Quote :

"Last Friday, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published excerpts of its interview with Grass, who admitted to having served in the elite Nazi fighting force known as the Waffen-SS during the Second World War — which he also wrote about in the memoir. The full interview with Grass came out in the Saturday edition of the paper and created a storm of controversy around the Nobel Prize-winning author, best known for The Tin Drum. "Enough excuses," Grass writes in his new memoir. "I refused for years to admit to myself the word and the double letters. That which I accepted with the dumb pride of my young years, I kept silent about after the war out of growing shame." Previously, it was known that a teenage Grass has been drafted to work as an assistant to anti-aircraft gunners — a common task for German teens at the time."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/08/17/grass-early-sale.html

I'm not really sure how I feel about this. I think he's one of the greatest authors of the 20th century, and this doesn't really change this. Still, it's troubling. Basically, he was drafted into the SS for about 3 months at the end of the war. I don't know of any details of what went on during his service, but he talks about it in his new memoir.

Background on Grass for those unfamiliar:

Quote :

"English-speaking readers probably know Grass best as the author of The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel), published in 1959 (and subsequently filmed by director Volker Schlöndorff in 1979). It was followed in 1961 by the novella Cat and Mouse (Katz und Maus) and in 1963 by the novel Dog Years (Hundejahre), which together with The Tin Drum form what is known as The Danzig Trilogy. All three works deal with the rise of Nazism and with the war experience in the unique cultural setting of Danzig and the delta of the Vistula River. Dog Years, in many respects a sequel to The Tin Drum, portrays the area's mixed ethnicities and complex historical background in lyrical prose that is highly evocative. Grass received dozens of international awards and in 1999 achieved the highest literary honour: the Nobel Prize for Literature. His literature is commonly categorized as part of the artistic movement of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, roughly translated as "coming to terms with the past."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunter_Grass

Thoughts?

[Edited on August 17, 2006 at 3:05 PM. Reason : ]

8/17/2006 3:05:02 PM

MORAL AMBIGUITY ATTACK

8/17/2006 3:39:46 PM

I don't see a problem with anything here. He served his country just like any American GI or British soldier. Most people assume that if he was a German soldier in WW2 then he was directly involved in a concentration camp or something. This is just plain ignorance.

Unless he was high enough in command to know something or directly related to war crime activity, I think he should be okay.

8/17/2006 3:43:48 PM

I was under the impression that one didn't really get drafted into the SS, because it was more contigent on party affiliation.

Perhaps I am wrong.

8/17/2006 3:44:45 PM

Yea, I think you had to be a sworn Nazi in order to be among the elite ranks.

Forgive me for using Wiki but it was a quick reference....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffen-SS

Quote :

"SS combat training consisted primarily of several months of intensive basic training with three objectives; physical fitness, small-arms proficiency and political indoctrination. The training was so intensive that one in three potentials failed to pass the course, which is significant when considering the context of their application; they were selected individuals, not volunteers. After this basic training, the recruits would be sent to specialist schools (see Panzertruppenschule I) where they received further training in their chosen combat arm. As the war progressed and replacements were required more frequently, the intensity of the training was relaxed somewhat. This was particularly true after the expansion of the Waffen-SS following the success of the SS-Panzerkorps at Kharkov. "

[Edited on August 17, 2006 at 3:49 PM. Reason : .]

8/17/2006 3:45:56 PM

non issue

8/17/2006 3:50:47 PM

Not an issue. Late in the war they would shoot you in the street for not fighting.

Shit, the new pope was in the Nazi military.

8/17/2006 4:03:40 PM