The book “In the shadow of crime” by the Swedish author Helena Henschen has arrived in Albanian. The book was written about one of the most sensational crimes of the 20th century. The story of Fredrik von Sydow, then 23 years old, who in 1932 kills his father, two maids, and then, when the police track him down on the run, kills his wife and himself. This infamous event is narrated by Helena Henschen, who dared to speak about this quintuple murder caused by her uncle.

In an interview with journalist Andri Xhahu on Radio Tirana, the author’s daughter, Kristina Henschen, states that this event constitutes one of the most terrible crimes in modern Swedish history.

“It was a crime at the social level because the one who was killed was an influential person in politics. It was a big scandal in high society. In Sweden, such scandals were not talked about before because the upper class society is closed. It was a tragedy on a personal level as five people were killed and we are living with this crime that happened. It is like a black spot in our family. It is a tremendous pain for the whole society and the family,”said Kristina Henschen.

“The von Sydow murders” received renewed attention in Sweden in 2004 as a result of the publication of the book I skuggan av ett brott by Helena Henschen, whose mother was the younger sister of Fredrik von Sydow. The book is a mixture of fact and fiction, and constitutes an attempt to understand both the taboo that arose within the family in relation to the crime, and also why Fredrik von Sydow committed the murders.
Fredrik von Sydow came from an upper-class family in Stockholm and studied Law at Uppsala University. On March 7, 1932, his father Hjalmar von Sydow – who was a conservative Member of Parliament and the managing director and chairman of the Swedish Employers’ Federation – and two maids employed in the household were found dead in the family residence in Stockholm, all bludgeoned to death with an iron bar.

Even though the police soon came to suspect the son, Fredrik, it took a few hours before they were able to locate him. Fredrik von Sydow had taken a taxi with his wife Ingun to Uppsala where they entered the restaurant of Hotel Gillet and ordered champagne, caviar and oysters. When the police eventually arrived at the restaurant, Fredrik von Sydow shot and killed his wife and himself.

The book “In the shadow of crime” has been translated into 14 foreign languages, including Albanian by Virgjil Muçi. The author of the book, Helena Henschen, born and raised in Stockholm, a well-known figure of cultural life, has been awarded many literary prizes, including that of the Swedish Academy of Arts and the European Union Prize for Literature (2009). She passed away in 2011.

/k.s/