Saturday, August 12, 2006

Hero takes a fall

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.

1 Comments:

At 9:34 AM, Blogger Brdgt said...

On a practically unrelated note, I am rather proud of myself for being able to read that in the german...

 

Post a Comment

<< Home