Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: A former Nazi named Gunter Grass and what Germany owes the Jews

I’ve never believed that children inherit the sins of their ancestors.
 
In the American context, the history of slavery and segregation (de
facto and de jure) doesn’t impute guilt to Americans several
generations removed from such hideous institutions, nor does it
absolve the nation completely of the profound responsibility of “never
again”.
 
Never again will the U.S. allow such institutional racism to reign
within its shores.
 
Similarly, I don’t, in most respects, view modern Germany through a
Nazi lens. When I backpacked through Europe in my 20s, and interacted
with Germans who must have seen the Star of David prominently
displayed beneath my chin, I saw modern, liberal, democratic Europeans
unburdened by the bondage of a Judeophobic ethos.
 
Grass revealed in 2006, 60 years after WWII, that he had been a member
of the Nazi Waffen SS during the war.
 
There’s so much pathos in Grass’ political “lyricism” its difficult to
know where to begin.
 
    The Holocaust denying Iranian President who openly seeks the end
of the Jewish state – representative of a regime which has provided
religious and moral justification for genocide against Israel, a fatwa
on the lives of millions of Jews – as merely a “loudmouth”.
    The classic antisemitic victimological conceit: that criticism of
Jews will bring unfair “punishment” over false claims of antisemitism…
and, that such critiques of every conceivable sin, real and imagined,
of the Jewish state are brave and, yes, rare. Grass is “breaking the
silence“!
    The fiction that Israel is considering a nuclear “first strike”
against Iran. Anyone following the issue would surely know that the
only thing Israel (and, it should be noted, the U.S.) is contemplating
is a strike (with conventional weapons) specifically targeting Iran’s
nuclear weapons facilities.
    There are at least nine nations with nuclear weapons, yet Grass’
poem is strangely concerned with the nuclear capabilities of just one
of those countries – not North Korea, not Pakistan, and not the U.S.
(which possesses the largest nuclear arsenal by far with over 5,000
warheads, and the capacity to strike any target in the world).
    Finally, it is only “Israel’s atomic power [which] endangers an
already fragile world peace.
 
Its truly hard, especially in the context of Grass’ past, not to
contextualize this grotesque caricature of a Jewish state which
threatens world peace with the Nazi fear of world Jewry, whose very
existence was similarly seen as a threat to humanity.
 
 It would be easy to dismiss Grass’ contempt for the Jewish state as a
one-off, the musings of a perhaps senile octogenarian former Nazi,
but, as a recent essay in ‘Comment is Free’ by Hans Kundnani
(editorial director at the European Council on foreign relations)
argued, the poem can reasonably be seen in the context  of Germany’s
increasing anger at Israel.
 
Please, any Germans out there within range of this post, by all means
tell me what you think.
 
We can start off by telling you what I (a Jewish citizen of Israel)
really think about what responsibility you have towards us – what you
owe the Jews.
 
To those of you without ancestors who were complicit in Nazi crimes –
those who simply inherited the shared national legacy of German’s
attempt to annihilate the Jews, all you owe us is a passionate
commitment to defend against even the slightest resurgence of
antisemitism in your country, and moral seriousness in the face of
similar (often murderous) Judeophobia in the larger world (whether
from the radical left, the radical right, Islamist movements, or the
Republic of Iran.)  That’s what “never again” should mean to you.
 
To those of you whose parents or grandparents were complicit in the
Nazi’s murder of one out of every three Jews on the face of the earth,
I think its fair to say that, although you don’t inherit the sins of
your fathers, neither can you ignore them.  You have a greater
responsibility.
 
Perhaps, an understanding of what I mean can be derived from a
particular Jewish tradition.
 
The most profound Jewish principle I came across during my time of
study (on the traditions of death and mourning with Judaism) following
my father’s death in 1997, and one which I still find relevant and
inspiring, was “The merit of the children“.  What this means,
according to Jewish tradition, is that the surviving child, by living
a moral, just, and purposeful life, can, in the eyes of G-d, redeem
the imperfect life of his deceased parent.
 
At first, the ethical connection between my current life and my
father’s previous life (a quite counterintuitive moral calculus)
eluded me. How could what I do now in any way effect how the life he
once lived is judged? After some time, however, the inspired moral
logic became apparent. The way I live my life is necessarily connected
to the way he lived his life – serving as a living testament to who he
was, as a father, and as a man. For, I am the living embodiment of the
sum of his moral life. My virtue inherently emanates from his virtue.
I am, after all, and will always be, my father’s son.
 
So, to Germans struggling with how to deal with the sins of your
fathers, the merit you achieve in this world necessarily reflects both
on you and your family. It doesn’t provide posthumous moral atonement,
but how ethically you behave and the values you teach your children is
a powerful testament to the redemption of your family’s name, your
country’s honor.
 
The historical context of your national T’shuvah (recognizing and
repenting for a sin) necessarily must involve a responsibility to
living Jews, not simply the millions of souls who were murdered (in
death camps named Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Treblinka) 65 years ago.
 
This is what you owe us: a rigorous duty to never again succumb to
classic (and still supremely dangerous) antisemitic narratives of
Jewish villainy.
 
And, finally, a quick word to Gunter Grass, who, in your own life, and
out of your own volition, was guilty of complicity with indescribable
evil:
 
If this ever gets translated to German I sure hope the admittedly far
less than lofty prose I’m about to employ is properly expressed in a
manner which native German-speakers can understand.
 
If you served in the Nazi Waffen SS killing machine, perhaps the best
thing you can do when contemplating lecturing Jews on morality – what
you owe us, and the world,  if you have even a shred of decency
remaining in your soul - is to show humility, feel a healthy degree of
shame, and, to please, whatever you do, keep your damn mouth shut!

 shame, and, to please, whatever you do, keep your damn mouth shut!
 
Come non quotare?
 
 
 
-- 
"Quando ti incontro per la strada ti darei calci nei denti. Ma forse non 
li senti. E' meglio se ti rullo di kartoni (kartoni)"

 facto and de jure) doesn’t impute guilt to Americans
 
visto il tasso di incarcerazione di neri e bianchi, direi proprio di sì

keep your damn mouth shut!
 
E' questo l'importante, ogni scusa è buona anche l'aver fatto un po' di 
corvée come soldato semplice alla fine della guerra, senza essersi 
nemmeno lontanamente macchiato di alcun crimine.
 
 
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israel-has-reacted-with-hysteria-over-gunter-grass-1.423312
 
 
 > Come non quotare?
 
 
 
fe...@delenda.net
 
-- 
http://delendanet.blogspot.com
 

 Waffen SS
 
Ma il vecchio camerata non aveva raggiunto lucidamente il suo scopo?
Chissà che avrà da strepitare Fritz.
 
 
-- 
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of  freedom, must, like men, 
undergo the  fatigues of supporting it.”
 
North Idaho 21st Batallion of Light Foot

 Ma il vecchio camerata non aveva raggiunto lucidamente il suo scopo?
 
Questo è sicuro, e, come faceva notare un critico tedesco, con una 
_poesia_. Nell'epoca che qualche phèss alla Renzi vorrebbe di Twitter, 
un'impresa non da poco.
 
 
 
 
fe...@delenda.net
 
-- 
http://delendanet.blogspot.com
 

 nemmeno lontanamente macchiato di alcun crimine.
 
e poi le esecuzioni erano cosi' amorevoli.
 

 _poesia_.
 
Quindi perché stai strillando?


 Quindi perché stai strillando?
 
le notizie dell'America non lo rendono felice. Per esempio questa
http://www.timesofisrael.com/anti-semite-loses-bid-for-seat-in-us-congress-again/