The German Nobel literature prize winner and famous author of The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass breath his last on Monday. He passed away at a clinic in Luebeck on Monday morning, according to the statement released by his publisher.
Born in what was then Danzig, Grass served as a brave cadet in the German army during the World War Two and published his breakthrough masterpiece that reflected anti-Nazi idealism, The Tin Drum in the year 1959 that earned him reputation worldwide. He then succeeded onto being a vocal opponent of German reunification in the year 1990, and argued afterwards that it had been carried out a bit too hastily.
The author had been conferred on the prestigious award in the year 1999 for his beautiful and candid portrayal of the ‘forgotten face of history’ and that era which went along.
His death has been a matter of great grief all over the globe with the The German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier stating that he had been “deeply dismayed” to hear of the author’s death, according to the tweet of the Foreign Ministry. Other dignitaries and common people alike have expressed deep condolences. Author Salman Rushdie had described Grass as “a true giant, inspiration, and friend.” His work has been well-praised and received by people around and also by the Nobel Committee which said that a ‘new beginning’ had been granted to the Germans after a long period of time.
Having led a tough life, he’s believed to have spent a couple of months in an American prisoner-of-war camp. Further self-revelations by him say that he had served in the Waffen-SS during the war, in his 2006 memoir. Grass was then politically affiliated to the campaigning for the Social Democratic Party and was a leading figure in German public life, in his later years.
