Crabwalk Novel and The German Identity

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December 10, 2021
Crabwalk Novel and The German Identity
Understanding the relationship between literature and the past is essential for everyone. This allows him to better appreciate how historical events have influenced the flow of these pieces of art and understand the author's words in context to the socio-political and historical circumstances that existed during its time of writing. Accordingly, this article would focus on Gunter Grass 2022 novel entitled Crabwalk. Specifically, the succeeding sections would provide a short overview of the novel and a careful analysis of its 'controversial aspect,' which relates to the perception and disambiguation of Germany's past. Nonetheless, I believe that while the Grass' approach might seem controversial at first hand, recognizing both sides of the story allows us to avoid repeating the same mistakes of the past.
The Plot
The Crabwalk revolves around the story of the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff, a German military transport ship sunk by the Soviets in 1945. Accordingly, this event set a symbolic foundation throughout the story since Paul Pokreifke, a German journalist and the story's main narrator, was also born on the same day on board the ship that rescued Tulla, his mother CITATION Gra02 \l 1033 (Grass). Thus, this event has significantly influenced his life and others, as his mother has continuously reminded him of his responsibility to remember such events in writing.
However, while Paul tried his best to avoid commemorating his best, it was later shown that Tulla was able to influence his son, Konrad, into the same. This led to a strange interaction in their website wherein Konrad and Wolfgang (Wolfgang Stremplin) interacted as Gustloff and David Frankfurter, respectively.
Further in the story, Stremplin and Konrad meet in Gustloff's hometown. After Wolfgang's act of spitting in Gustloff's memorial, Konny shot him in the head. After that, Konrad surrendered to the authorities and uttered the words, "I shot because I am a German." Ultimately, Paul realized that the news about his son being imprisoned has led to his sensationalization and becoming a new martyr in the eyes of neo-nazists.
The German Identity
One of the main reasons why the Crabwalk has served as a challenge to the identity of current-day Germans is because it opens up what some might call a 'national taboo' in the discussion of Germany's past CITATION Bur06 \l 1033 (Buruma). One of the main themes, as could be seen from the plot itself, was the 'desire' of the Germans to realize and commemorate the victims of the war, which Grass considered as 'Taboo' considering the atrocious acts done by the German CITATION Mar03 \l 1033 (Mars-Jones).
The Victims of the Past
In line with the story, I believe that Tulla served as a representation of this persona. On the one hand, Tulla was a victim of the war since she was a non-combatant and has suffered injuries and emotional trauma as she was aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff. This espoused her desire to seek justice against what happened, even in the form of a "memorialization" of what happened to them CITAT...