Günter Grass: Hero takes a fall

by Cliopatria

Günter Grass, German novelist and Nobel Prize winner, broke sixty years of silence to admit that he belonged to the Waffen SS.

Als Fünfzehnjähriger hatte er sich noch als Hitlerjunge freiwillig zu den U-Booten gemeldet, mit siebzehn wurde Grass einberufen und kam vom Arbeitsdienst zur Division „Frundsberg“, die zur Waffen-SS gehörte.

When he was fifteen he freely reported to a U-Boat as part of the Hitler Youth, at seventeen Grass was conscripted and joined as part of his service the Frundsberg Division, which was part of the Waffen SS.

The Frankürter Allgemeine carries an interview in which Grass talks about the Waffen SS and the forthcoming memoir on the subject:

Mein Schweigen über all die Jahre zählt zu den Gründen, warum ich dieses Buch geschrieben habe. Das mußte raus, endlich. ...

All these years of silence is the reason why I have written this book. It must come out, finally.

Crossposted at The Rhine River.

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William Redfern - 8/16/2006

Guy Damman, in yesterday's Guardian, captures the prominent position that the Bitburg incident is now holding in German discourse (Damman even falls back on the same construction I used: "gross hypocrisy"), though that somehow escaped the attention of Reuters.

It's also been pointed out elsewhere that some years back, in Der Spiegel, Grass related some of the details of his training in tanks. Since he had been claiming to have served as an anti-aircraft battery crewman, it seems he has been leaking information in the hope of being caught out. He now says he "probably" didn't know he was to serve in the Waffen SS until he got to Dresden.

Interesting psychological mechanisms all around. The vehement denunciations of German behaviour as a distancing mechanism from his own past. The leaking as a wish to be caught out. And the "pobably" as a minimization technique, perhaps laying the ground for a later admission.

William Redfern - 8/15/2006

In what purports to be an article detailing the reaction to Grass' confession, the WP article completely leaves out a major bone of contention in the German reaction: that Grass is viewed as guilty of gross hypocrisy inasmuch as he roundly criticized Reagan for visiting the cemetary at Bitburg, where some similarly drafted Waffen SS troops were buried.

The Reuters story ends on a spritually uplifting high note, gently guiding the readership (as Reuters conceives its function to be) to the proper reaction.

I could use, and expect, a little more information and honesty, and a little less shaping of the news, than Reuters or the WP wishes for me.

Nathanael D. Robinson - 8/14/2006

Hmm ... many Germans have been criticized for not resisting service, Moreover, the Waffen SS has a long record of war crimes behind it that, conscripted or not, might have involved a willing Grass. The interview is a bit vague as to Grass'actual combat experiences, and I expect that the memoir will provoke some vigorous fact checking.

Nathanael D. Robinson - 8/14/2006

In the FAZ interview Grass evaded answering potentially difficult questions. Membership in the Waffen SS was pretty common by the end of the war, and some served against their will. They were, nevertheless, responsible for many war crimes. This is more troubling because Grass has presented himself as someone untouched by war, unlike Böll, who served in the regular Wehrmacht.

Oscar Chamberlain - 8/14/2006

Quite true. Most of the criticism focuses on his hiding his service throughout his career while calling on Germans to recognize their complicity in supporting the regime.

Paul Noonan - 8/13/2006

As the quotes point out he was CONSCRIPTED into the Waffen-SS after an earlier attempt to enlist in the Navy. Another article I read indicated he didn't even know he was going into the SS until he reported for induction. It isn't as though he volunteered for the SS.

Ralph E. Luker - 8/13/2006

The reaction of Grass's German biographer is understandable, if pretty amusing. More than anyone else, he was taken in by many decades of Grass's deceptions and coverup. That has to be embarrassing for any biographer.

Oscar Chamberlain - 8/13/2006

This WP article gives a sense of the reaction to the announcement and interview. (I do wish my German was better, so I could dig through the interview myself.)

I will leave others to decide whether his art or his actions require reconsideration. On a very mundane level, I do find it intriguing that no one ever discovered this before, given his prominence.