Urs Zürcher's Novel 'Verschwinden' Revisits 1989 Chur Arson Attack

Swiss author Urs Zürcher's latest novel, 'Verschwinden' (Disappear), published by Bilgerverlag (320 pages), investigates the radicalization of individuals through the lens of a real crime: the arson attack on an asylum shelter in Chur on July 2, 1989, which killed four Tamil refugees. The perpetrators were never caught. Zürcher, born in Steinhausen in 1963, is known for his previous novels 'Überwintern' and 'Begehren', which also explore themes of radicalization and group dynamics leading to violence. In 'Verschwinden', the author himself appears as a character, prompted by the discovery of a human skeleton in a construction pit near Basel to research the cold case. He imagines three possible perpetrators from different backgrounds, tracing their youth, descent into the right-wing extremist milieu, and attempts to escape it. The novel weaves their individual life stories with four decades of contemporary history, avoiding black-and-white portrayals and easy moralizing. Zürcher's prose is noted for its urgency and psychological depth, though he has not achieved widespread success beyond a core group of admirers. The novel is reviewed in the NZZ am Sonntag, highlighting its dual narrative levels and its engagement with the question of how people become radicalized.