By Jan Repa Central Europe analyst, BBC News
The admission by Nobel prize-winning novelist Guenter Grass that he served in the notorious Waffen SS during World War II has sent shockwaves through Germany and neighbouring Poland.
The Waffen SS was the combat arm of Hitler's dreaded SS paramilitary force, which was responsible for atrocities throughout Nazi-occupied Europe.
Guenter Grass was born in the northern port city of Danzig - now Polish Gdansk - in 1927.
His father was German, his mother Kashubian - a member of a small Baltic community which, depending on your point of view, speaks a peculiar Polish dialect or a distinct Slav language.
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