Günter Grass and the Cold War

ISSN： 1478-2804

Source： Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Vol.15, Iss.2, 2007-08, pp. : 149-162

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Abstract

This study focuses on the question of the extent to which the Cold War has impacted on Günter Grass's writings. From the early 1960s through to the late 1980s Grass's position as a politically active writer is characterized by a persistently committed stand against the ideological-military East-West conflict that decisively shaped 20th century history after 1945. In the author's journalistic work especially, but also in important literary texts, a continuous line can be traced from his protest against the building of the Berlin Wall, through his support for the Prague Spring and his outstanding services to the new Ostpolitik, to his call for resistance to NATO's policy of arms build-up. Grass's concern is to promote a cross-border East-West dialogue beyond ideologies in order to overcome the confrontation between blocs and at the same time to work towards establishing an alternative, peaceable social order based on a synthesis of democracy and socialism.