Author Gunther Grass has admitted to a German newspaper that he served in Hitler’s Waffen SS during World War II. “Grass, 78, is regarded as the literary spokesman for the generation of Germans that grew up in the Nazi era and survived the war… He was long been active in left-wing politics as a sometimes-critical supporter of the Social Democratic Party and is regarded by many as an important moral voice who has opposed xenophobia and war.” He says that a deep sense of shame has consumed him for years regarding his service in the Third Reich’s much-feared paramilitary force.