Germany's controversial Nobel Prize winning author and political activist, Günter Grass, died in a hospital in northern Germany on April 13, with no cause of death provided. He was 87 years old.
The multi-faceted artist, who some say was as talented a sculptor as he was a writer, is best known for his book The Tin Drum and for his decades of political expression, which brought him both international scorn and international accolades.
Grass was born in Danzig, Poland, what is known as Gdansk today, and while revered for his literary talent, he is also known for hiding the fact he was a Hitler youth, while publicly condemning Germany and the Nazi party for decades.
The fact he hid, for decades, his role as a Nazi Waffen-SS regiment during his teen years prompted many colleagues and political leaders to dismiss him and his work, citing duplicitous actions in calling out Germany for its Nazi history, while not admitting he played a role. He came clean about his Hitler Youth years in 2006.
While admitting he was not a close friend, or even a close literary colleague, Russian author Wladimir Kaminer is a Grass fan and says the author died at the wrong time of the year, in spring, when people shouldn't be dying. The Germany resident recalls Grass' literary abilities.
"I can really relate to the message he transmitted through his books. He aimed to capture the past. This is a very important challenge in this world, which is changing so quickly," Kaminer said.
"The only thing that remains is the stories - provided that they were told in a clear and exciting way by the authors, so that the next generations will still want to read them. I think Günter Grass managed to do that. What he wrote will still be read in a 100 years."
During his lifetime, Grass was loved and reviled by those in the literary world and the political stage. He was called "more than a writer ... a seismograph for society," by the independent German Cultural Council.
Salman Rushdie, a heralded novelist, also noted for his writing and political viewpoints, called Grass a "true giant inspiration and friend."
What Grass wrote about Germany's history and politics will likely remain relevant, given his rare viewpoint of post-World War II Germany. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999 for a collection of essays called My Century. The Nobel committee described the author as having a "particularly keen eye for stupefying enthusiasms."
In addition to the controversy of hiding his service in the Hitler youth movement, Grass is remembered for his poem in which he labeled Israel a global threat to world peace.
"Why do I say only now ... that the nuclear power Israel endangers an already fragile world peace? Because that must be said which it may already be too late to say tomorrow," he wrote in the poem.
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