Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Born in 1927 in Danzig-Langfuhr to Polish German parents, Günter Grass is a political activist and writer whose work tends to be emotionally charged in reference to German guilt and the atrocities of the Nazis during World War II. In 1942, Grass was drafted into the Reichsarbeitsdienst (state labor service), and in November 1944 into the Waffen-SS. He would see combat with the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg and was wounded on April 20, 1945. Shortly thereafter he was captured and sent to an American POW camp. Grass's involvement with the Waffen-SS would remain a secret until 2006, when the author disclosed it in an interview for his memoir Peeling the Onion. After the war, Grass worked as a farm laborer and miner and studied art in Düsseldorf and Berlin. In 1955 he became a member of Gruppe 47, a literary association in Germany that sought to inform the public on democracy after the fall of Hitler. During occupation, Gruppe 47 would have its publishing license revoked by the Allied forces on grounds of nihilism. In 1959, Grass obtained international success with the novel The Tin Drum , which was followed by Cat and Mouse and Dog Years , to form what is called the Danzig Trilogy. The Tin Drum is recognized as the most highly acclaimed novel of postwar Germany. The novel's hero, Oskar Matzerath, refuses to grow during the war and it is only afterward that he is hit with ... log in or subscribe to read full text