How can silence be narrated as an original linguistic figuration of omission? This question is pursued using eight contemporary literary texts. The focus is on forms of silence with negative connotations in the context of traumatic experiences: (1) wanting to be silent (defensive silence), (2) being silent (repressive silence), (3) having to be silent (overwhelmed silence) and (4) being silent. Endure. It is shown that silence, in the sense of a communicative action, has a destructive effect on the memory and identity of the characters and narrators, while in the sense of a narrative strategy it advances to a productive moment of structuring and shaping. Based on narratological considerations, the work makes fruitful approaches from linguistics, memory research, psychotraumatology and narrative identity theory for the interpretation of the text and, following the trauma research, provides an update of the motive history of silence.