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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Gunther Grass on his service in Waffen SS: I was stupid
2007-07-01
Admitting that "I was a stupid young boy who only had fantasies and stories in my head," author Gunther Grass attempted in New York this week to explain his joining the Waffen SS, something to which he only admitted last August. But even his sympathetic interviewer seemed far from satisfied.

Grass's recently translated autobiography, Peeling the Onion, an attempt to revisit the early years of his life and to offer some explanation, brought him to the city. But he seemed unable to offer much in defense of his six decades of secrecy and his early belief in the Nazi regime. "If someone believes in something he doesn't see other things. It's easy to say I was a child, but I didn't ask any questions. That's why I wrote this book," he said.
Posted by:Fred

#14  Some of his work features anti-Nazi Germans. Readers assumed that he had been one.
Posted by: McZoid   2007-07-01 19:24  

#13  Yes, but crassly mentioning that so upsets their amour propre, Procopius2k and JohnQC.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-07-01 18:37  

#12  Look at the economic powerhouse they built out of the rubble of the war, with only their bare hands and the sweat of their brow...

With a lot of help from America.
Posted by: JohnQC   2007-07-01 18:30  

#11  Dawg Years screwed me up big time.

It's probably like studying kabbalah, Shipman. Maimonedes said a man mustn't do that until he's at least thirty, has married and taught his sons a trade that they'd be self-supporting, before he may begin the study. Something about being firmly anchored to reality, I believe. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-07-01 18:26  

#10  Hypocrite.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2007-07-01 16:50  

#9  And Yeah, what TW said.
Dawg Years screwed me up big time.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-07-01 10:42  

#8  Peeling the Onion,

Ima have to brush up. Fucker can write.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-07-01 10:41  

#7  I have one comment for the Krauts, and it's from Texas: "don't start no trouble and there won't be no trouble." Maybe they've finally learned that lesson.
Posted by: Mac   2007-07-01 10:22  

#6  Of course they're better than the rest of Europe! Look at the economic powerhouse they built out of the rubble of the war, with only their bare hands and the sweat of their brow.

Behind the shield of millions of Americans and trillions of dollars in defense and a promise of mutual assured destruction for over fifty years.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-07-01 09:47  

#5  Herr Grass turned the idea of Aryan superiority he embraced as a child into the insufferable German attitude of moral superiority acquired through deprivation and hard work after. Of course they're better than the rest of Europe! Look at the economic powerhouse they built out of the rubble of the war, with only their bare hands and the sweat of their brow... You Amis [or whatever the other person is] had it so easy, and so you've never had to develop character like we have. That's why you must listen to us when we tell you [fill in another blank] -- we've learnt from experience in a way you never could!
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-07-01 09:01  

#4  Most youth are a bit fickeled, particularly in turbulent times. Let it go. A selection of works by Günter Grass in English, he has written many more in his native tongue.

The Tin Drum. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. London: Secker & Warburg, 1962.
Cat and Mouse. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1963.
Dog Years. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965.
Four Plays. Introd. by Martin Esslin. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1967.
Speak out! Speeches, Open Letters, Commentaries. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. London: Secker & Warburg, 1969.
Local Anaesthetic. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1970.
From the Diary of a Snail. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973.
In the Egg and Other Poems. Transl. by Michael Hamburger and Christopher Middleton. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.
The Meeting at Telgte. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981.
The Flounder. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978.
Headbirths, or, the Germans are Dying Out. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.
The Rat. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.
Show Your Tongue. Transl. by John E. Woods. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.
Two States One Nation? Transl. by Krishna Winston with A.S. Wensinger. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990; London: Secker & Warburg.
The Call of the Toad. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992.
The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising. Transl. by Ralph Manheim. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1996.
My Century. Transl. by Michael Henry Heim. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1999.
Too far afield. Transl. by Krishna Winston. London: Faber, 2000.
Posted by: Besoeker   2007-07-01 08:47  

#3  "I was stupid"

Oh well, that's all right then.
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2007-07-01 08:19  

#2  After serving in the SS, he went on to become a barking moonbat anti-globalist and anti-American. He also famously described 9/11 as "a case of the victimized justifiably striking back at the powerful."

Yep, he was a "stupid young boy" when he joined the SS. Now he's a stupid old man.
Posted by: Mike   2007-07-01 08:18  

#1  "wellll, the uniforms looked spiffy.."
Posted by: Frank G   2007-07-01 08:03  

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