Gdansk residents declare understanding for Grass

The mayor of Gdansk has said that the wartime service of Guenther Grass in a Waffen SS unit cannot overshadow the writer’s merits. Pawel Adamowicz has repeatedly declared that the city authorities do not intend to strip the Nobel prize laureate of his honorary Gdansk citizenship, though the issue is still to be officially decided on by the City Council.

Speaking for Polish Radio, mayor Adamowicz quoted a just conducted opinion poll on the matter among the city’s residents. 72% of respondents voiced the opinion that the council members should not motion for taking the honor away from Grass. Also more than half of the surveyed said Guenther Grass should not give up his honorary citizenship voluntarily.

Pawel Adamowicz stated it is yet too early to speculate whether the Gdansk born writer would be visiting the city to celebrate his 80th birthday.

One more time, on one more thread. The unit Grass was drafted into, the 10th SS Panzer Division "FRUNDSBURG" was formed in 1943. It's only contact with Poland, aside from passing east to west, and west to east on troop trains, was unit training at a military exercise area in Poland.

FRUNDSBURG served on the Eastern Front, in Normandy, at Mortain, at Arnhem, at the Bulge {I believe], in the second wave, and ended the war [I think] in Hungary. FRUNDSBURG, as well as her sister division, 9th SS Panzer, "HOHENSTAUFFEN" were never accused of any atrocities or war crimes. They conducted themselves within the rules of war. 1st British Parachute Div. found their conduct at Arnhem exemplary. So Grass owes no one any apology for the unit he served in.

His smug moral superiority, Euro pacifism, and unintelligible prose, on the other hand, are another matter.

It's impossible the majority of the citizens of the city of Solidarity support former Waffen-SS men!!! It's a slap in the face for the honor of the entire Polish people.

No it is not. According to this I should hate each and every German as they all have been nazis or have some former nazi in the family... And I do not say this to defend Grass (he's a leftist). I say this because I hate Kurski and his dirty job with messing all around. And please inform me about your source of information regarding simpathy for the nazis of Adamowicz and PO. It is hard to find better bulls..t than this one on this forum.

I am Polish, not a member of the Civic Platform that actually became the modern V Column and always speaks highly of anything German.

I am Polish, supporter of Civic Platform (not a member), and I do not consider myself pro-German nazi leftist. My grandfather was a member of Home Army, took part in Warsaw Uprising. My forefathers fought during January and November Uprisings. And you call me or my grandfather nazi supporter? And for me Kurski is a prostitiute that is being called everytime someone needs to divert peoples attention from poor governing. Please note that I do not want to offend you in any way - it is only my point of view and I respect your opinion.

My point was not whether he ever had any contact with Gdansk during the war. My point was and is that the only persons with power to forgive are those wronged.

FRUNDSBURG served on the Eastern Front, in Normandy, at Mortain, at Arnhem, at the Bulge {I believe], in the second wave, and ended the war [I think] in Hungary. FRUNDSBURG, as well as her sister division, 9th SS Panzer, "HOHENSTAUFFEN" were never accused of any atrocities or war crimes. They conducted themselves within the rules of war. 1st British Parachute Div. found their conduct at Arnhem exemplary. So Grass owes no one any apology for the unit he served in.

He owes an apology for joining the Waffen SS and being a NAZI, an apparently ardent one given the selection criteria, even in 1942-43. I will be very careful here and not make assumptions as to your thoughts (as you hastily did in your response), but the fact that a NAZI conducted himself according to the rules of war does not entail any moral equivalence between himself and Allied soldiers. It is his being a Waffen SS for which he owes an apology. It is very clear what that those in that special rank believed and to whom they owed complete and ultimate allegiance.

Where he served and whether he himself was guilty of war crimes does not change any of that. I trust you do not equate Axis with Allied forces on a moral level, even though one *might* infer such from your post.

Your knowledge of NAZI military units and their deployment is remarkable. But my point is not an historical one; it only relates to the justness of what was done and who has the authority to forgive.

My grandfather was imprisoned in KG Dachau (1938) and Stadlheim (sp?) in 42, the latter time under indictment on capital charges brought by NAZIs, including two SS. He once was "apologized to" at the war's end by the civilian witness (not the SS witnesses) who brought the charges. He did not reply at all. It is such a person's right (and no other's) to forgive or not, assuning they survived.

Grass, as far as I have read, has not admitted to being a member of the NSDAP. Membership in the Nazi Party was not a prerequisite for service in the Waffen SS. And while the SS oath was more binding, swearing "obedience unto death", in point of fact, after Hindenburg's death, members of the German Army also swore a personal oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler.

As for the unit he served with,FRUNDSBURG was one of the elite Panzer units of the German Armed Forces. Unlike the LEIBSTANDARTE SS ADOLF HITLER [1st SS Pz. Div.], DAS REICH [2d SS Pz. Div.], TOTENKOPF [3d SS Pz. Div] and HITLER JUGEND [12th SS Pz. Div.], which were also crack Panzer Divisions, FRUNDSBURG committed no war crimes. So while I "do not equate Axis with Allied forces on a moral level", you are doing precisely that by failing to differentiate between an outstanding and honorable, albeit Waffen SS, combat formation with its less savory compatriots.

Finally, I regret what happened to your grandfather. But the SS was a hydra headed organization. Not all members of the SS were Waffen SS, although that area was muddied by Himmler when he put the Inspectorate for Concentration Camps, for Admin. purposes , under the Command Staff of the Waffen SS, and occasionally moved wounded troops to guard duty at the camps, and back again [Mengele had been a medical officer with a Waffen SS Divison in Russia (Wiking?) until wounded, at which point he was evacuated to Germany, and then volunteered for Auschwitz]. The camps were administered and guarded by members of the Allgemeine SS and the Totenkopf Verbaende. Executive power for arrests resided with the Gestapo and Ordnungspolizei, which were parts of the RSHA, along with the SS SD. You are quite correct in stating that only people in your grandfather's position have the right to forgive or not. But at the risk of offending you, Grass, based solely on his service in FRUNDSBURG has no need to ask anyone's forgiveness.

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