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20
‘As long as I can
remember, the
gable cross has
been there – the two
horse’s heads,
the bank on the
village square.’
Bernhard Aichner
heads, the bank on the village square. On almost every village
square. Piggy bank in hand, I stood by the bank counter when
I was five years old. Then I ran home thinking exciting thoughts.
And later on over at the tennis court. The logo was everywhere.
On my football kit or on banners at the woodland festival – the
bank was ever present. That went without saying. Trusted. It
somehow stood for security. And still does. Because I like
stability too. People on whom I can rely. Reliable partners, of
whom Hannes Schmid speaks when he explains the Raiffeisen
principle to me.
Theories about a bank – comparable perhaps with a literary
analysis of my books. It’s interesting what Hannes Schmid has
to say. But numbers are none of my concern. Any more than
Hannes Schmid concerns himself with narrative mode or plot
development. What he affirms for me are certain key words
which he lets fall: regionalism, security, closeness. Yet again it’s
about that logo, about the people who stand behind it, about
the good feeling it conveys. Schmid gets right to the heart of the
matter with his observations. And anyone who knows my books
knows how much I appreciate condensing content – setting the
scene in just a few sentences.
What it was about last year, and will no doubt continue to be
about in years to come, perhaps that can be expressed in just
one word. I avoided using it before, but now I want to – ‘home-
land’. Because homeland spells security. Homeland is what the
bank is there to protect. The homeland on which I can rely. The
homeland I write about. The homeland in which I grew up.
‘Born and bred in Tyrol’, as it says on the speck pack. That’s
precisely what I am. And so is the bank. We both have a
successful year behind us. We’re both eager to find out what
is to come. The banker and the author – each in his own way,
but each with the feeling that the ground beneath our feet is the
same ground. However much I may enjoy going on book tours,
I always enjoy coming home even more. No fog in winter, more
blue skies than elsewhere, and always the mountains. And a
bank which you feel is on your side. A bank adviser who knows
me and who knows what I need. Well looked after between the
mountain peaks. When I sit in a plane and gaze down on the
valley of the Inn River, I think: ‘Here are my roots.’ This is where
I live, though remaining open to the outside world and always
treading new paths. Wandering far and wide but always
returning. Because this is where the sun always rises. Because
this logo will probably still be seen on every street corner in a
hundred years time. And my books too, I hope.
A good plan. I’ll keep on writing my books, and Hannes Schmid
and his colleagues will keep on looking after the fate of Raiffeisen
in Tyrol.
We can count on that.
A meeting
Bernhard Aichner (born in 1972) is an author and photographer
who lives in Innsbruck, Austria. He writes novels and plays
for both the stage and radio. He has won numerous literary
prizes and grants for his work. After several Max Broll
detective novels, his first thriller for publisher btb-Verlag has
now appeared.
Totenfrau
was sold internationally even before
publication, and the film rights have also been snapped up.
Bernhard Aichner