The silent forest by Monica Subietas

About the book

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” —Søren Kierkegaard.

The debut in fiction by the Spanish-Swiss journalist Mónica Subietas (Barcelona, ​​1971) is a narrative surprise: in a complex plot of suspense, the author speaks of the plundering and mass trafficking of art during the Second World War, of a dark period in the history of Switzerland whose consequences reach to our days, of numbered and dormant accounts, of the importance of making peace with the past, of loyalty, betrayal, friendship and love..

“The forest in silence It is a story of the present

who comes to review the past; a crime that happened in 2011 but whose cause dates back to 1938.”

Although the original manuscript is in Spanish, The forest in silence It was published in German and Polish before its original language. In Germany it is in its 2nd edition.
(10,000 copies the first, 15,000 the second).

• The author thus explains the origin of The forest in silence:

“When I moved to Switzerland I wanted to know the history of the country and I came across the Bergier Report, the report of aindependent commission of experts directed by the historian Jean-François Bergier, which the Federal Government commissioned to investigate Switzerland’s controversial role during World War II. The commission had full access to any required documentation. I was surprised that a country was capable of reviewing its past with such a level of rigor and then decided to apologize as needed. This decision did not open old wounds in Swiss society, on the contrary, it served to heal many wounds; it was an antidote to resentment. The data from the Bergier Report were the seed for this novel.”

What account The forest in silence

Zurich, 2009. Gottfried Messmer (56) is the owner of the Kafi (Café) Glück, a place with a mixed crowd and an eclectic decor closely linked to the life of its owner; a place where you can listen to good music and serve ice-cold beer. Gottfried’s present world is calm; It comes down to your business, your partner Julia Vogelits customers and its employees. His past, on the other hand, accumulates tragedies: His father committed suicide when Gottfried was a child, his mother died as soon as he came of age, and his wife and son died in a tragic accident.

Gottfried’s past and present come together the day he receives an unexpected inheritance from his father, Hermann Messmer.deposited in a safe deposit box in a Swiss bank. Inside, Gottfried finds a cane and a letter. The cane hides in the shaft a small but valuable canvas entitled Waldinneres (Inside the forest)an early work by Gustav Klimt. The letter, written by his father in 1960, This forces him to find the rightful owner of the work and the cane, a Jew whom Hermann helped to enter Switzerland illegally in 1942. and who, shortly after crossing the border, disappears without leaving any trace of his fate.

Gottfried’s search will lead to an emotional exploration of his own past and that of his father, whom he barely knew. The canvas will also be the reason for a latent dispute between several characters that is never free of tension, greed and suspense.

This is how we entered the history of the work Waldinneres. The (real) existence of this painting – and its appearance in Gottfried’s life – serves as an excuse to revisit some facts of World War II, especially a little-known decision by “neutral” Switzerland: Between 1942 and 1944 the country closed its borders to Jews fleeing Nazi barbarism. Citizens who defied the government’s decision and helped Jews enter the country illegally were socially isolated and even tried and convicted of treason.

But above all, Waldinneres It is the author’s pretext to address with skill and meticulousness one of the central themes of the book: art plundered by the Hitler regime; More than 600,000 works were stolen from their owners or bought at ridiculous prices by supporters of the regime and then sold to finance Nazi propaganda and the war. Many of them are still part of private collections and museum funds around the world.and continue to be trafficked on the black art market.

The hooks: from a recent crime to a conflictive historical past

Divided into three blocks – titled Past, Present y Future–, The forest in silence has in its original and rich narrative structure one of the main attractions for the reader. The text moves in a period of seven decades, between 1938 and 2011The deep connections between the characters of the three time blocks are revealed in small doses throughout the novel.

With an agile and very visual narrative, full of points that the reader must connect, Mónica Subietas uses ellipses and timely jumps between past and present to develop a plot that begins in 2011 with a crime: The painter Max Müller appears seriously injured in his Zurich studio, after having been attacked with the nail gun he uses to mount the frames of his works. From there, the reader is immersed in a intriguing story to find out who tried to kill Max and why. The reason dates back to 1938when Jakob Sandler, an Austrian Jew, businessman and art collector, is forced to leave his country following the annexation of Austria by Hitler’s Germany.

Between both events The author deploys several subplots in a novel with a marked choral character, starring very different characters: Gabriel Baron, an old American millionaire and Lucas Steiner, an art dealer; Tony Bambougou, the cook and Valeria, the manager of Kafi Glück; Julia, Gottfried’s partner and an anonymous blackmailer who threatens them both. Even the writer James Joyce, buried in Zurich, has his place in a literary wink and very subtle that the author skillfully executes within the novel.

Women, Ada Messmer, Julia and Valeria, They are fundamental characters in the plot, because they are the ones who, With their decisions, they move the action forward and lead it to the outcome. History brings together large doses of psychologyin the construction of the characters and in their unconventional way of relating.

In the last part, entitled Future, The reader will attend the crime resolution with which the novel begins and also birth of a baby what supposes the final twist of a very elaborate plot.

The scenarios

• Zurich. Main setting of the novel. This is where Kafi Glück is located, where the various subplots come together. The author takes the reader through the streets, squares, avenues and places where the action takes place. All the characters from the present and the future, and many from the past, live in Zurich.

• New YorkIt is both a place of departure and arrival. This is where Lucas Steiner’s career as a gallery owner and art dealer begins. It is also the destination of Gabriel Baron, a fugitive from Nazi barbarism who met Jakob Sandler during his escape.

• Linz. Jakob Sandler’s residence until he is forced to flee Austria.

• Dominican RepublicThis country is part of Gottfried’s most tragic past.