleys

The exhibit’s account of the mid-seventeenth century describes Anabaptists condemned to row galley ships in the Mediterranean and other coastal waters. Forced labor separated believers from their homes and congregations and exposed them to grueling punishment. A change in the form of punishment did not mean that liberty of conscience had been granted.

This history belongs beside the later accounts of confiscation, secret meetings, and expulsion from Bern. Together they explain why the movement’s story includes both steadfast worship under pressure and migration in search of refuge. The panel gives no individual prisoners’ names for this episode; specific lives should be added from identified prison, church, or Martyrs’ Mirror accounts rather than assigned to unnamed figures in the painting.