Günter Grass RIP

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sometimes, awareness of personal weakness is a spur to greater public action.

I agree. It's impossible to imagine how I would have behaved as an 18-year-old brought up in the Third Reich - but it doesn't surprise me that anyone in such a position who had been in the SS should wish to deny (to others as well as to himself) that fact. Is his criticism of Western Governments hypocritical as a result - perhaps (although I think it is more "human" than this). Are these criticisms any less valid because of the dual standards involved? I don't think so.