An unexpected pilgrimage - The Günter Grass-Haus / Lubeck

A few days ago, we decided to take a city break to Hamburg. My wife, Fiona, suggested we take a day trip to Lubeck, so armed with train tickets we took the S-Bahn to Hamburg central and then an hours train journey to Lubeck. It's a bustling city, full of tourists, steeped in medieval history, easy to walk around and on a cobbled side street; Glockengieserstrasse we came upon The Gunther Grass Museum.

I always associate Grass with my secondary school years and my group of friends who were instructed by their German teacher to watch German cinema. We traipsed off to The Curzon Cinema (now long gone) in Dublin to see 'Tin Drum' and 'Mephisto'. I then read 'Tin Drum' many years later when the band I was with was touring Holland and Germany. I also was gifted 'The Rat' by a girlfriend at the time, so it was very much a trip down memory lane.

But the museum is worth the visit. In an easily navigable space, you can mine deep into Grass' creative development - his birthplace in Gdansk and his indoctrination (like so many of his generation) into Nazism in Germany, one he eventually rehabilitated from. 

His manuscripts and drafts are preserved and any writer loves to look at the processes of other writers. Grass was an accomplished artist; sculptures and paintings are dotted around the museum. A full size Oskar with his tin drum leads you up into the cinematic works, as well, a recreation of the family-run grocery shop where Oskar hides from the realities of life.

'Tin Drum' and 'The Rat' were immense reads and left an impression on me. In many ways Grass was similar to Brecht, another influence on me - they had a cynical perspective but understood many mediums other than books.

A fascinating museum to visit and a wonderful insight into the mind of a great writer.

https://grass-house.com/museum