The SS past Grass ‘forgot’
QUESTION What action did Gunter Grass see in the Waffen-SS? Gunter Grass (1927-2015) was perhaps the most famous German author of the 20th century. the story of his life mirrors the difficulties that his country had in accepting its nazi past.
When Grass’s first novel the tin Drum was published in 1959, it was against the background of the Cold War and post-war reconstruction. at the time, there was a palpable silence in the Federal republic of Germany about the third reich and, in particular, the Holocaust.
the tin Drum was shocking as it tackled Germany’s uncomfortable past head-on.
From that time, Grass became Germany’s moral paragon and his novels came to be viewed as a key element of the long process of what sociologist theodor adorno, in an influential essay also published in 1959, called ‘working through the past’.
thus, when Grass revealed for the first time in his autobiography, Peeling the Onion, that, as a 17-year-old near the end of World War II, he’d served as a member of t he Waffen- ss, he faced intense criticism.
Many accused him of being a hypocrite, having concealed the fact that he had been a member of the ss for decades, even as he publicly criticised others for hiding their nazi past.
In an interview shortly before his death, Grass said: ‘I’ve always admitted my involvement as a young man in the system. that has never been a secret.’
But added that ‘this unique episode in my life [his service in the Waffen-ss] was something I kept to myself’.
Grass attended the Conradinum high school in Danzig. In 1943, aged 16, he became a Luftwaffenhelfer (air Force ‘helper’). and soon, he was conscripted into the reichsarbeitsdienst (national Labour service).
In november 1944, shortly after his 17th birthday, Grass volunteered for submarine service with the German navy (Kriegs marine), ‘to get out of the confinement felt as a teenager in his parents’ house’, which he considered stuffy, Catholic, lower middle-class.
the navy refused him and he was instead called up for the 10th ss Panzer Division Frundsberg in late 1944.
It should be noted that the Waffen-ss was the front- l i ne military arm of the ss that made up roughly 10 per cent of German infantry power and 25 per cent of German armoured power. It was generally not associated with other branches of the ss, such as the Gestapo. Grass trained as a tank gun-layer. The Frundsberg Division was dispatched to meet the russian-led forces at the eastern Front, where it fought against the red army invasion of Pomerania and then saxony.
encircled at the Halbe Pocket, the division had many losses, but managed to break out of the encirclement and retreat towards Moritzburg.
On the way, Grass was injured in the shoulder and thigh by a red army grenade. after recuperating in Meissen, he was ordered on to Marienbad ( now Marianske Lazne in the Czech republic). there the division surrendered to the u.s. army and he was taken to Dachau to witness the nazi atrocities there.
Despite his participation on the front line, Grass claimed never to have fired a shot.
Mr H. Norris, Hereford. QUESTION My 91-year-old father is trying to find a recipe for what his Yorkshire mother used to call Jordan cake. Does anyone have a memory of, and recipe for, such a cake? JORDAN cake was a very tasty sponge eaten in Yorkshire during church festivals or meetings.
the ingredients are: 6 oz/170 g plain flour, 4 oz/113 g sugar, 2 oz/57 g margarine, 1 tsp cream of tartar, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, two eggs and a little milk.
Cream together the margarine and sugar. add eggs (beaten) and milk. stir in dry ingredients. Bake at gas mark 3 (160 c/140 c fan) for 45 minutes.
Mrs P. Terry, Shipley, W. Yorks. QUESTION How do they tune a tuning fork? In OrDer to do this, you generally use a reliable signal of the same frequency — like another tuning fork. the obvious question being: how was that one tuned in the first place?
For many decades electronic frequency generators have been able to produce extremely accurate signals and, by using an oscilloscope, you can compare two frequencies: one being the reliable electronically generated signal and the other a microphone that is attached to a sounding board on to which you place a vibrating tuning fork.
to tune a tuning fork (say a standard a, which is 440 hertz, the number of vibrations in one second) you can listen for beats.
Beats are the effect of what is known as destructive and constructive interference — or, more simply, the combined sound is alternately soft and loud. the beat frequency is equal to the difference in frequency between the two sounds.
so far so good, but when two sounds are very close, it is difficult to tell which of the two is higher (or lower) than the other.
This is where an oscilloscope-like instrument comes in handy as it can be set up to show which sound is higher than the other by the direction in which the trace on the oscilloscope’s screen revolves.
The frequency of a tuning f ork is determined fundamentally by its shape. at a basic level, all other things being equal, the longer the fork’s prongs (or ‘tines’) then the lower its frequency.
From the point of view of manufacture, if you have a tuning fork that is too high, then it would seem to be quite a problem to add metal (to make it longer), rather than the converse — removing it, which is easy.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to lower a tuning fork frequency and that is to remove some metal from the bottom of the tine.
You can either use a round file that makes the tines longer, or a flat file on the inside of one of the tines that makes it less stiff (which tine you file will remain a trade secret).
tuning forks are still made in sheffield by a company called ragg tuning Forks (the only tuning fork-maker in Britain). the firm has been in the business since the 1840s.
I stopped making them 30 years ago. the factory where I used to work, Morton’s, belonged to my father, and when it was being converted into flats on West street in the centre of sheffield, a street furniture artist was commissioned to create a sculpture made from tuning forks.
Chris Morton, Sheffield.