Posted on 08/18/2006 9:46:55 AM PDT by lizol
Poland's Walesa says Grass owes Poles explanation
By Natalia Reiter REUTERS
8:58 a.m. August 18, 2006
WARSAW – Polish Solidarity hero Lech Walesa urged German author Guenter Grass on Friday to prove that a confession about his membership in Hitler's SS was not just a marketing ploy to promote his new novel.
The former Polish president also said he would give up his honorary citizenship of Poland's city of Gdansk, if Grass, also a holder of the same title, failed to explain why he decided to confess when his autobiography 'Peeling Onions' came out.
'If Grass will not address his Polish friends, friends who once trusted him, and explain all this, I will myself give up the title ... I do not want to be in the same club with such a person,' Walesa told Reuters by telephone from Gdansk. 'Right now it looks like a very successful attempt to promote his new book,' he said.
German bookshops are struggling to keep up with demand for Grass's book saying that his shocking confession has contributed to the successful sale.
The book was due for sale from Sept. 1 but publication was hurriedly brought forward after the storm of controversy over Grass's confession last week.
Grass's confession was followed by calls from Polish officials on Grass to give up his honorary Gdansk citizenship but he said on Thursday he did not intend to do that.
Walesa criticised the winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize for literature for failing to address the Polish public or Gdansk councillors who awarded him the prestigious title, saying this bordered on arrogance.
'Grass is speaking with the typical German arrogance without understanding the position of his Polish friends,' he said.
During his career, Grass has worked to improve relations between Poland and Germany. After the war he became an outspoken pacifist and a promoter of an open history dialogue between the two European neighbours.
'I still have respect for Grass but let us be honest about it: he has fooled us, he lied to us in the past... now he should try to make it up,' Walesa said.
A poll showed most Germans sympathised with Grass's late confession. A Polis-USUMA survey for Focus magazine found that 54 percent of respondents understood his decision compared to 38 percent who said they did not.
I ususaly dont like to glow over someones missfortune or scandall. But this is one of rare exeptions.
so, here I go... "IN YOUR FACE GUNTER! YOU SUPPORTED AGRESSION ON SERBIA IN 1999! NO WANDER! YOU DID IT ONCE BEFORE!"
I totaly disslike that man...
And this is traditional Slavic anti-germanism...
Misfortune? Scandal?
He's raking in millions just because he finally admitted he was once in the Waffen SS - and that's selling lots of books.
I don't think he is suffering.
If Bin laden wrote autobiography, it wold outrank Mein kampf by far...
This world just loooove tirants and mass murderers.
Come on, who would read a book from a guy that isnt nazi, or commie, or muzzie?
Yeah.
Real scumbag.
Luckuly, in Serbia we dont have ex nazis, but we have alot of ex commies. Nowdays, they are called pro-european democrates. Former comisaars, and comisaars children.
Like they breed them and train them to take their fathers places!
LOL!
Know what made me happy? some weeks a go in Czech reoublic was summist Of Sokol organisation, slavic traditional gymnastic organisations. Patriotism and conservativism in on eplace. No commies, no multiculturalists, no gays...
There used to be Sokol in Poland too, but before WW2.
Same profile, same name of the organisation.
Man, that organisation should be reactivated. They ver panslavic organisation, polish, Serbic, bulgarian, Czecho-Slovak. Just great. In Serbi astarded in small reactivation, but as usual without goverment support.
As usual, anything that isnt EU loving, Soros Zombies kill.
:(
I didn't hear about them either. But this is not surprising due to the fact gymnastic is not very popular sport in Poland and probably one of the last covered by media. I have read a bit about history of Polish “Sokol” from their website (what a great, long and well documented article!), they put the accent on patriotism not pan-Slavism, which is considered in our country as a discredited ideology which the Russians tried to use to justify their occupation of Poland.
Well that is your very own problem. Besides - if you (or anybody else) do not want to be a member of the European Union (pro-european probably means pro-EU) simply stay out. There seems to be a widespread inabillity in eastern Europe to say no to something that is obviously not wanted. The EU is more than a self-service-outlet or just a free-trade-area. It is a political alliance with the aim to close integration. For sure something completely different to your wishes.
Therefore it would be helpful if you guys could resolve it in advance if you want to belong to greater Europe or not. To join the choir of the all time whiners inside the EU is a bad solution to you, since then you lost much -if not all- of your abillity to act. European integration is something (as long as we speak of western Europe) that will move on irresistible, because there are lots of benefits for the involved nations in it. If we observe it from the beginnings (Franco-Allmand Montanunion, treaties of Rome) until today it can be said that there was always more EU and never ever less, although we had as much people who were against it here in the west as you have in the east today.
The opening towards eastern Europe was a nessecary act to stabilize the new democracies and their economies. Furthermore it was invitation to be part of the western society. Part of this invitation are many unconvienent duties but also many benefits. If a country takes part it gets itself and its values involved into a bigger coherence. On the other way nothing can be forced. This is a experience that i.e. the Poles undergo in the moment. Therefore - it is a invitation that nobody has to accept. Personally I think it is better to stay out -even if a country is completely dependent on the EU like Serbia- if you dismiss the EU than to fall into self-denial.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo!)
Grass is simply a a**hole. There is no other word for it. He never said the truth and now he uses his trivial past (it is practially sure that he was no real "war-criminal" since he was 17 back then) to trigger the sales of his new boring book...
He even claims that he rolled the dice with pope Benedict in a POW-camp back then. Yeah yeah...
Cool. Rook threatens queen.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo!)
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo!)
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