The suspicion (Dürrenmatt)

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The suspicion is a novel by Friedrich Dürrenmatt , which appeared from September 1951 to February 1952 as a serial in the weekly newspaper Der Schweizerische Beobachter . It is the continuation of the novel Der Richter und seine Henker , which appeared in the same magazine the previous year, and takes place around the turn of the year 1948/49.

action

Commissioner Hans Bärlach, at the end of his police career and suffering from cancer , is recovering from an operation in the Salem hospital. There he witnessed how his friend, the doctor Samuel Hungertobel, turned pale and slightly nervous when he saw a photo in Life magazine . The person pictured is said to be the German doctor Nehle, who carried out cruel operations on prisoners in the Stutthof concentration camp near Danzig without anesthetizing them and killed himself in 1945. Hungertobel finally declares that he found a great similarity between Nehle and his fellow student Fritz Emmenberger, who allegedly stayed in Chile during the war.

Bärlach finally suspects that Nehle and Emmenberger have either swapped roles or must be one and the same person. He checks Interpol documents and medical articles from Nehle and Emmenberger that were published in Chile at the time. A well-known Bärlachs, the Jew Gulliver, was a victim of the doctor in the Stutthof concentration camp. During a visit to the hospital room, he talks about these experiences while they drink through the night together. Most likely, Bärlach then appears that Emmenberger committed the crimes in the concentration camp under Nehle's name, returned to Switzerland after the war and now runs the Sonnenstein private clinic near Zurich undisturbed . He had this suspicion published by the journalist Fortschig in his newspaper "Apfel Schuss" and went to Emmenberger's clinic as a patient under the false name of Kramer in the hope of being able to put Emmenberger under psychological pressure until he would betray himself. Emmenberger actually turns out to be the culprit, but Bärlach's plan does not work, because weakened as he is and trapped in the clinic, Bärlach loses all control over the situation. Emmenberger proves to be completely unscrupulous and is supported by absolutely devoted employees. Bärlach learns that he had Fortschig killed and is now planning to eliminate Bärlach by means of one of his cruel operations. But at the last moment Gulliver intervenes by killing Emmenberger. With Gulliver's help, Bärlach escapes from the Sonnenstein clinic and is brought back to Bern by his friend Hungertobel .

Interpretative approaches

Like Dürrenmatt's first novel about Commissioner Bärlach, The Judge and His Executioner , The Suspicion does not end with the police imprisonment or judicial conviction of the perpetrator, but with his killing. Of the regular criminal and legal methods, Emmenberger (like not a few National Socialist criminals) remains completely unchallenged until the end. Bärlach's confrontation with Emmenberger turns into a fiasco, as he foresaw the inspector's moves. In juxtaposing their beliefs, Bärlach - as a Christian - no longer has any answers and faces his death. However, Bärlach is saved - deus ex machina - by the impossible avenging angel Gulliver.

In contrast to the classic detective novel, the subject is less the conviction of the perpetrator than the establishment of justice. Like Dürrenmatt's later novel The Promise , The Suspicion is also a criticism of the traditional figure of the detective, uttered by Gulliver: “You can no longer fight evil alone, as the knights once fought alone against some dragon. Gone are the days when it is enough to be a little astute to confront the criminals we face today. You fool of a detective; the time itself has led you to absurdity! "

A recurring motif in Dürrenmatt's detective novels is the “undiscovered crime”: actions that are undoubtedly criminal if all the circumstances are known; however, the relevant facts are not known to the judiciary. Emmenberger primarily treats terminally ill millionaires in his private clinic. The hope of a minimally prolonged life makes the patients endure all tortures ("... here too the boss operates without anesthesia"). And just the professional facade of an expensive private clinic ("... in the middle of good Zurich, the hell of the rich") turns the sadism of an ex-concentration camp doctor into the benefits of a star medic, which means that any legal prosecution is excluded.

Furthermore, the novel raises an even more philosophical question: Who prevents people from doing evil if they do not believe in a higher power and do not avoid evil for fear of a metaphysical authority? The doctor Emmenberger says: “Just as Christians believe in three things that are only one thing, in the Trinity, so I believe in two things that are one and the same, [...] I believe in matter that is simultaneously Power and mass is [...] how shabby and empty it is to say, 'I believe in one God' ”. From this exclusive belief in scientifically tangible things Emmenberger derives his limitless freedom, which has no obligations other than to do what he wants.

Book editions

  • The suspicion . Benziger, Einsiedeln 1953 (original edition)
  • The judge and his executioner / The suspicion . The two detective novels about Commissioner Bärlach. Diogenes, Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-257-20849-9 (work edition 16)
  • The suspicion . Detective novel. Diogenes, Zurich 1985, ISBN 3-257-21436-7 (current edition)
  • The suspicion . Comic based on the novel. Edition Exodus, Lucerne 1993, ISBN 3-905575-79-5

review

"His thrillers follow the classic scheme, but with their irony, cynicism and socio-critical or philosophical approaches, they go far beyond what is usual in the genre."

literature

  • Wolfgang Pasche: Interpretation aids for Friedrich Dürrenmatt's crime novels . Klett, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-12-922609-5
  • Bernd Matzkowski: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: The suspicion . Bange, Hollfeld 2005, ISBN 3-8044-1816-3 (König's explanations and materials 438)
  • Peter Pfützner: The suspicion / the breakdown. Interpretations and materials . Beyer, Hollfeld 4. A. 2008, ISBN 978-3-88805-048-0 (analyzes and reflections 70)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dürrenmatt: Der Verdacht , p. 116, line 30ff.
  2. ^ Dürrenmatt: Der Verdacht , 1986, ISBN 3-257-21436-7 , p. 87
  3. ^ Dürrenmatt: Der Verdacht , 1986, ISBN 3-257-21436-7 , p. 83
  4. ^ Dürrenmatt: Der Verdacht , p. 108, line 33
  5. ↑ Klaus-Peter Walter (Ed.): Reclams Krimi-Lexikon . Authors and works. Philipp Reclam Jun., Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-15-010509-9 , p. 110.

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