Off-Topic: What must be said about Günter Grass

I wonder how many of my readers have heard of Günter Grass. Though widely unknown in the English speaking world, he's regarded as Germany's greatest author alive today. He has written many novels, poems and plays. In 1999 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. "The Tin Drum", a film based on his first novel, won an Oscar as the Best Foreign Language Film in 1979. He is known as a left wing thinker who criticises Germany's Nazi past, but in the last few years his reputation has been tarnished. In 2006 he confessed that he had been a member of the SS from 1944 to 1945. Then in 2012 he wrote a poem, "What must be said" ("Was gesagt werden muss"), that was first published in a major German newspaper on April 4th. In this poem he openly attacks the state of Israel.

This poem stirred up controversy in Germany. Grass became the hero of Germany's far right overnight. He was declared a persona non grata by Israel and forbidden entry to their country, despite having been a frequent visitor in the past. He held press conferences to defend himself against charges of anti-semitism, but nobody took his excuses seriously.

I planned to write a blog post about the poem in April when the topic was still hot, but decided against it. Most of my readers are from America, and the scandal poem had barely been mentioned in the press. Besides, I thought Grass would come to his senses and retract the poem. But no. In a live radio interview this week for his 85th birthday he once more attacked Israel, calling it an "unchecked nuclear power" and an "occupying force". This is why I can't remain silent any more. I have to take a stand and give my opinion.

Here is the English translation as printed in The Guardian on April 5th. The original German text follows at the end of this post.

What must be said

Why have I kept silent, held back so long,
on something openly practised in
war games, at the end of which those of us
who survive will at best be footnotes?

It's the alleged right to a first strike
that could destroy an Iranian people
subjugated by a loudmouth
and gathered in organized rallies,
because an atom bomb may be being
developed within his arc of power.

Yet why do I hesitate to name
that other land in which
for years – although kept secret –
a growing nuclear power has existed
beyond supervision or verification,
subject to no inspection of any kind?

This general silence on the facts,
before which my own silence has bowed,
seems to me a troubling, enforced lie,
leading to a likely punishment
the moment it's broken:
the verdict "Anti-semitism" falls easily.

But now that my own country,
brought in time after time
for questioning about its own crimes,
profound and beyond compare,
has delivered yet another submarine to Israel,
(in what is purely a business transaction,
though glibly declared an act of reparation),
whose speciality consists in its ability
to direct nuclear warheads toward
an area in which not a single atom bomb
has yet been proved to exist, its feared
existence proof enough, I'll say what must be said.

But why have I kept silent till now?
Because I thought my own origins,
tarnished by a stain that can never be removed,
meant I could not expect Israel, a land
to which I am, and always will be, attached,
to accept this open declaration of the truth.

Why only now, grown old,
and with what ink remains, do I say:
Israel's atomic power endangers
an already fragile world peace?
Because what must be said
may be too late tomorrow;
and because – burdened enough as Germans –
we may be providing material for a crime
that is foreseeable, so that our complicity
will not be expunged by any
of the usual excuses.

And granted: I've broken my silence
because I'm sick of the West's hypocrisy;
and I hope too that many may be freed
from their silence, may demand
that those responsible for the open danger
we face renounce the use of force,
may insist that the governments of
both Iran and Israel allow an international authority
free and open inspection of
the nuclear potential and capability of both.

No other course offers help
to Israelis and Palestinians alike,
to all those living side by side in enmity
in this region occupied by illusions,
and ultimately, to all of us.

My English readers might find this text flat and unpoetic and assume that the poetic style has been lost in the translation. I assure you that this is not the case. My German readers can verify that the text has none of the characteristics that would define it as a poem. The lines don't rhyme. There is no sentence rhythm. There is no alliteration. The only thing that makes it look like a poem is the irregular line breaks. If this text had been presented in class by a German schoolboy it would be rated a Fail. It has no artistic quality whatsoever. It is merely a political rant by a confused old man.

Now please don't get me wrong. I am a strong believer in free speech. Everyone should have the right to voice his opinion. I too don't hesitate to criticise certain people, organisations or countries. But this is a special case. Due to their history, Germans should be very careful before criticising Israel. Günter Grass especially should have the common sense to realise that as an ex-Nazi he is disqualified from uttering statements against Israel. The only reason he left the Nazi Party is because Germany lost the war. If Germany had won he would still be a Nazi today, and he would be writing anti-semitic poems for the government. He asks at the beginning of the poem why he kept silent so long. I can answer that for him. When he was younger he had enough understanding to know he should keep his thoughts to himself. Now that he's older his mental faculties are failing and he doesn't even realise how bad his statements are. He thinks that hiding his opinions behind flowery language makes them somehow good.

To talk about the subject matter of the poem itself, does Israel have the right to defend itself against Iran? Yes it does. But self-defence doesn't mean sitting back and waiting to be attacked. The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly stated that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map. Israel has the right to make a pre-emptive strike against Iran if this is the best way to save lives.

Modern rhetoric by Moslems and other anti-semitic groups claims that the Jews occupy land that has been stolen from the Palestinians. But the opposite is the case. Israel is a country that has belonged to the Jews for over 3000 years. It was stolen by the Arabs, and now the Jews are reclaiming it. But that doesn't mean that I support Israel unconditionally. The successive governments since 1948 have made many mistakes, mostly caused by striving to be a secular state. When Israel was founded as a unified state in 1006 BC it was a country based around the religion of its people. The leniency towards the Palestinians is the main reason for their problems. To quote from Numbers 33:51-55

"When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live."

I'm not a Jew, but it's obvious to me that this prophecy has been fulfilled. The Palestinians have not been expelled from Israel, and the high places have not been demolished. Israel should have torn down the Al-Aqsa Mosque years ago. Until this is done Israel will never have peace.
 
Günter Grass says in his poem that he is writing this poem "mit letzter Tinte", with his last ink. I sincerely hope that it was his last poem. We certainly don't want to hear any more from him. It's time for him to retire, before he ruins his reputation as a writer altogether.

Was gesagt werden muss

Warum schweige ich, verschweige zu lange,
was offensichtlich ist und in Planspielen
geübt wurde, an deren Ende als Überlebende
wir allenfalls Fußnoten sind?

Es ist das behauptete Recht auf den Erstschlag,
der das von einem Maulhelden unterjochte
und zum organisierten Jubel gelenkte
iranische Volk auslöschen könnte,
weil in dessen Machtbereich der Bau
einer Atombombe vermutet wird.

Doch warum untersage ich mir,
jenes andere Land beim Namen zu nennen,
in dem seit Jahren - wenn auch geheimgehalten -
ein wachsend nukleares Potential verfügbar
aber außer Kontrolle, weil keiner Prüfung
zugänglich ist?

Das allgemeine Verschweigen dieses Tatbestandes,
dem sich mein Schweigen untergeordnet hat,
empfinde ich als belastende Lüge
und Zwang, der Strafe in Aussicht stellt,
sobald er mißachtet wird;
das Verdikt "Antisemitismus" ist geläufig.

Jetzt aber, weil aus meinem Land,
das von ureigenen Verbrechen,
die ohne Vergleich sind,
Mal um Mal eingeholt und zur Rede gestellt wird,
wiederum und rein geschäftsmäßig, wenn auch
mit flinker Lippe als Wiedergutmachung deklariert,
ein weiteres U-Boot nach Israel
geliefert werden soll, dessen Spezialität
darin besteht, allesvernichtende Sprengköpfe
dorthin lenken zu können, wo die Existenz
einer einzigen Atombombe unbewiesen ist,
doch als Befürchtung von Beweiskraft sein will,
sage ich, was gesagt werden muß.

Warum aber schwieg ich bislang?
Weil ich meinte, meine Herkunft,
die von nie zu tilgendem Makel behaftet ist,
verbiete, diese Tatsache als ausgesprochene Wahrheit
dem Land Israel, dem ich verbunden bin
und bleiben will, zuzumuten.

Warum sage ich jetzt erst,
gealtert und mit letzter Tinte:
Die Atommacht Israel gefährdet
den ohnehin brüchigen Weltfrieden?
Weil gesagt werden muß,
was schon morgen zu spät sein könnte;
auch weil wir - als Deutsche belastet genug -
Zulieferer eines Verbrechens werden könnten,
das voraussehbar ist, weshalb unsere Mitschuld
durch keine der üblichen Ausreden

Und zugegeben: ich schweige nicht mehr,
weil ich der Heuchelei des Westens
überdrüssig bin; zudem ist zu hoffen,
es mögen sich viele vom Schweigen befreien,
den Verursacher der erkennbaren Gefahr
zum Verzicht auf Gewalt auffordern und
gleichfalls darauf bestehen,
daß eine unbehinderte und permanente Kontrolle
des israelischen atomaren Potentials
und der iranischen Atomanlagen
durch eine internationale Instanz
von den Regierungen beider Länder zugelassen wird.

Nur so ist allen, den Israelis und Palästinensern,
mehr noch, allen Menschen, die in dieser
vom Wahn okkupierten Region
dicht bei dicht verfeindet leben
und letztlich auch uns zu helfen.