Die erinnerung liebt das versteckspiel der kinder : der erinnerungsprozess in Günter Grass. Beim Häuten der zwiebel

This thesis investigates the different dimensions of the memory concept in Günter Grass‟s autobiographical text Peeling the Onion, published in 2006, building on theories by Jan and Aleida Assmann, Maurice Halbwachs, Astrid Erll and Harald Welzer, which deal with memory and particularly with memory relating to the National-Socialism. The national and international debate on Peeling the Onion as well as the number of publications on memory in relation to national-socialism have shown that this topic is still of importance and interest today. Grass writes about his own past, particularly the time between 1933 and 1959, the year in which his debut novel The Tin Drum was published and uses various strategies to evoke his memory and to reconstruct what influences, thoughts and attitudes had led him to believe in the national-socialist ideology and to finally serve in the Waffen-SS in which he was drafted towards the end of the Second World War. The thesis is divided into five chapters: I. Introduction II. The theoretical background for the analysis III. The concept of memory in Peeling the Onion IV. The reception of the memory process in Peeling the Onion in the media and Grass‟ reaction V. Conclusion The first chapter provides the theoretical background, mentioned above. The second chapter investigates how and with what metaphors and figures memory is reconstructed in Peeling the Onion and what role intertextuality, especially the reference to Grass‟ Danzig Trilogy and to Grimmelshausen‟s Simplicissimus play for the process of memory and for the fact that it is no reproduction, but only reconstruction of former situations and thoughts. Furthermore, it is analysed in how far the narrator in Peeling the Onion constructs himself within the memory process as a literary and fictional character and how the different self-portrayals, that are created, are formed to a self-construction and self-express for the narrator himself but also for the reader. In the third chapter the national reception of the memory process in Peeling the Onion and the confession of the Waffen-SS membership is investigated. The central questions in this chapter are, how the process of memory within the book is discussed and to what extend this leads to a discussion about the difficulties in dealing with the Nazi-past in Germany. As Grass replied to the critique in interviews and a collection of poems, called Dummer August (2007), his reaction on the debate will be also analysed with focus on memory and the self-construction and self-picture of the narrator. The research on Peeling the Onion has mainly focussed on the national and international reception of the text and the confession of the Waffen-SS membership (Braun/Brunssen, Gries) or on autobiographical hints in Grass‟s oeuvre, which become evident in his autobiographical text (Lorenz). Some articles and chapters on Grass‟ oeuvre mention the memory process in Peeling the Onion without analysing it in detail (Neuhaus, Platen) and one article focuses on the different point of views in the book and shows how this underlines the difficulty and vagueness of the memory process (Kokot). Up to date there is no detailed analysis of the different dimensions of the memory process in Peeling the Onion and of the self-construction within that process. This thesis aims to fill this gap and to analyse the concept of memory and the self-construction of the narrator and author with regard to the reception of the text and Grass‟ reaction on the media debate.