German author Guenter Grass dies

Post by fforw » Mon, Apr 13, 2015, 9:17 PM UTC

dao- wrote: post #25

yehosef wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The poem conveniently omits an important point - that Israel has never called for Iran's destruction whereas Iran has repeatedly called to "wipe Israel off the map." Anyone who equates Israel and Iran on this issue is either ignorant or biased, possibly both. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/26/ahmadinejad/ http://video.foxnews.com/v/3704646723001/irans-supreme-leade...

Yup, of course this is no coincidence. The "poem" is straight-out antisemitic. Old habits die hard, after all Grass had an SS history (that he forgot to mention over decades). [Edit] It's kind of obvious, but I'll say it since this is often missed by those applauding Grass for his late poem: If Israel wanted to destroy Iran, it had already done so, given its nuclear power. Instead, Israel has (so far successfully) us…

Post by MichaelMoser123 » Tue, Apr 14, 2015, 7:15 AM UTC

jbaiter wrote: post #11

ukigumo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quite enjoyed the "Tin Drum" but I admit that I lost a bit of respect for the man when it was revealed he had worked for the Stasi. Still, it is a great loss of a great writer.

I think you're mixing some things up here. He never worked for the Stasi, on the contrary, he was under their observation since 1961.[1] He was, however, a member of the Nazi Waffen-SS in his youth, though he claims to never have fired a shot. The fact that he chose to make this public only very late in his life (and many years after he had receiced the Nobel prize) is what is really problematic, in my opinion. [1] h…