Swiss comic book by Andreas Müller-Weiss

Zurich, early September 1937. Umberto Campi, a mason who immigrated from Tuscany, throws several bottles of paint at the brand-new fire station of city architect Herter on a dark night, is caught, and threatens even worse during the interrogation…

This political crime story in German about the painter Giacometti, architect Herter, the Freemasons and many other figures of the time portrays Zurich on the eve of the vote on Arthur Fonjallaz’s anti-Masonic initiative in November 1937. In addition to many faithfully depicted original locations in and around Zurich, one can see, for example, the poster of the initiative’s supporters and the Lindenhof temple during an initiation.

Andreas Müller-Weiss grew up in Spiez and studied architecture at ETH Zurich from 1965 to 1972. His studies coincided with the 1968 movement, which strongly influenced him. From 1977 he published comics and illustrations and in 2010 was awarded the City of Zurich’s Werkjahr. He has published several comics, including this album Der Farbanschlag, released in 2014 by Edition Moderne in Zurich.

Our museum was able to acquire the last copies of this album from the publisher. In addition to the 49 pages, it includes seven more pages with historical background information, also about Freemasonry. The number is limited.