E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

In one of the oddest moments of 21st century history, the German Government has strongly laid claim to total responsibility for The Shoah (the Holocaust) as a rupture in human civilisation and argued it must continue to teach and defend this historical reading of German guilt. The gut-wrenching irony which is almost beyond my ability to comprehend is that the denial of this official history was presented by the leader of the Jewish state of Israel. Germany it seems is laying claim to its modern existential identity as the post-Holocaust nation as guardian of both guilt and solemn reparation. Whereas for Netanyahu the Holocaust seems to be a more free-floating thing capable of new definitions and even origins. For him the victims remain undeniably the same but the causation can be shifted without existential damage to Israel because in this new foundation story of the Holocaust the chief villain is not a slain ghost like Hitlerism but the current foe - Palestinism. Fascinating and w...

Sad news.   Christa Wolf , one of Germany's major post-war writers, has died.

I am just back from Berlin where I was reading as part of POETRY HEARINGS 2006, the Berlin Poetry Festival run by poet and emcee Alistair Noon. All readings took place at Salon Rosa, a remarkable anarchist style squat in the East of Berlin; audiences were small (40-50) but attentive. Poetry sales were low. There was a film crew on hand and the poets were interviewed. The mood was very warm, and the readers soon bonded over the three days, creating a genuine sense of creative dialogue and sometimes exchange. The hosts were friendly and expert, and the emceeing spot on. I had a great time. Friday 17th November Todd Swift John Hartley Williams Giles Goodland Cralan Kelder Saturday 18th November Chris Jones MC Jabber Michelle Noteboom Leo Mellor Sunday 19th November Mark Terrill Jeremy Hilton Jennifer K Dick Rod Mengham Salon Rosa Sophienstr. 18 Entrance H (same entrance as the Sophiensaele theatre) 10178 Berlin-MitteU-Bahn Weinmeisterstr., S-Bahn Hackescher Markt

In the last few days, several major English-language writers, like John Irving , have come to praise G. Grass , ex-Waffen-SS soldier, and novelist, for doing the right thing, and admitting to having once been 17 and harbouring urges to join the most infamous and criminal gang of war criminals known to history. These literate advocates observe that the Nobel prize-winner (never shy of publicity) has been the conscience of post-war Germany; figured thus, anything he was to say, or do - or to have said, and done - is both apt and exemplary - and supremely literary. It seems Grass has not only mastered the art and craft of fiction - but of shaping reality, as well. Meanwhile, other Nazi-sympathizers, such as Ezra Pound , have never been brought in from the cold, presumably because they never admitted to having joined the wrong side, or never wrote about themes of guilt - though, of course, Pound is by far the greater writer of the two. It seems not all 17-year-olds are to be forgiven - Mao...