Kvæði Günters Grass

Einum fremsta rithöfundi samtímans, Nóbelsverðlaunahafanum Günter Grass, er meinað að koma til Ísraels vegna kvæðis sem hann orti um Ísrael, Íran og kjarnorkuvopn. Þetta tilkynnti innanríkisráðherra Ísraels í dag. Yfirskinið er reyndar það að Grass hafi þjónað í Waffen-SS lok stríðsins, en þá var hann 17 ára. Allir vita þó hvað er hér á seyði, það er kvæðið sem skiptir sköpum.

En hvað er svona voðalegt í þessu kvæði? Grass er einfaldlega að benda á að Ísrael hafi átt kjarnorkuvopn um langt skeið, það hafi verið þagnarhjúpur yfir því, að það sé hræsni og að þessi vopn séu ógn við friðinn. Hann viðurkennir að það sé erfitt fyrir Þjóðverja að segja þetta, vegna hyllilegra glæpa fortíðarinnar sem eigi engan sinn líka, en það sé ekki hægt að þegja. Síðan hvetur hann til þess að alþjóðlegt vopnaeftirlit fylgist með kjarnorkuvopnaeign bæði Ísraels og Írans.

Kvæðið er svohljóðandi í enskri þýðingu – og dæmi nú hver fyrir sig:

What must be said

Why have I kept silent, held back so long,

on something openly practiced in

war games, at the end of which those of us

who survive will at best be footnotes?

Its the alleged right to a first strike

that could destroy an Iranian people

subjugated by a loudmouth

and gathered in organized rallies,

because an atom bomb may be being

developed within his arc of power.

Yet why do I hesitate to name

that other land in which

for years-although kept secret-

a growing nuclear power has existed

beyond supervision or verification,

subject to no inspection of any kind?

This general silence on the facts,

before which my own silence has bowed,

seems to me a troubling lie, and compels

me toward a likely punishment

the moment its flouted:

the verdict „Anti-semitism“ falls easily.

But now that my own country,

brought in time after time

for questioning about its own crimes,

profound and beyond compare,

is said to be the departure point,

(on what is merely business,

though easily declared an act of reparation)

for yet another submarine equipped

to transport nuclear warheads

to Israel, where not a single atom bomb

has yet been proved to exist, with fear alone

the only evidence, Ill say what must be said.

But why have I kept silent till now?

Because I thought my own origins,

Tarnished by a stain that can never be removed,

meant I could not expect Israel, a land

to which I am, and always will be, attached,

to accept this open declaration of the truth.

Why only now, grown old,

and with what ink remains, do I say:

Israels atomic power endangers

an already fragile world peace?

Because what must be said

may be too late tomorrow;

and because-burdend enough as Germans-

we may be providing material for a crime

that is foreseeable, so that our complicity

wil not be expunged by any

of the usual excuses.

And granted: Ive broken my silence

because Im sick of the Wests hypocrisy;

and I hope too that many may be freed

from their silence, may demand

that those responsible for the open danger

we face renounce the use of force,

may insist that the governments of

both Iran and Israel allow an international authority

free and open inspection of

the nuclear potential and capability of both.

No other course offers help

to Israelis and Palestinians alike,

to all those living side by side in emnity

in this region occupied by illusions,

and ultimately, to all of us.

Hér skrifar svo Jakob Augstein greiningu á þessu ávarpi Grass í Der Spiegel – fyrirsögnin er Hvers vegna við þurfum opna umræðu um Ísrael.