GDANSK, Poland, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Polish officials have accepted German novelist Günter Grass's explanation for having served in Waffen SS, and will not revoke his Gdansk honorary citizenship.
The author was acclaimed for "The Tin Drum," published in 1959, which examined Germany's Nazi legacy. Grass, 78, also won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1999.
He revealed his SS past earlier this month, bringing criticism throughout Poland, which was taken over by Nazis during World War II, Deutsche Welle reported. In response, Polish President Lech Walesa and the ruling Law and Justice party called for his citizenship to be taken away.
Grass said he had probably erred in waiting so long to reveal his service in the elite corps.
In a letter to Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz, he wrote: "In my blindness as a boy of 15, I applied to serve on submarines, but I was not accepted. But in September 1944, at the age of 17, I was conscripted into the Waffen SS, without having a say."
Grass said his books and political activity are testimony to his transformation.
Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, and Archbishop Jozef Michalik, president of the Polish episcopate, defended Grass. Walesa dropped his demand to take away the honorary citizenship.
