I am reading Urs Widmer’s autobiography “Reise an den Rand des Universums” (journey to the end of the universe) with great interest (review in the NZZ here). In a strange way, his account is like a distorted and reverted echo of my own upbringing with a gap of two generations. Whereas I live most of the time now close to the place where he grew up (Widmer on the Bruderholz, a “good” neighbourhood in the south of Basel, me in the Gundelingen, the district that lies a the foot of the Bruderholz), I grew up where he moved later (in Riehen). On the first 100pages Widmer shares with us his upcoming in Basel during the Second World War. Then, what feels superfluous at first read, but gets clearer later, he starts reflecting on the role of Switzerland during Word War II. And at the end of his prologue a name pops up: Mr. Bührle (Emil Georg Bührle). “The cannons which Mr. Bührle had exported to Germany, didn’t make the man poor”, Widmer writes sarcastically.* Every time you are looking at one of those beautiful pictures of the Bührle collection in the Kunsthalle Zurich you should reflect on the cannons of Mr. Bührle.**
* What Widmer does not mention is the fact that some of the Bührle anti-aircraft guns that had been ordered by Nazi Germany hadn’t be delivered when the war ended. They were later sold to Biafra and were used in the war of secession of that province from Nigeria (1967-1970).
** If you want to know more about the controversy around the Bührle collection read the article by professor Robert Kopp in the magazine Neuland (in French).