Still the point I was trying to make is that the man and the writer are different and if Mr. Grass worked for the SS instead of Stasi that doesn't make him any better as a man, does it?
I don't have much of an opinion either way of Mr. Grass, but I don't think volunteering to fight in the Army as a teenager reflects negatively on his character.
I believe criticisms were leveled at him mostly for not disclosing that he served in the SS until 60 years after the fact (despite Nazi criticism being a common theme in his writing).
When you join the army you are also joining what that army stands for. If you were a communist, certainly joining the US Marines would not be high on your priority list, would it?
Unfortunately having an opinion seems to be met with downvotes here at HN which is unfortunate for such a otherwise pleasant group of people.