It is a trick as simple as it is audacious. Instead of his mother fleeing East Germany illegally, all it takes is a forged passport at Prague Airport, recounts Thomas Strässle in “Fluchtnovelle”. An astounding story – the story of his own parents, who met and fell in love in Erfurt in 1965. She was from East Germany, he was Swiss. They wanted to spend the rest of their lives together but were separated by the Iron Curtain. The young couple began to look for a way for her to join him in the West – an illegal undertaking. But Strässle’s fatherto-be had an ingenious idea. He planned everything meticulously, even forging the necessary passport and passport stamp. But when the decisive moment came, the colour of the official border stamp unexpectedly changed from green to red. The plan would have failed without some quick thinking. Proof again that love overcomes everything – even between two people who still barely know each other. The author Hermann Burger first uncovered this story back in the 1970s. He recorded an interview with both of Strässle’s parents on cassette before writing about this encounter in an unpublished manuscript called “Fluchtliebe”. Strässle was able to use this recording when he found out about the story and began to do his own research. His book is not a novella in the strictest sense. Its title touches on what was a real-life drama. Strässle repeatedly quotes from legal material in Switzerland (forged passport) and East Germany (defection), combining the human story with more formal passages, which in turn are intertwined with dialogues between Strässle’s parents. A trip to the places where the events played out adds literary weight. The tension of this short story lies less in whether the plan succeeded – it did; the Swiss-born author is living proof of that – but in how it succeeded, placing it into a larger political context and recalling an era in which Europe was bitterly divided. BEAT MAZENAUER Beyond the border THOMAS STRÄSSLE: “Fluchtnovelle” Suhrkamp, Berlin 2024 124 pages, CHF 26.90 classical music hall in Brugg with outstanding acoustics and the appropriate infrastructure. Entrepreneur at heart, Bohren is not one to beg solely for public money. “Both the public and private sector need to get involved, in the right balance and to the right extent,” he says. “I see enormous potential” A major project like this will not simply happen on its own but depends on the persuasiveness and perseverance of individual people. “You will meet resistance on the way, so you need people with staying power to see the project through.” Bohren hesitates for a moment, but then he adds: “We need to think of what the canton of Aargau will be like in 50 years’ time. I see enormous potential.” Brugg very much appreciates its world-class violinist, who even gave an official address during the town’s Swiss National Day celebrations. The feeling is mutual. Bohren is proud to represent this small town and cement its place on the cultural map. He will continue to do his bit with as much business savvy as he has. Yet even he relies on cantonal money. And public funding is never a given. Bohren has shown that he can inspire people. He wants to grow Brugg Festival into one of Switzerland’s leading festivals. Fighting talk – and a breath of fresh air in a country more prone to understatement. CHRISTIAN BERZINS The 2025 Brugg Festival takes place at the beginning of September, with timings and line-up to be confirmed. Latest album: “In Evening Light”; Bohren/Munich Chamber Orchestra, Vasks and Schubert, Avie 2024 www.sebastianbohren.ch www.strettaconcerts.com 25 Swiss Review / January 2025 / No.1 Books
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