SPIN Talk Recording: Articulated Absences Archive, Dr Vera Zurbrügg

Switzerland functioned as a ‘gold hub’ during the Second World War, accepting vast amounts of gold from the Third Reich and thus playing an indispensable role for the Nazis. However, this financial complicity was concealed after the war. Instead, the Swiss government constructed an official narrative celebrating the Swiss Army as the reason the Nazis did not invade Switzerland. Alongside in-depth historical research contradicting this grand narrative, this patriotic wartime memory has persisted. In this talk, present my practice-led research, creating a counter-archive to challenge Switzerland’s wartime myth and to question the archive’s status as a reliable source of historical knowledge. The counter-archive includes a selection of stereotypical souvenirs, military artefacts, and commemorative objects to examine their cultural significance in reiterating Switzerland’s dominant narrative and shaping national identity. A material exploration of the hidden is facilitated through the gilding of selected objects. By drawing on Clare Birchall’s concept of the ‘aesthetics of the secret’, gold is configured as an open secret. Its secret materiality paired with its romanticised perception – ignoring the consequences of its violent extraction – mirrors the nostalgic elements of Switzerland’s dominant narrative.