Stanisław Barszczak; Werner’s vision, or satire on the universe (part II)

Return to Calcutta—

It’s much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it. Professor Grass wished to do well to the Indians. Kolkata occupied a special place in Gunter Grass’ heart, his consciousness and in his works.
Kolkata also known as Calcutta (the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it is the principal commercial, cultural, and educational centre of East India, while the Port of Kolkata is India’s oldest operating port and its sole major riverine port. In 2011, the city had a population of 4.5 million, while the population of the city and its suburbs was 14.1 million, making it the third most populous metropolitan area in India. In the late 17th century, the three villages were there. In 1712, the British completed the construction of Fort William, located on the east bank of the Hooghly River to protect their trading factory. Facing frequent skirmishes with French forces, the British began to upgrade their fortifications in 1756. The British moved the capital to New Delhi in 1911. India has an alarming rate of poverty. Calcutta stands as India’s poorest city, with sprawling slums and decaying infrastructure. Those most affected by this abject poverty are children. No one knows how many hundreds of thousands of children are born into the hopelessness of extreme poverty in Calcutta. Fortunately, there are people who care, people who venture into the slums to offer help and hope. These children are beautiful because they are homeless.You have to help them.

It was a bitter-sweet relationship that he shared with this city, and its residents with him. Grass visited Kolkata thrice: first in 1975 when he stayed at Raj Bhawan as a state guest and wrote ‘The Flounder’, then for six months in 1986 after which he wrote ‘Show Your Tongue’, and for the last time in 2005. Grass’ morbid description of Kolkata in ‘The Flounder’ was stark and ferocious and enraged many here. Not unsurprisingly, because he wrote: “Calcutta is a pile of shit that God dropped… How it swarms, stinks, lives and gets bigger and bigger… Delete Calcutta from all guide books”. He found the whole city to be a large “slum”, but then threw fuming and indignant Kolkatans off-track by saying that the United Nations headquarters should be located here! Kolkata’s libertine and hidebound intellectuals alike, including many prominent litterateurs, mocked Grass and, when he returned to the city to live, write and paint for six months in 1986, decried the return of the “drain inspector”. But that was Grass- straightforward, honest and fearless. And these are the qualities that have endeared him to many as well. “He always used to tell me that I cannot lock myself in an ivory tower and be ignorant of all that’s happening around me. My works have to reflect present-day realities,” said painter Shuvaprasanna, who hosted the Nobel Laureate in 1986 and has been close to the German poet and philosopher ever since.
-“If one looks at Kolkata through the eyes of a westerner, one can understand why such a visitor would feel appalled by the poverty and destitution in the city. I spoke to him many times about his depiction of Kolkata in his two novels. Grass viewed Kolkata as a city of contradictions, a city that was both lovely and dirty. He used to be both exhilarated and upset by this city. He viewed Kolkata as a heterogeneous city, not a homogenous one,” said Ghose. -“The passing away of Grass marks the end of an era. He was a great thinker, philosopher and intellectual and, above all, a great humanist,” Ghose told too. Shuvaprasanna also remembers his ‘friend, philosopher and guide’ in the same manner. “He was a great humanist and one of the towering figures of our times,” said the painter.
Grass’ trust with Kolkata extended to Bengali theatre also. Amitava Roy, professor of English and drama at the city’s Rabindra Bharati University, who runs Theatre Arts Workshop, had translated ‘The Plebians’ by Grass and had decided to stage it. Grass happily agreed to be the co-director, sat through the rehearsals and even detected a missed line or a scene even though the play was in Bengali.The idea of the title of Grass’ second book on Kolkata (‘Show Your Tongue’) was born while he was witnessing a night-long Kali Puja at Shuvaprasanna’s in-laws in the winter of 1986. -“He asked me why the Goddess had her tongue out and I explained to him it was because she was ashamed of having stepped on her consort. He named his book thus because he wanted Kolkatans to be ashamed of the conditions in the city,” explained the painter.
Grass returned to Kolkata in 1986 because many had cited his stay in the Raj Bhawan in 1975 to criticize his first book, arguing that Grass couldn’t have got an authentic view of the city by staying in the mansion. “He thus wanted to live among the people and write another book on this city,” said Shuvaprasanna, who met Grass for the first time on the first day of the writer’s 1986 visit to this city. -“The Max Mueller Bhawan here hired a ‘baganbari’ (country house) for him at Baruipur to stay in. He used to commute from there to Kolkata every day in overcrowded local trains. After a few months, he requested me to get him a place in the city. My wife’s house in Lake Town was empty and I put him up there. He would come down to my College Street residence every day for lunch,” he said. ‘Show Your Tongue’ holds a mirror to Kolkatans. The sheer volume of deprivation and the apathy of both the middle class and the (then) ruling communist party appalled Grass. Grass, says Shuvaprasanna, often used to wonder why Kolkata is “full of hypocrites”. During his last visit to Kolkata in 2005, Grass observed some improvements, but he felt they weren’t enough. In an interview then, he said his books attracted controversy because they “caught the wounds in society”. A decade later, many of those wounds still exist, and are festering sores.
Grass first encounter with the city was short and quite passionate. He was surprised and dazed by the struggle, and abject poverty of the lower rung population in the city and wrote a surreal piece in his novel ‘The Flounder’, where his strong emotions wove a high-pitched, antithetical tapestry. Later he and his wife came here for six months in 1986 after which he wrote ‘Zunge Zeigen’: ‘Show Your Tongue’. And for the last time he came in 2005, with the company of his family members, including his daughter Nele Kruger and daughter-in-law Yvonne Grass. During the fall and winter of 1986-87, as I mentioned, Günter Grass and his wife, Ute, settled in Calcutta (Now Kolkata), invited by Max Mueller Bhavan (Goethe-Institut) in Kolkata. In commotion with the Bengali-language production of his 1966 play, ”The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising.” Amitava Roy, the Professor of Drama at Kolkata’s ‘Rabindra Bharati University’, who also runs ‘Theatre Arts Workshop’, had translated ‘The Plebians’ and decided to stage it. Grass pleasantly agreed to be the co-Director of the play, sat diligently through the rehearsals and even commented on scenes, though he was not familiar with the language, Bengali! His 1986 stay in the city ended up in his controversial writing ‘Zunge Zeigen’: ”Show Your Tongue” is his candid, even passionate response to the fabled and much maligned city. 97 pages of journals, a 12-stanza poem and 112 pages of expressionist drawings, all in one. Grass revisited Kolkata in 1986 mainly because many had referred to his stay in the Raj Bhawan in 1975 to criticise his first book, arguing that Grass couldn’t have got a reliable view of the city by staying in the Governor’s Mansion.
-“He thus wanted to live among the people and write another book on this city,” said renowned artist Shuvaprasanna, who met Grass for the first time on Grass’s second visit to this city. “
Grass in ‘Bagan Bari’ at Baruipur, then on Lake Town. After living in Baruipur for a few months, Grass moved to up market Lake Town but remained consistently critical of the class division prevailing in the city. To the question if he could write a novel on Calcutta’s widespread contradiction, his reply was direct. He said:
-“I cannot write a novel on Calcutta… Calcutta is a city that demands its own Bengali James Joyce, Alfred Doblin and Dos Passos”. Once day Gunter Grass was in a slum cluster ‘Dhapa’. I experienced it very much, he noticed it in a conversation. Nevertheless, he stuck to the essential truth and mentioned in his long poem on Calcutta. It was in a slum cluster near Calcutta’s biggest dumping ground ‘Dhapa’, he found little children practising their first writings in Bengali. So, he combined the spread of garbage and literacy and wrote a stunning stanza concentrating on the tragic pathos of Calcutta. Bengali letters of Gunter Grass have been preserved.
Gunter Grass crouched over slates, practizing Bengali letters. The exercise, written over and over…In translation: Life is beautiful.” (‘Show Your Tongue’) Metaphorically, Grass, making a comparison between Calcutta and Frankfurt, had stated unequivocally that:
-The well-ordered basti (squatter’s) living room of Calcutta was more satisfying and true to life ,than the enormous building of the multinational Deutsche Bank in Europe’s commercial capital.
He found hope, love, ardour, simplicity and the precious values of life in the basti home of a poor person, which spoke of greater ethics than the all-conquering sight of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt! Calcutta had already became a permanent icon in the Weltgeist (Worldspirit) of Gunter Grass and he told the journalists that the three cities which have governed his life’s outlook and emotions are Danzig where he was born and grew up, Berlin where he lived for a long time, and Calcutta.
In an interview in 2001 he said quite earnestly: “My Indian experience has left an indelible imprint on my creativity. Even when I am not writing directly about India or Calcutta, that experience continues to hover.”
He maintained contacts with the Indians for the rest of his life, A Multifarious Relationship. So, Mr. SV Raman, former Programme Director of Max Mueller Bhavan in Kolkata, served as Grass’s point man and interpreter in Kolkata, during his stay in 1986-87. Recalling Grass’s trip to Kolkata’s renowned and artistically grandiose Durga Puja Pandals, Raman, who accompanied him, said.

-Grass was “awe-struck and amazed” by the grandeur and the opulence on display. Even as he kept sketching on his pad, he couldn’t help mention that he was surprised by the vast contradiction between the grandeur on the one hand and the grime and the poverty of the slums on the other…
It was Raman who had found the Garden house (Bagan Bari) in Baruipur where Grass spent the first half of his stay in Kolkata.
“He wanted to reside outside the city limits. So, I searched for a suburban location and found this house. He didn’t want people to pry on him or barge into his house. So, the location suited him perfectly,” said Raman.
After years at Max Mueller Bhavan, Raman is now a programme consultant at ‘Victoria Memorial’ in Kolkata. Günter Grass trusted Raman with the responsibility of building up rapport and setting appointments with Kolkata’s writers, poets and theatre personalities. As an international personality and a big writer with huge fan following, Grass’s company was most sought after by intellectuals and writers alike. Too many journalists wanted to meet him and interview, but Grass was reluctant.
-“I played a trick. Instead of making appointments formally,” said Raman, I started leaking out information about Grass to people I wanted him to meet”.
-“I would mention to them that Grass would be at the Max Mueller Cafeteria in the morning, slightly dropping a hint that one could go and meet him there. This is how I got people like Sunil Gangopadhyay, Daud Haider and Goutam Ghose to meet Grass, without annoying others. He shared a warm relationship with each of them that lasted till he died,” remembered Raman.
“He used to tell me that as a creative person I cannot limit myself in an ivory tower and be ignorant of all that’s happening around me. My works have to reflect the realities,” said painter Shuvaprasanna.
Gunter Grass was also in India Bangladesh. During his visit to Calcutta in 2005 Günter Grass did not intend to indulge in any trip to the past, or into controversies.
-“I’m very happy to be back. Kolkata has its own characteristic identity. There are so many indigenous arts here that it fills my heart with pride”. He said.
Martin Kaempchen, Grass’s biographer and a Kolkata aficionado had said, -“This visit is of immense importance to him. He wants to see the city with his own eyes and make note of the changes that have come over.”
Then there was a return from afar, Coming Back. The Gut Feeling left. Christof Siemes wrote in the German Weekly “Die Zeit”, how Grass was equally averse to Mother Teresa cult of destitute service that was grown larger than life, in the vicinity of Kalghat’s Kali Temple and found it somehow publicly hungry, tokenist and pretentious!

-“I shall come back”, Grass had already said in 1987, shortly before his departure, “Calcutta continues to be a devastating city, a fascinating city. It has given me something. And I would like to give something back to it”.
In January 1999, Kalyani Karlekar, the 89-year-old Calcutta-based social worker who ran the Calcutta Social Project (CSP), an NGO, looking after the upkeep and welfare of the slum children for the past 27 years, received a letter from Berlin. A cheque was enclosed with a cryptic note from Gunter Grass.
The Calcutta Social Project run by retired teachers couple the Karlekars had impressed Grass so much that together with friends, Grass had every year since sent about 7,000 Euros to the project. Grass had already dedicated his book “Show Your Tongue” to Kalyani Karlekar, G V Karlekar and CSP… Netai Bera, who has been with CSP since 1984, said:
-“Though he was involved, he couldn’t generate funds individually. So he set up the ‘Hilfe fur Slum Schulen’ program in Germany to raise funds, which would sponsor the children’s tiffin, school uniforms and study materials. The royalty from his book ‘Show your Tongue’ was directed to the children’s welfare.” He kept on sending money regularly and silently, without making a fuss about it.
The idea of the title of Grass’ second book on Kolkata (‘Show Your Tongue’) was born while he was experiencing a night-long Kali Puja at Shuvaprasanna’s in-laws place, in the winter of 1986.
-“He asked me why the Goddess had her tongue out and I explained to him it was because she was ashamed of having stepped on her consort. He named his book thus because he wanted Kolkatans to be ashamed of the conditions in the city,” explained the celebrated painter.
Actually Grass’s harsh comment on the city was not for itself, or its poor people, whom he praised on several instances for their toilsome, squalid yet orderly and optimistic lives. It was the abject indifference and apathy of the so-called intellectuals, the so-called creative people and the politicians in general, about the reality and the stern hypocrisy of this class.
It was that irresolvable internal contradiction of the city, that had agonized Grass, and this emotion was blatantly expressed in a much poignant manner which emphasized the antimony, the big paradox named Calcutta!
-“How, where garbage and only garbage grows, am I to speak of Ilsebill because she is beautiful, and speak of beauty”? (Ilsebill is the main female character in Grimm Brothers; fairy tale: ‘Vom Fischer und seiner Frau’ (The Fisherman and His Wife). Günter Grass’s 1977 novel, “Der Butt” (The Flounder), is loosely based on the fairy tale.)
In an interview with Subhoranjan Dasgupta, Grass had explained it further:
-“You know, during my very first visit to India, I saw an atomic research institute standing very close to a very big slum. At that moment, I realised the essential contradiction. On the one hand, you have such compelling problems of sheer existence which have not been solved (indeed, they are multiplying everyday) and on the other, you are spending millions on a kind of research which is not in a position to tackle these curses. This severe imbalance in perception has led to India’s emerging as a nuclear power while its millions still go hungry to bed”.
In the obituary, many commentators and writers stressed Grass’s narrative skills, his Magic Realism etc..
But Hans Christoph Buch, a German novelist and a popular contributor to popular German weekly ‘Die Zeit’, has written:
-“He’s not a great thinker like Sartre. He’s not a brilliant essayist or intellectual like Hans Magnus Enzensberger. He’s a story-teller who writes from the gut.”
The intellectual hypocrisy is mostly abhorred by Grass. In another interview, few years back, Grass wondered whether Britain should not confront its own past more honestly.
– “I sometimes wonder how young people grow up in Britain and know little about the long history of crimes during the colonial period. In England it’s a completely taboo subject!”
To the interviewers of Goethe institute magazine, he said candidly that it was no ill feeling about the city of Kolkata, but the contradiction and indifference of the privileged class that hurt him most :
-“When I went to Kolkata and was confronted by the slums and the misery, but at the same time with the high Bengali culture and vibrant life, I initially was unable to write. Instead I drew and wandered about with my sketchbook. The drawing led me to a diary-like form of writing that then led to a longer Kolkata poem. These three elements – diary notes, the poem and the drawings – made up the book “Show Your Tongue”.
“When it was published they said in Germany that it did not contain enough about the city’s vibrant culture. My attention was mainly on the lower social conditions. It was also received controversially in India. Many Indians said:
“Do we always have to look at this? Aren’t there more beautiful things in India that could be placed in the foreground?” But since I am used to controversial reception of my books, I would have been mistrustful if the book had met with approval everywhere.”
When poet Allen Ginsberg came to Calcutta in the summer of 1962, he spent hours at the iconic Coffee House discussing poetry with author and the poet Sunil Gangopadhyay, and the maverick poet Shakti Chattopadhyay. But Grass had an avid aversion to such intellectual ponderings. Grass’s grouch against India’s elite is that it doesn’t care or do enough for the impoverished majority. That is why he prefers to spend time with the poor, to sketch and to fill up his diary, rather than fraternize with glamourphiles or visit monuments.
In his last visit to Kolkata, Grass wanted to visit a slum. After some reluctance a Goethe-Institut Staffer accompanied him as a guide and translator. Almost curious as a young reporter Grass asked a slum dweller, which a German publication had quoted this way: -“Woher kommen Sie?«, fragt er eine Frau, die sich hinter ihrem bunten Tuch versteckt. »Aus Bihar.« – »Warum ausgerechnet Kolkata?« – »Der freundlichen Menschen wegen.”In english: “Where are you from?” He asks a woman hiding behind her colourful cloth. “From Bihar .” – ” Why exactly Kolkata?” . “Because of the friendly people.” So, despite all the criticism and cynicism , Kolkata, the city itself is not heartless. And Grass knew it by his heart!
-“Why do you think I wrote all this about the hell that is Calcutta? I wrote it because I really care about Calcutta. I really love this city that is as much mine as yours.” Grass confessed.

Honors at the end of life—

As I wrote Gunter Grass had a lot of sculpture, had exhibitions of his work, then he met people, but mostly wrote books for himself. The poet writes for himself, because if he writes for people, the poet is not. Until the year 1989, a few translations were officially published, and the avalanche of editions started in the 90s. Now we know not only the Gdansk trilogy (“Tin drum”, “Cat and mouse”, “Dog years”) but also “Turbot”, “Rat,” “Fortune Tellers,” “Going for Cancer,” and many other prose and poetry books from the Nobel Prize of 1999. In the past 25 years he has been in Gdansk for a dozen or so times, and the most solemn occasions were for the honorary citizenship of the city, honorary doctorate of the University of Gdańsk and a few days celebrations 80th birthday of the writer. He was a horned soul, so there was no shortage of controversy. The biggest excitement in 2006, when he revealed the fact of several months of service in the armored unit Waffen-SS. Many probably are ashamed of what they said or wrote at the time. Last time he came for a short time last fall, he decided a bit earlier on his career as a writer. One could guess that it was one of his last stays in Gdańsk, few thought last. Grass and Kaszuby a separate chapter in Grass’s works is Kaszuby and Kashubian. It can be said that describing the inhabitants of the region was a turning point in their perception, both by Germans and Poles.

Grass has proven, especially in the Tin Tin drum, that the “local” have their own world – with a distinct culture and a clear language of meanings and symbols. He did things previously unimaginable. He made the Kashubians begin to dispose of the complexes through the work of the Nobel Prize winners. Of course, this was not his only merit, but it was impossible to overestimate the fact that the writer was openly talking about his Kashubian roots. He never cut himself off. In this context, it is worth to pay attention to the honor that Grass Kashubia gave. In 1985, so far in the Polish People’s Republic, members of the “Pomorania” Student Club awarded him the Stolem Medal, considered the most important distinction in the Kashubian-Pomeranian region. It is hard not to notice that the artist’s declarations of origin encouraged some to look for his family connections. -With Gertrude Grass on board, I had the pleasure of seeing him many times, Pawel Huelle recalls, polish writer and playwright. I was a guest of honor in Gdansk. I was also a guest at his estate near Lubeck. It was a valuable knowledge. I am impressed by his Gdansk trilogy. Less can “Turbot” and “Rat”. Last time we met in Gdynia at the premiere of adaptation of his novel “Going for Cancer”. He came with his wife, daughter-in-law and grandson. He was very moved.

The great writer each time showed astonishingly deep curiosity about someone else’s way of reading his prose. Wladyslaw Zawistowski, a writer and playwright, mentions: – Twenty years ago, Krzysztof Babicki staged my art “A city,” woven from the threads taken from the Grass trilogy, mainly from the volume “Dog years”. Grass agreed to my script, just asking for the poster to say that the text was based on the story of his novel. Later, I met Grass in Gdansk several times… Rabbi Michael Samet, chairman of the Jewish Community of Gdansk, talks about Günter Grass’s visit to the Gdansk synagogue: -“He accepted our invitation and visited us in autumn 2007. It was then a great step in the path of rapprochement after difficult mutual experiences.” Grass at the end of the war was aware of the great misfortune that also touched the native Gdansk. On the other hand, our meeting in the synagogue was in a good atmosphere, although it is worth pointing out that after publishing his poem ‘What to say’, we could not agree on his unilateral understanding of the situation in Israel. In part of our environment it was even thought that this visit was unnecessary.

The Jewish Jewish Community of Gdansk forbade Nobel Prizewriter Günter Grass to enter their synagogue for the poem “What must be said,” criticizing Israel. Grass for several days is once again under fire from various sides, just as when he admitted he was a volunteer for the German armed forces during World War II.

-“What must be said”: “Why until now have I been silent? Because I thought- my origin, associated with a never irreparable defilement. It forbids me to utter this obvious truth, to the State of Israel, to whom I am and will have a debt of gratitude…”

Finally at last, the crucial appointment… Günter Grass is drinking his final Schnapps with his longtime German Publisher, Gerhard Steidl. It’s just eight days before his death while they were working on his most recent book, which one describe as a fusing poetry with prose. He was fully concentrated on his work until the last moment. Intellectually and socially as active and alert as ever, in his last interview given to the leading Spanish newspaper ‘El Pais’, on that last days, Grass had this apprehension that the humanity was “sleepwalking” into a World War!

– “We have on the one side Ukraine, whose situation is not improving, in Israel and Palestine things are getting worse, the disaster the Americans left in Iraq, the atrocities of Islamic state and the problem of Syria,” Grass said. “There is war everywhere. We run the risk of committing the same mistakes as before. So without realising it we can get into a World War as if we were sleepwalking.”

Werter receives a new book with his texts. So, still life is bigger than the legend, because life is the truth. Life must be worth living, because there is only one.(fin)

(The material presented here is based on authentic facts from the life of a great writer, but it remains literary fiction. We used the web pages on his biography, an author)

Stanisław Barszczak; Werner’s vision, or satire on the universe

(Man – this is a holy thing to hurt anyone is not allowed)

Bysew as a family nest—
Günter Grass, the German novelist, social critic, poet, political activist, painter and Nobel Laureate, died this Monday (on April 13, 2015) in the northern German city of Lübeck that had been his home for decades. He was 87 year man. One of the most eminent German writers of the 20th century, laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Honorary Citizen of Gdańsk. The mother of an outstanding writer was native Kashubian. She was born in Bysew. At that time, the village belonged to the Kartuzy district, now it is a peripheral district of Gdańsk. Grass’s relatives are still living there, including his cousin Irmgard Hutyra of Krause’s house. She grew up with him in Wrzeszcz on one street. Her father died as a defender of the Polish Post. To this day he speaks well in Kashubian and German. She lives with her son Andrzej and his family in Kluków – now also belonging to Gdansk. This is the area of ​​influence of the Branch of the Kashubian-Pomeranian Association in Banin. One of the aspirants of this party was to meet an outstanding writer and to thank him for the works describing the Kashubian region. It was possible to fulfill this dream on July 1, 2012 thanks to the Hutyr family in their Klukow house. It was Grass’s last stay in his mother’s hometown. The Hutyr family has been known to me for years. We have often talked about the writer, especially about his Kashubian roots.
I have expressed several times the desire to meet him. That is why I was invited to this unique meeting, which took place in the last hours of his official visit to Gdansk, just before departure from the airport in Rebiechowo, which is located almost opposite the house of the Hutyr. It was Sunday. As it turned out, it was the last Nobel Prize winner’s stay on his mother’s Kashubian land. The meeting was an excellent opportunity to express gratitude for the presence of Kashubian in his works.
-“We are very proud to meet you. You have made us famous in the world literature. We want to assure you that in our branch of the Kashubian Pomeranian Association there is a very strong memory of it, ” Lady Veronica said in her native language.
Grass was very pleased with the fact that he was addressed to Kashubian, in a language he had heard many times in childhood.
– Do you also speak Kashubian? The nobleman turned to Veronica with interest. The affirmative answer, confirmed verbally, gave him great satisfaction.
– My books are translated into forty languages ​​of the world. Recently also for Chinese. Thanks to that Kaszuby read all over the world. This is a beautiful thing,” the writer said.
From activists in Banin, he received several books on Kaszuby, which contains a special slogan dedicated to the writer’s character, and especially to his merits in the area. It was written, among others: Nobel Grass introduced Kashubian land on the pages of world literature. It captured the Kashubian identity of these areas, especially the area of ​​the former Banino municipality – Matarnia. Today, this area rapidly changes its face, also cultural, especially ethnic.

Beautiful this our Kashubian landscape. Though, for hundreds of years the village was the main place in which the majority of the population lived. The village has its own folk culture, and its inhabitants share common traditions, attitudes and values. The situation changed only in the nineteenth century, with the industrialization, the development of industry and the emergence of large workplaces located in cities, where a large part of the inhabitants were looking for income from the village. Although today the village does not play such a great role in social and economic life, it has been a place of inspiration for writers over the years. By illustrating they describe the living conditions on the village, the way of life, the worldview, culture, behavior and attitudes of the peasants.

In youth Günter’s friends called him Gincio, but in my memory he would become Werner. It seems that Werner plays a role imposed from above. Since there is no ready-made scenario for a life, despite his sincere willingness, he does not manage to play his role well, so he does not follow the action and suffers from the lack of possibility to perform a rehearsal and the inability to re-play a scene during his generation’s life. He must accept that homosexuality genetic made up…Though he is not a scientist playing in a laboratory that is the land for him. Although he was not made of other clay as his peers, he was condemned to eternal self-improvement.
Pattern of a teacher is very important for the character of man. It is assumed that Werner met a wonderful teacher yet in Bysew. First he was fascinated by Nazi youth, the social movement in Europe. Exactly: social good! We always say that we know what happiness is and the good of society, but we never take the happiness of the individual. Is the lowest of all, the sweetest flower can grow in the icebox? Often, the personality of a teacher is more important than his or her knowledge. Uwe is a very experienced and mature teacher. He is able to pass knowledge well so that his charges are absorbed by him and he realizes that his use has a positive effect. Uwe is a very calm and prudent teacher whose wisdom overwhelms stereotypical glances into the world of Werner. Uwe takes an interesting teaching because he first listens to what Werner has to say about life and in no way tries to change his habits. He does not tell him plainly that they are bad, but shows it by example, referring to the nihilian reality. This is an extremely sensible, humble and respectful second teacher. He does not discredit the views of the inexperienced Werner, but he listens carefully to and draws conclusive conclusions from what he hears. He teaches morals, ethics, respect, tranquility, and wisdom and life balance, using an accessible and effective method of knowledge transfer. Thanks to him Werner becomes a better man and understands the deep truths of life that Uwe gave him… Until you yourself become what you want to be, do not ask others to become the product of your imagination.

World War and Lübeck—

September 1939 is one of the most memorable months in the history of mankind, because at that time the Second World War began. Its direct cause was the attack of the Third Reich on Poland. Werner was not prepared for the new situation since the first day of the war, he feels cheated and lonely among other teenagers. Deep in the psyche and conscience of man are sitting cruel and inhuman events from the war hell. Getting rid of them and starting a new, morally pure life in this situation is extremely difficult and requires the help of another person with the same experience. Werner recently became friends with the jewriej Jew. Jewriej was born in Poland and comes from a wealthy Jewish merchant family, is educated, starts to fascinate himself with communist ideology, but his enchantment ends when he is arrested… He also met with John, astronomer who watches stars in the sky, and who yesterday was lauded and considered charlatan. In detail he showed the progressing apocalypse, which according to his prophecy becomes a fact. The work of apocalypse begins with cracking mirrors in the city, and what is happening in the streets and in buildings is so scary that even the saints run away from the churches. Crowds of people panic to the street, and in nature many unusual changes occur. The only group that did not take over the coming end of the world were kidnapped by fun, alcohol and music students submitting poetry. Other residents are paralyzed by fear, refuse to agree with the coming apocalypse, want to live on – in peace and security. John described how the city falls into ruins and cascades down various buildings: offices, theaters, temples, circus shops. Objects from the walls are falling, and the whole streets are in ruins. Over time, all the people go out onto the street and protest together against the end of the world, which has no effect, he announced finally. The chaos took over the whole city and the protests of the inhabitants. Common anxiety and insecurity reflected the flames of Gdansk synagogue. John pointed to the characteristics of particular groups and social classes, showing that everyone in the end of the world is equal, regardless of their origin, color, profession, property, or political beliefs. Every destruction will touch, despite rebellions and feelings of injustice and despair. Only those who do not care about the apocalypse and do not give up their emotions by going out in protest to the street try to react most rationally, because any action will not change what follows.

In this cruel time was he afraid of defiling the love which filled his soul? By no means, he was already in love with girls. Anna had been preparing herself for this meeting, had thought what she would say to him, but she did not succeed in saying anything of it; his passion mastered her. She tried to calm him, to calm herself, but it was too late. His feeling infected her. Her lips trembled so that for a long while she could say nothing. -I didn’t know you were going. What are you coming for? she said, letting fall the hand with which she had grasped the doorpost. And irrepressible delight and eagerness shone in her face. -What am I coming for?” he repeated, looking straight into her eyes. You know that I have come to be where you are, he said, I can’t help it… He could not be mistaken. There were no other eyes like those in the world. There was only one creature in the world who could concentrate for him all the brightness and meaning of life. It was she. It was Anna. -I’ve always loved you, and when you love someone, you love the whole person, just as he or she is, and not as you would like them to be… He stepped down, avoiding any long look at her as one avoids long looks at the sun, but seeing her as one sees the sun, without looking. In principle he looked at her as a man might look at a faded flower he had plucked, in which it was difficult for him to trace the beauty that had made him pick and so destroy it.
-“The whispers in the morning of lovers sleeping tight are rolling like thunder now, as I look in your eyes, I hold on to your body. And feel each move you make, your voice is warm and tender a love that I could not forsake… The sound of your heart beating made it clear suddenly, the feeling that I can’t go on is light years away… Even though there may be times, it seems I’m far away but never wonder where I am. ‘Cause I am always by your side. ‘Cause I am your lady and you are my man. Whenever you reach for me, I’ll do all that I can. We’re heading for something, somewhere I’ve never been. Sometimes I am frightened but I’m ready to learn of the power of love,” Anna always seemed to repeat it in song, every time they met. Werner in turn, he loved and remained forgotten.

The central figure of all religions is God, who can be understood in many different ways, but for the faithful it will always remain the most important value. The twentieth century was a time of moral collapse, total crisis of values and humanity. The Holocaust is one of the most dramatic events of modern civilization. It is estimated that millions of people have died as a result, many of them innocent.
The Holocaust, or mass extermination of Jewish nationality, organized and executed by the Germans, has left a mark on the present day.
Germany is trying to whitewash its history, negating the crimes committed during the war. Werner could not believe the crimes his compatriots had done. After the war Lübeck settled first in Lübeck. Then in the mid-1980s Grass and his wife Ute moved to the village of Behlendorf, to a remote farmhouse, about 15 miles south of Lübeck, where he was engaged in drawing and sculpture. It was not just a hobby. The sculptures were cast in bronze by a foundry in Munich and put on sale. He did engravings to be used as covers for some of his books.

Lübeck in northern Germany, one of the major ports of Germany is on the river Trave. Because of its extensive Gothic architecture, the city is listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. The Baltic city of Lübeck is famous for its marzipan “bread” industry, Rotspon, the finest wine made from grapes processed and fermented in France and traditionally transported in wooden barrels to Lübeck, historical Churches, a medieval appearance with old buildings and narrow streets, the famous Christmas Fair, many small museums, including Lübeck Museum of Theatre Puppets, its famous residents, among whom there were writer Thomas Mann, writer Heinrich Mann, Günter Grass, painter Godfrey Kneller and politician Willy Brandt. Günter Grass and his wife Ute have been living in Lübeck since 1986. The office of Grass was also located in the same building.

In 2002, the Günter Grass-House (Günter Grass-Haus) was opened at Lübeck’s Glockengießerstraße 21, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, as a permanent location for literature and visual arts. This place provides the ideal location for the presentation of his creative work within a museum set-up. The main focus of the museum is the exploration and presentation of literature and visual arts, as they come together in the work of Günter Grass, who was not only a writer, but also a graphic artist, painter and sculptor. Despite being located in close vicinity to the name giver, the Günter Grass House is an independent museum. For interdisciplinary research the museum has access to a collection of more than 1,100 original drawings, lithographs, water colours and etchings as well as numerous manuscripts. Here one can view a copy of the first typewritten page of Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum; 1959). The sketches on Calcutta and the original manuscripts, all retained here.There are also small bookshop at the premises. An ideal place to remember a great writer! And don’t forget the wine house (Das Weinhaus) next door, which invites you to a culinary delight at the end of the visit in the Grass-Haus. Grass surely knew that the literature always wants to make the sensual perceptible. And he was a great culinary artist himself. Lübeck was also the home of Thomas Mann, a novel Buddenbrooks of whose was set in 19th-century Lübeck. His childhood home next to the remarkable Marienkirche is also a museum.(to be continued)

The Czestochowa city is a mistery.

The best days of my life were spent in Czestochowa. I was born in Silesia (Tarnowskie Góry). I became an adult in Czestochowa. Czestochowa is my pearl, you beautiful city. You are my home, you are my life, you are the city I love, I love. If it were not for the supernatural intervention of Our Lady of Czestochowa, King Gustav might have achieved his diabolical plans to invade and conquer most of Poland. The defenders prayed ceaselessly to uphold their Faith. The Calvinist General Mueller declared: “We shall flatten this hen house in three days.” The holy icon’s great epic was the Siege of Czestochowa in 1655 when an army of 12,000 Swedish Protestant invaders led by a general attempted to take the monastery-fortress of Jasna Gora. The year before, a vision of a scourge in the face of the sun had been seen over the area. Indeed King Carl Gustav (Charles Gustavus) of Sweden had blood relations with Polish Royalty and for this reason, claimed that Poland should be joined to his Kingdom. In 1655, the Swedish Army of Carl Gustav launched a dreaded attack on Poland. The whole Country was occupied, apart from Czestochowa. The defenders of the monastery consisted of monks, villagers, and a handful of nobles and soldiers. The defenders prayed ceaselessly to uphold their faith, country and king. Their defense was successful in granting enough time for the Polish Army to re-group and fight off the invaders. In 1656, the Blessed Virgin of Czestochowa was proclaimed ‘Queen of the Crown of Poland.’ In the same year, King Jan Kazimierz (John Casimir) of Poland in Lemberg placed his kingdom under her protection. I love the monastery-fortress of Jasna Góra, the Warta and the White Hill of Our Lady are very close to me. Czestochowa is a beautiful city with a special handicraft fair, furniture, agricultural equipment, household goods on the Avenue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It offers everything a major modern city should. The tower of Jasna Gora, like a lantern of grace for a Pole, can be seen very far away. Czestochowa, you are like that freshly washed and ironed light blue blouse that I like to put on when I visit people for afternoon tea on a Sunday… or that floral dress that I love had for years and love to wear when my closest friends come to visit and we sit for hours talking and drinking coffee. I love this city- the atmosphere, the mindset of the people who live here, and the Henryk Sienkiewicz’s green park. I walk the promenade of Niemen, with the neighborhoods of the city. I can’t imagine living in any other city. ( by father Stanislaw Barszczak)

W wannie o poranku—
W Syrii objętej wojną “masakra nieakceptowalna” powiedział na audiencji w srode papiez Franciszek. A świat zdąża ku sciezynie do nikąd. Pojechałem przed kilkoma laty za laureatem nagrody Nobla Gunterem Grassem do Kalkuty, stad chce napisać teraz o nim moja opowieść, zamierzylem “pokazac jezyk” bogactwu możnych i pisac o ubóstwie świata… Gdańsk, Berlin, Kalkuta, Lubeka, przystanki ostatnie życia wielkiego Pisarza. Jakie jeszcze słowa beda używać mass media na degradacje cennych wartości… Jakkolwiek nie powiedziałem nigdy mocnego słowa chce Wam powiedziec: za rok będzie Polska albo jej wcale nie będzie… nie chodzi mi o szowinizm, lecz o uratowanie Polski wpisanej juz na zawsze w mapy świata. Co z tej wielkiej Polski pozostało (która zadziwiala Europe w V wieku; nie wspomnę o władzy Wandy jeszcze dziesięć wieków wcześniej, która w obronie swego ludu rzuciła się do rzeki płynącej pod ówczesnym Krakowem. Stąd Wisła. Sumerowie i Grecy jej nie wspominają, lecz dzieje tak. Kraina Poland, która goraco wierzyła Krakusowi i jego współrzadcy w 410 roku nowej ery. Kroniki podają: Polska rządzona była przez dwóch władców, którzy przewodzili wojnami aż po Tuluze w dalekiej Francji… Dwa i pół tysiąca lat naszej historii: przybyliśmy ze wschodu… wyobraźcie sobie- bo to myśmy pokonali Imperium Rzymian, następnie zniknelismy z mapy Euroazji za przyczyną miedzy innymi Niemców… Żyjemy w rozwiniętym społecznym świecie mediów. Polacy, prosiłbym Was o przyjęcie mnie w poczet swoich sług. Chce Polski zawsze wiernej swej tradycji i nie dającej się skreślić w przyszłości z mapy świata już nigdy. Polska moja ojczyzna niech będzie nie na klęczkach, ale silna nowa mądrością matek i córek tego ludu. Owszem teraz i przy udziale moim osobistym sprawdza się porzekadło – biję się w piersi tutaj osobiście- pieniądz nie rządzi. Ale w przyszłości pieniądz zaważy bardzo dla sprawy wielkości tego narodu, z którego wyrosłem. Jakie są warunki realne pracy w USA…nie jestem w stanie powiedzieć.
W Unii Europejskiej regres teraz, mniej szpitali w Hiszpanii…itp. Czy Brexit jest początkiem dezintegracji Unii. Spójrzmy na pozytywne intencje naszej większej zawsze świadomości…Paradoks- nie jesteśmy usatysfakcjonowani obrotem spraw: ekonomia panstw naszych w procesie, kwestia migracji ludzi czy Gibraltaru nie uporzadkowana. Trzeba by zaszczepiać w Europie taka stabilizację świata, która otwieralaby nas nie tyle na wspólne co na korzystne zasady kooperacji. Idzmy dalej: nie powinniśmy zapominać, że od generacji Auschwitz do najmłodszej generacji ludzi tych ziem, przeszliśmy 40 lat innej, bodemokratycznej generacji… Kochani, to mój Bog do was przemówił. Bądźcie madrzy zawsze i wszędzie…
(all rights reserved by Stanislaw Barszczak)