More Günter Grass, Alas

Günter Grass writing in the New Yorker to justify his Nazi past, puts part of the blame on his father for having audible sex with young Günter's mother:

The hatred of a mother’s boy for his father, the subliminal battleground that determined the course of Greek tragedies and has been so eloquently updated by Dr. Freud and his disciples, was thus, if not the primary cause, then at least one of the factors in my push to leave home, Grass writes with his customary restraint.

Later, he recalls how he rejoiced at the removal of an heroic pacifist, with whom he served, to the concentration camps, on grounds that the presence of the pacifist made life more difficult for him.

This early pattern - blaming the blameless for his inner disgust at himself - became the trademark feature of the wretched Grass' subsequent career, as he lost no opportunity to castigate capitalism, Chritianity and democracy. The fact that space continues to be given to Grass to justify his deplorable convictions - at ludicrous length- is disgusting.

How I Spent the War, by Günter Grass: The New Yorker

Hero von Esens: Former Waffen-SS Man Has Book To Sell

Austrian Nazis: the Curse of Von Esens

Jörg Haider with beer-drinking buddy

The Austrian government minister Jörg Haider, a keen admirer of Adolf Hitler and his policies, has just pulled off a coup worthy of his hero: he has abandoned his party (the FPÖ), formed a new one (the BZÖ), with a shiny, more mainstream positioning, and has taken all the ministers from the previous party with him.

It's reported that Haider's Austro-Canadian paymaster, billionaire Frank Stronach, ordered Haider to move further away from the Nazi image which taints the FPÖ party. Haider was, as it appears, more than happy to oblige. The FPÖ is deeply in debt. In such circumstances, it is expedient to rip it up and start again.

The crazy thing is that Haider and his seedy chums can remain in government! A huge fraud has been perpetrated on Austrian voters.

By some weird circumstance, this procedure is acceptable under the Austrian constitution.

A clear case for the Curse of Von Esens, which is herewith called down on Haider and his spineless coalition partner, Chancellor Schüssel.

Jörg Haider's Volkswagen Phaeton, 11th October 2008

UPDATE: On 11th October 2008, a mere three years after the Curse of Von Esens was called down on him, Jorg Haider died in a car crash on his way back from a gay bar in Klagenfurt where he had been drinking with a young man. Haider's car was travelling at 142 km/h (88 m.p.h.) more than twice the limit. His blood alcohol level was 1.8 mg/L, more than three times over the limit. (By another weird circumstance, an Austrian court has ruled it illegal to describe Haider as homosexual or bisexual on the grounds that this would breach his "personal and privacy rights)