Journalist Guy Dammann is interested in the reasons that drove Günter Grass to admit to his past. His response to the current situation - "'My silence all these years was one of the reasons I had to write [my autobiography 'Peeling onions']' - seems uniformly weak if nonetheless highly plausible, but, as with Conrad's Lord Jim, those with a guilty past are often the most zealous when it comes to repairing the present. If Grass's silence is also partly what spurred him on, then the route to condemnation is less easy. Hypocrisy is always ugly, but ugliness is no less important to literature than beauty. Grass's crime is to have betrayed those whose spokesman he has sought to be. For those of us lucky enough to have not required his services in this respect, he remains as powerful and as interesting a writer as before." (17/08/2006)

» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » History, » Germany
All available articles from » Guy Dammann

The editor of the Catholic daily, Michel Kubler, believes that "by revealing this incredible side to his past the writer acknowledges that his aura of the imprecatory sage was nourished from within by his own experience of compromising himself with evil ... Indeed, can one speak authoritatively on so grave a subject without having been closely involved, for whatever reason, oneself? By facing up to ... 'the shame' of being a Nazi stakeholder, albeit briefly, marginally, and even subconsciously, Grass has become an ordinary human being, that stands among not above his fellows. He has assumed his full place in the destiny of his people. As he grows old the tin drum child has finally agreed to grow up. He may well grow in stature." (17/08/2006)

» to the homepage (external link, La Croix)
More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » History, » Germany
All available articles from » Michel Kubler

The daily paper considers the malaise prompted by the German writer's revelations. "Grass became a moral authority by speaking his mind on subjects as controversial as German reunification, the Cuban situation, and globalization. It would have been preferable had this authority shown greater transparency over aspects of his own past linked to the public persona he has built for himself. Yet it is better late than never and Grass himself confesses that this 'ignominy' arouses a 'a sense of shame' in him. His delay in unveiling such an important fact of his life does not, however, impair the quality of his literary work or the justice of the causes he has defended and still defends. His delay merely confirms that nobody is perfect and that we are all human. Too human, sometimes." (17/08/2006)

» full article (external link, Spanish)
More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » History, » Germany

Julianna R. Szekely draws parallels between the debate about Günter Grass and the scandal when Istvan Szabo's past as a Stasi informant was revealed, and she defends both artists: "It's a terrible mistake to let an event in the life of an artist overshadow the value of his life's work. One of the things that make both Grass' and Szabo's works so wonderful is that they portray guilt and sin, defeat and triumph over life's problems, and not from a distanced, objective point of view but in a moving and intensely involved way." Szekely reserves her criticism for those who condemn Grass and Szabo. In her eyes they are hypocrites who act as if "they were born with pure souls, the products of an immaculate conception." Szekely argues that they, too, have sins on their conscience but unlike Grass never asked themselves the question: "Could you have understood back then the full implications of what you were doing?" (17/08/2006)

» full article (external link, Hungarian)
More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » History, » Germany
All available articles from » Julianna R. Szekely

Viliam Buchert argues that although Günter Grass may have lost his halo by admitting to having served with the Waffen-SS, it was still an important step. Buchert examines Grass's admission in the context of the Czech Republic's communist past. "Many people refuse to admit to having collaborated with the state security service. Now that Grass has made his confession, we must ask ourselves what is to be done with those who collaborated with National Socialism or communism. Those who are guilty should openly admit it. You don't have to be religious to see that repentance and clarification should be rewarded with forgiveness. But as usual, the Czechs prefer to turn a blind eye on their past… Günter Grass's confession has made it clear how far we are from having come to terms with our past. We refuse to confront the past simply because we don't want to." (15/08/2006)

» more information (external link, Czech)
More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » History, » Germany, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Viliam Buchert

"It's a genuine Methuselah complot" write novelists Eva Menasse (born in 1970) and Michael Kümpfmüller (born in 1961) commenting on the hoards of over 70-year-olds who are flooding German feuilletons with their views on the Grass affair. "It's time this country finally freed itself from the narcissistic narrow-mindedness of its discourse on National Socialism; that it puts an end to all the navel-gazing and turns its attention to the world instead… It's disgraceful that in the space of three days the Grass affair has provoked more commentaries and moralistic views from German poets and intellectuals than the war in northern Israel and southern Lebanon did in the 33 days before these revelations… Where were all those German intellectuals who would have claimed: 'It doesn't take Auschwitz to get us to express our views here?' Or - 'We're on Israel's side not because Nazi Germany killed six million Jews but because Israel is a democratic state with enemies who want to destroy not just Israel but all democratic, pro-Western societies'?" (17/08/2006)

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Social movements, » Germany
All available articles from » Michael Kumpfmüller, » Eva Menasse

The Franco-Bulgarian philosopher Tzvetan Todorov believes the Old World would be better placed to fight terrorism than the United States. "Although America is stronger than the European Union in terms of conventional weapons, the EU's ability to combat terrorism is greater than that of the US. Europe's history gives it a political maturity that has spared it the Manichean view of the world according to Bush. A view that instead of destroying the enemy has strengthened it. For geographical reasons, Europe has better knowledge of Arabic and Muslim countries whose people are also more familiar to it. And in its defence of the values its holds dear it can and must prevail. It could even draw therefrom the fresh motivation it sorely needs to bolster its own unity." (17/08/2006)

» to the homepage (external link, La Repubblica)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Europe
All available articles from » Tzvetan Todorov

In an intervew to the Flemish weekly, Alex Standish, editor of the respected 'Jane's Intelligence Digest', draws a parallel between the protest movements of 1968 and today's Islamist movement. "I don't know if there are more terrorists trained in Europe than before. What is certain is that Europe has a problem and the United Kingdom more than most because of its ties to America. Furthermore, some very bitter young men believe their terrorist acts are just. A parallel can be drawn with 1968. A youth protest movement against government policy took place, under banners like the Vietnam War. It was a European problem that was particularly strong in France. Young people were angry, they rose up against politics and thought only of direct action. A minority even went one step further, engaging in terrorist action and Marxist movements like the Baadher-Meinhof group ... What we are seeing today might be an Islamist remake of 1968." (17/08/2006)

» to the homepage (external link, Knack)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » History, » Weltanschauung, » Europe
All available articles from » Alex Standish

Albanian writer Ismail Kadare assesses the European dreams of the peoples of the Balkan peninsual. "After shrugging off the Ottoman yoke, they have tried one after the other to unite with Mother Europe. But they are all branded by the ring of Ottoman slavery. It has caused Europe to long regard them with aloofness and mistrust. Yet, like all characters in ancient mythology, they have tried to forget their accursed mark. Thanks to memories of other times Greece was the first to be accepted back into the fold. Romania and Bulgaria are still waiting for their welcome. But there is one, indisputably Balkan, area, that of the Western Balkans ... Five countries - Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia, who seem repentent and innoncent, are now waiting for the verdict of their mother continent. All five still wear the infamous ring, that mark of slavery." (17/08/2006)

» more information (external link, Spanish)
More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » South East Europe
All available articles from » Ismail Kadaré

According to historian Aleksander Hall it's not only Poland's eurosceptical governing parties but also Europe's left that have tarnished the country's image within the EU. In a guest commentary Hall argues that Poland's poor image "is reinforced by several leftist and ultra-left lobbies for whom being European means full state recognition of homosexual rights or condemnation of the death penalty. The reaction of representatives of the European Commission and the Council of Europe to President Lech Kaczynski's personal comment in a radio interview that in certain cases he would favour imposing the death penalty can only be described as hysterical… Such incidents tell us a lot about the current state of European civilisation. In influential and opinion-forming circles, same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia are considered normal while any kind of discussion about the justifiability of imposing the death penalty for the most serious crimes is regarded as scandalous." (17/08/2006)

» full article (external link, Polish)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Religion, » Weltanschauung, » Poland, » Europe
All available articles from » Aleksander Hall

Judit Hamberger of the Laszlo Teleki Institute in Hungary points to how Czech Social Democrats and communists try to get round the so-called Lustration Law, which excludes former communist functionaries and secret service collaborators from holding public office. "In their government programme the Social Democrats, in government since 1998, say nothing about wanting to make a break with the communist past. On the contrary: there are numerous attempts to hinder the process of confrontation with the past." Hamberger criticises the fact that while state security spies are publicly condemned, there are still former collaborators whose identity remains secret. "There are many who can count themselves as the real winners of the Velvet Revolution. Their names don't appear on any lists and before the fall of communism they were relatively well paid. After the fall of communism they were able to profit from privatisation measures, thanks to their connections in high places and privileged access to information. They don't hold public office but many own large companies." (13/08/2006)

» full article (external link, Hungarian)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Judit Hamberger

Up to now Romania has done little in terms of confronting its communist past. Markus Bauer reports that President Basescu has now set up a special commission to research the communist era. He was prompted to do this by the Council of Europe's official condemnation in April of communist crimes and by an appeal launched by journalist Sorin Iliesiu. In the appeal, Iliesiu called for "research leading to the official condemnation of the communist past. Within a very short time, more than 30 different organisations and many former dissidents and victims of communist persecution have joined in support of the political manifesto, which has triggered a surprisingly deep response from Romania's developing civil society." (17/08/2006)

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » History, » Romania
All available articles from » Markus Bauer

In a single fortnight over 36,000 hectares of forestland have burned in Portugal. Antonio José Teixeira, the managing editor of Diário de Notícias, describes the failure of government policy. "In the heat of the flames, all is under fire, with accusations aimed both at the fire brigade and successive governments. We practise a scorched earth policy, exploiting the woes of others to always arrive at the same conclusion: regional planning, forest management and surveillance, popular commitment, all are defective, and there is still no effective system for fighting forest fires. We have long known that. Yet every year our lack of originality is tragic. As usual ministers are under fire, atoning for their errors or denouncing their colleagues ... Add to all that the fact that we have not used the reforestation support fund - only one-half of the 90,000 hectares planned have been replanted - and the idea that nobody cares gains ground." (17/08/2006)

» full article (external link, Portuguese)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Portugal
All available articles from » Antonio José Teixeira

Pierre Chapaz, creator of the news search engine Wikio, explains that despite the success of broadband Internet Europeans struggle to compete with Americans when it comes to producing content. "Although France and other European countries (like Great Britian, but not Germany, which is penalized by excessive access rates) have built a lead in Internet service distribution infrastructure, the same is not true of service and content production ... Shouldn't Europe's lead in broadband be fertile ground for a few dozen European Web 2.0 startups to grow and multiply? It's an opportunity to sieze: the demand is there, and the technologicial know-how and funding are available for producing new services. Europe, by its very nature multilingual, is an excellent springboard for creating international services." (17/08/2006)

» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Online media, » France, » Europe
All available articles from » Pierre Chappaz

A court decision has forced the Brücke Museum in Berlin to return Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's painting "Street scenes" to the heirs of its former owner, Alfred Hess. According to Heinrich Wefing, it was not clearly established that the picture actually was looted by the Nazis. In the paper's leading article he complains that it is becoming increasingly difficult for museums to defend themselves against restitution claims. "Martin Roth, the general director of the Museums of Dresden, recently voiced the suspicion that 'there is currently a coordinated strategy aimed at uncovering looted art because the market needs fresh merchandise'. It's certainly noticeable that none of the recently returned works of art remained in the hands of the heirs for long. All of them were quickly auctioned off. But providing new merchandise for the art market should not be the purpose of a restitution policy which is supposedly aimed at making amends for past crimes. The time has come to readjust the balance between the interests of former owners and the interests of museums." (17/08/2006)

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Exhibitions / Museums, » Cultural Policy, » Germany
All available articles from » Heinrich Wefing

Spanish artist Fernando Arrabal was among the spectators in Brussels for a performance of his play 'Pucelle pour un gorille' ('Maiden for a Gorilla'). In an interview with Catherine Makereel, Arrabal - who founded the Panic movement with writer Roland Topor and film-maker Alejandro Jodorovsky - talks about his perception of provocation. "I've never been provocative in my life. Words are a life of the mind, which I sometimes use in reaction to hateful events. Provocation is like love, luck, success, you can never plan ahead ... I said shit to God and the fatherland in a dedication I wrote against Franco, but others deserve more than I do to go to prison. Beckett wrote the finest letter for my trial. He wrote what he would have said about Houellebecq today: 'The poet must suffer greatly in order to write, gentlemen of the court, do not add to his pain.'" (17/08/2006)

» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » Philosophy, » Spain
All available articles from » Fernando Arrabal

The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia wants to liberalise the shop-closing laws and for the most part let shop owners decide when and how long they stay open. Martin Weiss hails this as "the end of German socialism." "A couple of years ago, no-one would have believed that the laws governing shop opening hours in Germany would be relaxed before Fidel Castro died – but it's happened. At first it was only North Rhine-Westphalia, but this is a nice example of active federalism," Martin Weiss writes. "Lets hope the Germans also bid farewell to other outdated ideas, such as social dumping." (17/08/2006)

» more information (external link, Czech)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Trade, » Germany
All available articles from » Martin Weiss