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An Open Letter to Günter Grass

Submitted by John H Fysh, Sep 10, 2007 02:08

There is not enough evidence in Johnson's denunciation of Gunter Grass to show he was involved in any atrocities. Grass was an undeveloped teenager at the time of his enlistment in the Waffen SS. Was his Panzer unit anything more than part of the German military?

I enlisted in the RAAF as I turned eighteen with the intent to reign terror on the civilian populations of German cities. At that age we did not look at it that way through the wall of wartime propaganda.

Perhaps Grass should have revealed his membership of the Waffen SS and borne the shame but , unless there is strong evidence he was involved in atrocities, I excuse him as being as so many of us were: "just a boy", a manipulated pawn in the prevailing system.

I have read Peeling the Onion. It is a flow of words but nothing remarkable. The progress of an artistic and literary talent. I felt sorry for his women!


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Comment By Date

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...

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... [MORE]

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]

Dave Levy 

Jul 3, 2007 06:20

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