Submitted by peter thoss (1935), Jul 4, 2007 03:05
Greetings
For Guenter Grass to conceal his SS Status in the third Reich may be difficult to understand by those
who did not live through the Nazi Time in Germany themselves.
I, for one put my Hitler Youth Pass into the Fire , the Day, I received it, but I would not hold
Guenter Grass to the same Standard, simply, because, I still meet SS Members in Canada, who have mended their ways and were it not for their Concealment many Years ago, they would have never made it to this Country.
Some of them are still deported today.
Right or wrong, I subscribe to time-sensitive reasoning and to granting People , like Guenter Grass the
Opportunity to do some good which they could not have accomplished, had they revealed their SS Status.
Now, this does not mean, that a general Amnesty should be applied to all former SS Members. rather it means, that a person, who has not burdened their Concience with the usual Atrocities with wich the
Waffen SS is justly associated with, has the opportunity to re-shape their Lives in a meaningful Manner
particularily, when Guenter Grass has demonstrated clearly, that he falls under the pardonable Category.
I hope, that we can bury the Spirit of Revenge and trust, that those responsible for the Hitler crimes will
not escape their just Dues in the final End.
As for Guenter Grass, after watching his Interview on TV, I would say, he deserves the Chance he got.
Peter Thoss ( now Canadian, but a native German during the Nazi Time with a clean Slate)
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My father was an American veteran of the war, and though he died in 1994 still deeply troubled by his... [MORE]
Robert Leibold
Mar 3, 2008 10:45
There is not enough evidence in Johnson's denunciation of Gunter Grass to show he was involved in any atrocities. Grass... [MORE]
John H Fysh
Sep 10, 2007 02:08
Greetings
For Guenter Grass to conceal his SS Status in the third Reich may be difficult to understand by those
who did...
peter thoss (1935)
Jul 4, 2007 03:05
This is such a disgraceful review and commentary upon a man who has spent his life in a sort of... [MORE]
A. Aleksander
Jul 3, 2007 06:55
I find your comments far more profound than this "Open Letter".
I will say that Grass's moral high ground from which... [MORE]
A.Goldman
Aug 25, 2007 12:50
In this weeks issue, Grass writes "How I Spent the War." In reading it I couldn't help but reflect on... [MORE]
Fred Bender
Jun 7, 2007 12:21
Gunther Grass was interviewed on PBS on July 2, 2007.
He referred a few times to Germany's barbarison and the NAZI... [MORE]