Does anyone know how to find someone in Switzerland? I don’t have many details at all but he’s my uncle on my mums side and when my mum passed we lost touch. As it’s been so long I don’t even know if he’s alive but I have no idea how to go about finding him. Can anyone help please? Thanks Claire
If he is/was Swiss, you can get in touch with his Heimatort, (same as your mother’s before marriage).
It will probably throw up a number of hits if your uncle has a common name but you could try Swiss phone directory - search.ch.
Rather useless these days since the original “Festanschlüsse” (home phone connections) are abandonned, most people have mobiles only and even more don’t want their address/phonenumbers registered anymore.
As bluntside said I’d go for the “Heimatort”, it is mentioned on the birth certificate (also in the passport if the mother still had a Swiss one). Or the church where the family lived and probably the kids were baptised.
Or to the Swiss embassy where ever Claire lives. If the mother was Swiss she might even have been registered there which could make things easier.
Dataprotection is big in Switzerland and rightly so, it won’t be an easy task.
If you were in touch with this uncle while your mother still lived, maybe there are old letters (=address) around.
All this assumes that they are actually Swiss, the uncle could be a foreigner like many of us are who just happens to live in Switzerland.
Without knowing their nationality it’s difficult to give useful information.
I agree but from what I understand, it sounds like the uncle is perhaps from the older generation who may still keep a landline, and have an entry in the phone book. It was more in the hope of giving her another lead to follow.
If she was searching for a younger person then, nah, deffo not in the phone book with a landline… 
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yep, did not cross my mind. Depending on where Claire comes from, the uncle could be a “sans papier” who does not want to be found through official channels.
Apart from going through official cantonal office, If you can’t google it, try next month… rinse and repeat. I couldn’t find current address of my family in France, but one day google gave me a picture of the small obituary ads from local paper.