German author Gunter Grass passed away today at the age of 87.
Best known for his 1959 novel, The Tin Drum, Grass gained a reputation as the moral conscience of post-World War II Germany through his often shocking candor regarding life under the Nazi regime.
In his 2006 memoir, Skinning the Onion, Grass stunned fans by revealing that he had been a member of the Waffen-SS during the war.
Grass was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999.
The Nobel committee praised him for taking on “the enormous task of reviewing contemporary history by recalling the disavowed and the forgotten: the victims, losers and lies that people wanted to forget because they had once believed in them.”
The committee hailed The Tin Drum as "one of the enduring literary works of the 20th century."
Grass’ publicist announced his death this morning. In an official statement, it was revealed that Grass passed away at a hospital in the small German town that had been his home for the past several decades.
No cause of death was given.
While Grass’ later years were marred by the revelation of his Nazi past, it is his contribution to the world of literature for which he will be best remembered.
Click through the gallery below for a full list of celebrities we lost in 2015.