February 19, 2002

The veteran German writer Gunther Grass is making waves with his latest novel, Im Krebsgang, literally meaning “crab’s walk” and figuratively, “backward movement”. It is acclaimed as being his most significant work of late, bearing the hallmark of the powerful writing that characterizes The tin drum. The writing is brilliant, and the novel is worth reading on its own merits. What makes it doubly interesting, however, is the fact that Grass writes about the sinking of a German ship by Soviet torpedoes in January 1945, which took over nearly 10,000 innocent lives. The ship in question was the Wilhelm Gustloff and its passengers were German refugees fleeing the Red Army; over half of those killed were women and children.

Why is so little known about this, undeniably the greatest sea catastrophe in human history? The reason is this: the collective guilt imposed upon Germans — and one they certainly also felt themselves — after their defeat in the second world war distorted a sense of their own losses in that war. They were made to believe that a people capable of producing monsters like Hitler, who had millions of Jews gassed, had no right to speak of their own suffering, as it paled by comparison. Anyone attempting to do so would be considered a revanchist, or labelled a Nazi.

Economically, the Germans made a fast recovery after the war; psychologically, they are still far from whole. They lack a healthy sense of their own identity, are suspicious of traditions and, to this day, are not quite sure if it’s socially acceptable to make any mention in public of German suffering at the hands of the Allies. In fact, any German losses, in human terms as well as otherwise, came to be understood, by some twisted logic, as a sort of compensation for the horrors perpetrated by the Nazi regime in Europe and against the Jews. A “serves you right” or “you asked for it “ was the response expected if the subject were raised, from Germans and non-Germans alike.

And so there was never any step taken to create public consciousness of the terrible trials of the millions of refugees from East Prussia, for instance, fleeing the Soviets in temperatures as cold as -20 degrees C, or the bombing of Dresden by the British, or of the tragedy of the torpedoed “Gustloff”. The German have a very fitting word for it. Such things were simply “verdrungt”, which translates approximately into “pushed aside”, or avoided. These were taboo subjects in post-war Germany. The result is an unbalanced society where the mainstream lacks “normal” impulses and sentiments, and where, therefore, almost the only people professing a specifically “German” identity turn out to be the xenophobic, unpalatable types.

Interestingly, Grass’ own attitudes seem to have undergone a sea change in the last decade or so. Having always been wary of German reunification, he expressed his doubts thus in early 1990: “One cannot afford to forget Auschwitz when speaking of contemporary Germany.” His views, therefore were entirely in keeping with the commonly held belief that Germans needed to be reminded of the Holocaust from birth to death both to prevent its repetition and as a necessary atonement for the sins of their fathers.

Did he realize at the time what a terrible burden he was thus refusing to free himself and his countrymen from? If he didn’t then, he probably began to do so at the latest by the year 2000, when he found it disturbing that “the subject of the suffering inflicted on the Germans during the war is being dealt with much later than it deserved to be, and, even then, with great reluctance”. This is a clear indication that, whether or not he would now be willing to retract his former statement about the inseparability of Germans from Auschwitz, he was clearly beginning to realize that it was unnecessary and undesirable for a society to live with an eternal guilt complex.

In the last few years, there has been dissatisfaction with this state of affairs in different sections of the German society. Another well-known German writer, for instance, gave vent to his feelings in a public outburst in which he said how fed up he was of the Holocaust being constantly shoved down his throat, and that it was time to throw off the past. This, of course, was immediately condemned by all and sundry, while a few looked this way and that, not knowing if they dared to express their support for him. The Jewish groups in Germany — and abroad — made known their outrage, and demanded apologies. This was a time when there was much debate about the setting up of a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust in Berlin. Needless to say, the effect of this outburst was exactly the opposite of what it wanted to achieve.

Grass has chosen the much more effective and subtle way: his masterful treatment of the unspeakable suffering of the young and the innocent will give this nation the confidence of daring to have normal feelings for their countrymen who have also been victims of the war. It will hopefully be part of a process through which they will eventually realize that, their noses having been rubbed in the ground sufficiently, it is time to move on.

There are indications, though that it won’t be easy going. Germany’s self-styled literary guru, a German Jew of Polish origin, has already pooh-poohed the notion that it would have been in any way impossible to have written this book earlier, thus flying in the face of facts. German writers, according to him, are themselves to blame for not having had anything to do with the subject. In the same breath, he gives us to understand that 9000 dead is not such a high number at all, compared to the 9000 or so Jews that were killed each day by the Nazis in the gas chambers.

And there is every sign that the audience, listening reverentially, is soaking up these words of wisdom.

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