Tahar Ben Jelloun analyses the Grass case

The Franco-Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun returns to the confessions of the German author Günther Grass, who revealed last month that he was enlisted in the Waffen SS at the age of 17. "Sometimes a migraine results from a psychological vexation. This has just happened to Günther Grass who had an obscured memory engraved in the depths of his brain. It had remained hidden for 60 years, re-emerging when the author was writing his memoirs. Normally the most frequent danger that comes with age is Alzheimers. With the German author, it is more a case of anti-Alzheimer. His memory over-flowed and memories came out of their hiding places without asking for permission. Unless he coldly decided to tell what he had always meticulously repressed and wiped off his youth."

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