Posted on 04/07/2012 11:20:33 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
German Nobel laureate Günter Grass has taken to the airwaves to address the raging controversy surrounding his new poem, which is sharply critical of Israel. Yet the debate continues to broaden, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joining the fray on Thursday.
One day after the tempest created in Germany by the publication of a poem critical of Israel, Günter Grass on Thursday defended himself against his critics. The Nobel Prize in literature recipient said he feels he has been misunderstood by critics who are conducting a campaign against him. "The overall tenor is to not engage in the content of the poem, but instead to wage a campaign against me and to claim that my reputation is damaged forever," Grass said in an interview with a German public broadcaster on Thursday.
In his poem, "What Must Be Said," published in Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung and two other major European newspapers, Grass is sharply critical of Israel's policies towards Iran. With his statement that the "nuclear power Israel is endangering a world peace that is already fragile," the 84-year-old triggered global controversy.
The broadcast is scheduled to air on Thursday night, but NDR released some of Grass' quotes in advance. "Old clichés are being bestirred, and some of them are injurious," Grass said. He said that, as he hinted would happen in the poem, the term "anti-Semitism" has quickly been used against him. "It has occurred to me that in a democratic country in which freedom of the press prevails, there is a certain forced conformity which
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
An ex-SS man like him hasn’t seen the kind of “injurious” stuff that is his due.
That photo should be photoshopped with a Hitler mustache!
Good link there!!! What’s with these Muslim Jihad loving nutcases?
Senility and anti-Zionism, an ugly combination.
Nazis trying to bring back the good ole days.
With great power, comes responsibility.
It would appear that Grass has yet to realize that he’s not Johann, the tire dealer....but one of the top German writers of all time. People have a higher expectation of him and what he writes...so when he writes a piece slamming some society or country....he would attract a lot of criticism. My advice...stick to writing poems on green grass, silly Irish men from Ennis, or cats.
He said he was “Forced” in the Waffen SS. Liar....only true Nazis could join the Waffen SS. It was the Armed branch of the SS and you had to be a true believer to be in both.
The German Army didnt like the Waffen SS and often would use them as cannon fodder against hard target so they would waste their own men until it was time.
He is a f**cking nazi—it is appropriate that the dipshits at the nobel prize farce gave him one. He stands by yassir arafat as a winner.
Not so. I know an ex-Waffen SS soldier who is in no way a Nazi. He was drafted as a 16 year old in 1944.
Maybe because it was late in the war. the SS units were considered Elite and had no trouble filling muster rolls.
I could be wrong......
Maybe because it was late in the war. the SS units were considered Elite and had no trouble filling muster rolls.
I could be wrong......
Grass needs to worry about the minarets all over Europe.
A Spaniard said it best: “We Europeans are idiots. We murdered 6 million Jews who helped build our culture. Then we imported 20 million Moslems who want to destroy it.”
Yes, it was late in the war and military units were taking anyone fit enough they could find. He served in a Scandanavian country and later emigrated to the U.S.
That doesn’t necessarily make your acquaintance and Grass the same kind of person, of course. Grass lays his true soul bare here.
Very true. Grass is odious because of his views and hiding his SS service for many years. One of the problems is German privacy laws, which allows scum like him to hide.
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