Günther Grass served in the Waffen-SS. He was rejected from the submarine corps at age fifteen, and so two years later, he volunteer for, and was accepted, into Hitler’s elite forces. Grass had kept this secret for sixty odd years, during which time he was racked with impossible guilt over his Nazi affiliations. In his newest memoir, Peeling Back the Onion, Grass claims he never fired a shot and spent a majority of his time fleeing military police, but still dutifully bears responsibility for his party’s savagery throughout the war.

The book, and the admission contained therein, have thrown the Nobel Prize-winning writer into the middle of a vicious critical cycle of attack and defense. He discussed the issues surrounding his memoir with Charlie Rose on Tuesday. Watch the full interview.