What is it like to find out that your father was an assassin? Traudl Bünger knew her father as a caring man whom she could always rely on, but who also held rigid opinions. Even as a child, she knew that there was a secret surrounding him, shrouded in steely silence. After his sudden death, she begins to uncover this secret – and is catapulted back to the early 1960s.
Germany has just been divided by the Wall and Chancellor Adenauer wants to establish the Federal Republic of Germany as a reliable international partner. A conflict flares up that emotionalizes the young Republic and in which Traudl Bünger’s father is actively involved. In the fall of 1962, he travels to Italy with like-minded companions. The aim of their mission: to denounce violations of international law against “ethnic Germans” in South Tyrol. The method: explosives. The result: one fatality and many injuries.
What led her father to commit this crime at the age of 27? What kind of person was he? Bünger’s research takes her to numerous archives and countries. She begins to talk to relatives about what happened back then. In the process, she not only looks into the dark recesses of her family history but also takes us deep into the history of Germany, the Cold War, and its propaganda battles.
Steely Silence shows a young country forced to reposition itself that consistently overlooks the shadows of its past – right up to the present day.
