Daniel Johnson was stunned when he read Gunther Grass’s admission that he served in the Waffen SS during World War II, and following Grass’s subsequent complain that he feels “attacked” in the wake of his confession, Johnson wants to explain his own feeling of betrayal. “You do not need me to tell you that, for a German of your generation, frankness about your activities during the Third Reich is not merely a moral imperative, but a sine qua non for any kind of public role… All the evidence points to you having been not only a fanatical Nazi but a dangerous one too, eager to wear the death’s head insignia of the SS.”