Günter Grass

German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, and sculptor (1927-2015)

Fame74.6
Momentum0.4
Germany rank#99

Source-basedFalling

Fame74.6
Momentum0.4
Germany rank#99
Writers rank#204
Wikipedia37.7K

Lived 1927–2015, aged 88Germany

Germany WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
113 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Germany
#99
Writers
Era
1927–2015
Aged 88
Known for
The Tin Drum
1979

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

He gave postwar Germany its defining novel — a drummer boy who wills himself to stop growing — then spent decades as its left-wing literary conscience before a 2006 confession rattled everything: at seventeen, he'd served in the Waffen-SS.

Biography

About

Born in 1927 in the Free City of Danzig, Grass was drafted into the military at seventeen and served in the Waffen-SS from late 1944 until American forces took him prisoner in May 1945. Released a year later, he trained as a stonemason and sculptor before turning to writing in the 1950s, drawing repeatedly on the Danzig of his childhood. The Tin Drum arrived in 1959 — a magic realist landmark that became the first of his Danzig Trilogy, followed by Cat and Mouse and Dog Years. The 1979 film adaptation won the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. An active supporter…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Günter Grass

Günter Grass

said2003

Even if surrounded with explanations, Auschwitz can never be grasped.

— As quoted in The Boys' Crusade (2003) by Paul Fussell, pg xv

Günter Grass

said1986

We of the long tails! We of the presentient whiskers! We of the perpetually growing teeth! We, the serried footnotes to man, his proliferating commentary. We, indestructible!

— The Rat (1986), p. 6

Günter Grass

said1972