5.4.12
Günter Grass
Was gesagt werden muss
Warum schweige ich, verschweige zu lange,
was offensichtlich ist und in Planspielen
geübt wurde, an deren Ende als Überlebende
wir allenfalls Fußnoten sind.
Es ist das behauptete Recht auf den Erstschlag,
der das von einem Maulhelden unterjochte
und zum organisierten Jubel gelenkte
iranische Volk auslöschen könnte,
weil in dessen Machtbereich der Bau
einer Atombombe vermutet wird.
Doch warum untersage ich mir,
jenes andere Land beim Namen zu nennen,
in dem seit Jahren - wenn auch geheimgehalten -
ein wachsend nukleares Potential verfügbar
aber außer Kontrolle, weil keiner Prüfung
zugänglich ist?
Das allgemeine Verschweigen dieses Tatbestandes,
dem sich mein Schweigen untergeordnet hat,
empfinde ich als belastende Lüge
und Zwang, der Strafe in Aussicht stellt,
sobald er mißachtet wird;
das Verdikt "Antisemitismus" ist geläufig.
Jetzt aber, weil aus meinem Land,
das von ureigenen Verbrechen,
die ohne Vergleich sind,
Mal um Mal eingeholt und zur Rede gestellt wird,
wiederum und rein geschäftsmäßig, wenn auch
mit flinker Lippe als Wiedergutmachung deklariert,
ein weiteres U-Boot nach Israel
geliefert werden soll, dessen Spezialität
darin besteht, allesvernichtende Sprengköpfe
dorthin lenken zu können, wo die Existenz
einer einzigen Atombombe unbewiesen ist,
doch als Befürchtung von Beweiskraft sein will,
sage ich, was gesagt werden muß.
Warum aber schwieg ich bislang?
Weil ich meinte, meine Herkunft,
die von nie zu tilgendem Makel behaftet ist,
verbiete, diese Tatsache als ausgesprochene Wahrheit
dem Land Israel, dem ich verbunden bin
und bleiben will, zuzumuten.
Warum sage ich jetzt erst,
gealtert und mit letzter Tinte:
Die Atommacht Israel gefährdet
den ohnehin brüchigen Weltfrieden?
Weil gesagt werden muß,
was schon morgen zu spät sein könnte;
auch weil wir - als Deutsche belastet genug -
Zulieferer eines Verbrechens werden könnten,
das voraussehbar ist, weshalb unsere Mitschuld
durch keine der üblichen Ausreden
zu tilgen wäre.
Und zugegeben: ich schweige nicht mehr,
weil ich der Heuchelei des Westens
überdrüssig bin; zudem ist zu hoffen,
es mögen sich viele vom Schweigen befreien,
den Verursacher der erkennbaren Gefahr
zum Verzicht auf Gewalt auffordern und
gleichfalls darauf bestehen,
daß eine unbehinderte und permanente Kontrolle
des israelischen atomaren Potentials
und der iranischen Atomanlagen
durch eine internationale Instanz
von den Regierungen beider Länder zugelassen wird.
Nur so ist allen, den Israelis und Palästinensern,
mehr noch, allen Menschen, die in dieser
vom Wahn okkupierten Region
dicht bei dicht verfeindet leben
und letztlich auch uns zu helfen.
_________________________
What must be said
Why I am silent, silent for too much time,
how much is clear and we made it
in war games, where, as survivors,
we are just the footnotes.
That is the claimed right to the formal preventive aggression
which could erase the Iranian people
dominated by a bouncer and moved to an organized jubilation,
because in the area of his competence there is
the construction of the atomic bomb.
And then why do I avoid myself
to call the other country with its name,
where since years – even if secretly covered -
there is an increasing nuclear power,
without control, because unreachable
by every inspection?
I feel the everybody silence on this state of affairs,
which my silence is slave to,
as an oppressive lie and an inhibition that presents punishment
we don’t pay attention to;
the verdict “anti-Semitism” is common.
Now, since my country,
from time to time touched by unique and exclusive crimes,
obliged to justify itself,
again for pure business aims - even if
with fast tongue we call it “reparation” -
should deliver another submarine to Israel,
with the specialty of addressing
annihilating warheads where the
existence of one atomic bomb is not proved
but it wants evidence as a scarecrow,
I say what must be said.
Why did I stay silent until now?
Because the thought about my origin,
burdened by an unclearing stain,
had avoiding to wait this fact
like a truth declared by the State of Israel
that I want to be connected to.
Why did I say it only now,
old and with the last ink:
the nuclear power of Israel
threat the world peace?
Because it must be said
what tomorrow will be too late;
Because - as Germans and with
enough faults on the back -
we might also become deliverers of a predictable
crime, and no excuse would erase our complicity.
And I admit: I won’t be silent
because I had enough of the Western hypocrisy;
Because I wish that many will want
to get rid of the silence,
exhorting the cause of a recognizable
risk to the abdication, asking that a free and permanent control
of the Israel atomic power
and the Iran nuclear bases
will be made by both the governments
with an international supervision.
Only in this way, Israelis, Palestinians, and everybody,
all people living hostile face to face in that
country occupied by the craziness,
will have a way out,
so us too.
Translation by Alessandro Ghebreigziabiher
_________________
another attempt at translating to English. Less literal but perhaps more to the point.
What must be said
Why have I been silent, silent for so long?,
Our generals have gamed it out,
Confident the west will survive.
We people have not even been considered.
What is this right to “preventive war”?
A war that could erase the Iranian people.
Dominated by it’s neighbor, pulsing with righteousness
Smug in the fact that it is they, not Iran,
Who have the Bomb.
Why have I so far avoided to identify Israel by it’s name?,
Israel and it’s ever increasing nuclear arsenal,
Beyond reproach, Uncontrolled, uninspected.
We all know these things
Yet we all remain silent, fearful of being labeled:
anti-Semitic
hateful
worse
Considering Germany’s past these labels stick
So we call is “business”, “reparation” take your pick,
As we deliver yet another submarine.
As we provide to Israel the means to deliver annihilation.
I say what must be said.
Why did I stay silent until now?
Because I’m German, of course.
I’m tainted by a stain I cannot wash out
I’m silent because I want so badly to make it right
To put my sins in the past and leave them silently there.
Why did I wait to say it until now?
And write these words with the last of my ink?
Declaring that Israel threatens world peace?
Because it is true and it must be said,
Tomorrow will be too late.
We Germans now carry a new burden of sin on our shoulders
Through the weapons we have sold
We are helping to carry out this foreseeable tragedy
No excuse will remove our stain of complicity.
It must be said. I won’t be silent
I’ve had enough of the hypocrisy;
Please shed the silence with me,
The consequences are all too predictable.
It’s time to demand free and permanent control
of BOTH Israel’s nuclear arsenal
AND Iran’s nuclear facilities
enforced with international supervision.
It’s the only way, in a land convulsed with insanity,
Israelis, Palestinians, everybody, will survive.
And we too, will survive.
TexicanAustin
The truth usually does provoke intense criticism.
April 4, 2012 at 2:07 p.m.RECOMMENDED22
aboParis
Well it *is* hypocritical of the West to complain about Iran and not Israel. And Israel *is* probably the greatest threat in the Middle East to world peace. We will get nowhere if every time a person who makes true statements get shouted down.
April 4, 2012 at 9:07 p.m.RECOMMENDED12
MadridMadrid
Grass just said what every person the world over is thinking-- the truth for the New York elite hurts, but someone had to say it. The world is scared not of Iran (which spends less on defense than Singapore) but ISRAEL, which Martin Van Creveld, eminent Israeli military historian, says is the 2nd or 3rd strongest nuclear power in the world and which, according to him, has nuclear weapons aimed at every capital in the world including Rome.
April 4, 2012 at 9:07 p.m.RECOMMENDED10
MadridMadrid
I don't believe the NYT's will publish my earlier note about how Grass's poem reflects how most of the world sees Israel... how the world is scared of Israel, not Iran. In that note, I cited eminent Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld talking about Israel's nuclear policy, a statement for which the NYT's monitors probably censored my post. So here is the direct quote along with the source so that they have no reason to censor me. Van Creveld states of the Israeli military, "We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force…. We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/sep/21/israelandthepalestinians.boo...
That is why most of the world is scared of Israel, and not Iran, which spends less on defense that Singapore.
April 4, 2012 at 9:07 p.m.RECOMMENDED8
Ahmed AliHamburg, Germany
Knowing the many peace-loving and level-headed Israelis personally, I am sure that the staunchest support for Gunter
Grass will eventually come from within Israel. Only peace within and with its neighbors is the real guarantee of Israel's continued existence and its prosperity. Live and Let Live! This is as simple as that.
The reality on the ground is that Israel is the only (covert) nuclear power in that region. Other states which do not have these weapons of mass destruction must be protected. Using his poetic license, Gunter Grass has warned against a political course at the end of which a Holocaust is the only outcome. The sufferings of the European Jews, in particular the collective pain and uprooting endured by them under the Nazi regime, for which the present generation in Germany, including Gunter Grass, feels a collective guilt, and rightly so, is all the more reason why a collective punishment must never be initiated by Israel. Gunter Grass said what must have been said a long time ago. I fully understand his anguish. Like him, I also have very dear Jewish friends in Israel, but
it is absolutely essential to stem the current Iranian-Israeli rhetoric
before it spirals out of hand.
April 4, 2012 at 9:07 p.m.RECOMMENDED7
TenicanKnoxville
Thank you Mr Grass. Well done. You have now made my Honor List.
April 4, 2012 at 9:15 p.m.RECOMMENDED4
AFHLower East Side
would be nice if you included a link to an english translation.
April 4, 2012 at 9:07 p.m.RECOMMENDED4
PotterBoylston, MA
Perhaps some Israeli's are looking for this, need it, around this time of year--part of the business of claiming victimhood even when they have the upper hand.
I'd like to read the poem in English. If the NYTimes does not feel it can publish it, that would be a disappointment.
April 4, 2012 at 9:15 p.m.RECOMMENDED3
AMartinBoston
Ok, get ready for the onslaught of nasty comments from Israel haters. Perish the thought that they would spill ink criticizing truly tyrannical regimes of this world like Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Myanmar, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Congo Afghanistan, Algeria, Belarus, Cambodia, Chad...so many more...and oh yes, Iran! And yet they pick on the one country in the Mideast where gays, women, minorities of all sorts actually have a decent life. Can anyone explain this continuous, bizarre, obsessive focus on Israel??
April 4, 2012 at 9:15 p.m.RECOMMENDED3
reneenyc
"Israel possesses between 75-400 nuclear warheads."
April 4, 2012 at 9:07 p.m.RECOMMENDED3
LaurentIndia
Why can't the NYT publish an english translation of the poem?
April 4, 2012 at 9:15 p.m.RECOMMENDED2
Markus310773Munich, Germany
One problem is that Mr. Grass has had problems with his own history. He has often attacked others for their history but only recently admitted to his membership in the Waffen SS.
In his biography he tried to equate 6 million dead Jews with alleged 6 million dead German soldiers (in the Soviet Union). 6 minus 6 is zero. So he implied that Germans have paid their due for the Holocaust.
First of all, however, the number was completely made up. Appr. 1.1 million German soldiers died in the Soviet Union. Second of all, it was appaling to equate dead woman, children and men with soldiers who go to war.
This is but one example of his selective "knowledge" about history.
The manner and the words he used in the article had similarities to Nazi speeches.
Mr. Grass is growing old. He came from an illeterate family. Thus he was maybe not able to intellectually counter Nazi propaganda in his youth.
I am German. We know why we critisize Günter Grass. We understand the subtle hints in his "poem".
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