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A document from World War II casts doubt on the accuracy of German author Guenter Grass' account of his time serving with the notorious Waffen SS elite Nazi forces, a news magazine said on Friday.
The online edition of Der Spiegel weekly said a military record of war injuries showed that Grass was drafted into the Waffen SS two months later than he claims in his autobiography "Peeling Onions".
"It contradicts Grass' statement that he became a Waffen SS soldier in September 1944 ... according to the document, he was only conscripted on November 10, 1944," the magazine said.
It claimed that the record also challenges the accuracy of other parts of Grass' recollection of his SS service, including to which division he belonged.
According to Der Spiegel, the document also provides details which the author concedes he cannot remember clearly.
The 78-year-old Grass, a Nobel literature laureate, drew an avalanche of criticism when he revealed for the first time earlier this month that he briefly served in the elite force which ran the Nazi death camps.
Critics said Grass had lost his moral authority because he kept silent about this part of his war record for more than 60 years while constantly denouncing Germany's Nazi past.
The author admitted he had acted "very late or too late" by using his autobiography, which hit the shelves 10 days ago, to write about his SS service for the first time but said shame had prevented him from doing so earlier.
He insisted that he never fired a shot during his months in the force.
Der Spiegel said the medical record originally comes from Marienbad, which is today part of the Czech Republic, and Grass was mentioned in it because he was injured by shrapnel on April 20, 1945.
In his book, Grass is vague about the date of his injury.
He rose to fame with the publication in 1959 of "The Tin Drum", which examined Germany's Nazi legacy.
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AFPEntertainment-Germany-history-WWII-literature
AFP 251858 GMT 08 06
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