GÜNTER GRASS’ HUNDEJAHRE: EIN BEITRAG ZUR ERINNERUNGSKULTUR IN DER BUNDESREPUBLIK DER SECHZIGER JAHRE

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study considers Grass's Hundejahre as the most important contribution towards the establishment of a cultural memory in the Federal Republic of the 1960s. A brief introduction discusses the concept of ‘Erinnerungskultur’ with reference to international research on memory culture, suggesting that a persistent focus on the Holocaust would neglect important aspects evident in earlier documents in German literature and culture which may have brought about these crimes. My discussion of the ‘Holocaust’ in this novel places less emphasis on the victims than on the collaborators in the crimes and their self‐satisfied lives in post‐war Germany. The portrayal of violence and ‘Mitläufer’ compliance become central aspects, with the ‘Kleinbürger’ mentality featuring as a significant component of the German mindset. By coalescing different time scales, Grass revitalises the past and enhances its relevance for the reader. An ‘Aesthetics of Obscenity’ is employed as a means of illustrating unspeakable Nazi crimes, while fairy‐tale elements and satirical fantasy (the scarecrow ballet) serve as forms of alienation, tasking the reader with unravelling their significance. Compared to the formalism evident in post‐war German literary criticism, Hundejahre must be seen as an eminent contribution to German memory culture which contributed to bringing the debate in Germany closer to international trends.