Günter Grass tells his own story. About the end of his childhood when the Second World War broke out. About the boy in uniform, who would like to join the submarine fleet and finds himself starving in a prisoner of war camp. From the young man devoted to the arts, indulging in women and working in Paris on the "The Tin Drum”. Günter Grass talks about a person's most exciting years: the years in which one’s personality develops, is formed and takes on its unique shape.

Concealed between the many layers of the onion’s memory are countless experiences. Grass reveals them, writes about the military comrades, who never picked up a gun, describes with relish a cooking course in the camp, which for lack of food remains abstract, and relates how the art student earns his money in a jazz band. What’s more he draws affectionate portraits of his family, friends, teachers and companions.

Beim Häuten der Zwiebel (Peeling the Onion) is a memoir full of comical, sad and often touching stories that keeps building bridges to the present. Günter Grass does not handle the young people of that time delicately, his reveals his weaknesses, and puts his finger on some of the failures and wounds that still hurt today. He openly admits that he could have filled in one or two gaps in his memory with the help of his rich imagination.