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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
A beautiful and completely unique look at what it means to be a member of a nation, a family, a history. Layered personal recollections, using both illustrations and real scrapbooks and photos, moving back and forth between now and Germany in the first half of the 20th century. An examination of collective guilt and the unknowableness of the past, the lingering effects of war and genocide. If you've ever wondered how Germany people feel about their country today or what regular German people were doing during WWII, this book is extremely enlightening and moving. I was on the verge of tears several times. Artwork is incredible.
The cover of the memoir caught my attention when I was browsing at bookstore few months ago. I flipped the pages loving the beautiful illustrations. After reading what the book was about, I knew I wanted to bring it home. This is a book the author tried to share the learning of her families' past during the Nazi regime.
This is NOT an easy read. Of German lineage, the author tried to fill in the void and missing pieces about the war that her families didn't talk much about. The book was carefully designed so that readers could step into the author's shoes to retrace her family history in a chronological order. "Belonging" is such an amazing memoir which brings readers to look at the war from different perspectives. I remember when I was a freshman in college, I asked a good friend I met who was an exchange student from Germany. I was curious about how he felt about his grandparents who probably did participate in the war and how he felt about the history had on him. Immediately I sensed his resistance to answer my questions, and he didn't say much. His response was simple. He said "It's history. We learned our mistakes and are trying to look forward instead of looking backward." First time I realized I was rude asking him those insensitive questions. Never again I attempted to ask any German friends about their views on the second world war, but yet my curiosities remained. "Belonging" answered some of the questions I have had all these years.
This is an emotional read in many different levels as well- the innocence, guilt, denial, hope, pride, relief, curiosity, pain, heartbreak, loss, compassion, friendship, love and so forth from the people who shared the burden of a bitter past. It's a heavy read but still heartwarming. The illustrations, the author's flea market treasures, family pictures, and her writing make "Belonging" such a powerful and mesmerizing read. Instead of telling her family story with excess writing, she used her illustrating skill to put together a personal scrapbook to share with the readers. I highly recommend.
This is NOT an easy read. Of German lineage, the author tried to fill in the void and missing pieces about the war that her families didn't talk much about. The book was carefully designed so that readers could step into the author's shoes to retrace her family history in a chronological order. "Belonging" is such an amazing memoir which brings readers to look at the war from different perspectives. I remember when I was a freshman in college, I asked a good friend I met who was an exchange student from Germany. I was curious about how he felt about his grandparents who probably did participate in the war and how he felt about the history had on him. Immediately I sensed his resistance to answer my questions, and he didn't say much. His response was simple. He said "It's history. We learned our mistakes and are trying to look forward instead of looking backward." First time I realized I was rude asking him those insensitive questions. Never again I attempted to ask any German friends about their views on the second world war, but yet my curiosities remained. "Belonging" answered some of the questions I have had all these years.
This is an emotional read in many different levels as well- the innocence, guilt, denial, hope, pride, relief, curiosity, pain, heartbreak, loss, compassion, friendship, love and so forth from the people who shared the burden of a bitter past. It's a heavy read but still heartwarming. The illustrations, the author's flea market treasures, family pictures, and her writing make "Belonging" such a powerful and mesmerizing read. Instead of telling her family story with excess writing, she used her illustrating skill to put together a personal scrapbook to share with the readers. I highly recommend.
Nora Krug is a German who begins this graphic memoir with a depth of feeling about seeking connection to one's homeland in the midst of growing up in the shadow of collective guilt. Through archival and family research she pieces together her family's involvement in WWII to try to make sense of her family inheritance as it relates to her relatives' varied relationships to the Nazi party.
In addition to being a compelling journey into the past through one's family as a point of entry, Krug poetically infuses her own feelings along the way that creates a beautiful reckoning with the past and present.
As we see this rise in right extremism in the US this book published in 2018 remains eerily relevant in the ways that forces at dehumanizing some for the elevation of others continues to plague most human groups. I learned a lot about the post-WWII aftermath for non-Jewish Germans in the text, and find it to be a rich exploration of what it means to belong in the aftermath of hate. Something, sadly, many of us will continue to choose or choose not to reckon within ourselves in a 2021 US context.
In addition to being a compelling journey into the past through one's family as a point of entry, Krug poetically infuses her own feelings along the way that creates a beautiful reckoning with the past and present.
As we see this rise in right extremism in the US this book published in 2018 remains eerily relevant in the ways that forces at dehumanizing some for the elevation of others continues to plague most human groups. I learned a lot about the post-WWII aftermath for non-Jewish Germans in the text, and find it to be a rich exploration of what it means to belong in the aftermath of hate. Something, sadly, many of us will continue to choose or choose not to reckon within ourselves in a 2021 US context.
Solid examination of German guilt among the next generation of Germans, with a personal lens and scrapbook style. I was worried about a memoir from this perspective--that it would come across as overwrought and unseemly. But Nora Krug seems to write from a very genuine and authentic place, and that comes across on every page. This is a personal journey, and thus satisfying. She does not seek to answer for the entire country's guilt.
I thought this book was amazing, but it's hard to encapsulate my feelings on it. The author's journey of her feelings and thoughts on her country and her family's history are similarly ambivalent - she's horrified by the possibilities but continues to investigate what happened. As with many of the best histories, she acknowledges the unknowability of much of what she's asking. I enjoyed the mix of the personal and the "historical," as well as the artistic style throughout. I just wish the edition I read was titled "Heimet"!
Having said all this, I do have a hard time recommending this book generally as there's a lot that I can imagine readers don't want to (re)visit, which the author herself seems to recognize as well. It's a hard history to revive, but I found it worth it.
Having said all this, I do have a hard time recommending this book generally as there's a lot that I can imagine readers don't want to (re)visit, which the author herself seems to recognize as well. It's a hard history to revive, but I found it worth it.
I loved this book. The format was a unique change for me. . I am of German Jewish extraction, so, I too, desire to reconcile an entire country of people and culture with atrocities committed 80 years ago. How do we as citizens of the world and,Jews in particular, forgive, accept, digest, and understand the past in terms of the present? And how do we judge perpetrators, bystanders, and the present and future generations of Germans? The author and I have similar backgrounds in some respects, with one major difference. I am Jewish; she is not . How do we face each other and pursue common goodness? Her job was to discover and reconcile her family’s history. My responsibility is to understand the past, to treat present-day Germans fairly, and to be an upstander in creating awareness that the past is not repeated.
Must write a detailed review later but I have many, many thoughts.
- It seems the author's central motivator is ascertaining what amount of guilt and shame she feels (personally, ancestrally, culturally) is actually 'reasonable', based on what her relatives 'did' or 'did not' do. Along the way, the actual suffering of Jewish people in WWII (including intergenerational suffering for their descendants, some of whom she interviews) becomes a backdrop.
- The illustrations of anti-Semitism make me wonder, who is this book for? If this was a memoir of a Japanese person, detailing their ancestors' involvement in the genocide/colonization of my indigenous Uchinanchu ancestors, I would be sickened by the displays I was reading. I would be traumatized by the photographs of my ancestors' dead bodies in the background of photographs that foreground their brutalizers. There are ways for someone in Krug’s position to share these realities respectfully, and I don’t feel that she does so.
- The valuable questions that are raised by this memoir came afterward, from conversations with others. The author's questions seem to focus obsessively on how relieved or disappointed she feels, as she uncovers new information and sorts the truth from apologist family lore.
- The art (mixed media collage and illustration) is undeniably powerful. The author's handles a complex web of family history deftly, despite its twists and turns.
- I'm glad I read this, but was deeply disappointed by where the author's focus lay. I don't know how to recommend this to others, unless they were interested in reading a societally-powerful person's insufficient grappling with shame, or a meditation on collective shame that has little to do with meaningful reparation/accountability. I think this narrative meant to tease apart the crucial nuance between guilt and shame, but these aren’t thoughtfully explored — instead, Krug’s need to know just what her ancestors did or did not do overwhelms the stories, and is resolved only after barreling past a tremendous amount of trauma (those of Jewish folks, and also her dad’s obviously traumatic relationship with his sister).
- Did anyone else think it was very inappropriate for her to join a group of German & Austrian Jews, in hopes that they will love her like a granddaughter?? I was shocked and grossed out.
- It seems the author's central motivator is ascertaining what amount of guilt and shame she feels (personally, ancestrally, culturally) is actually 'reasonable', based on what her relatives 'did' or 'did not' do. Along the way, the actual suffering of Jewish people in WWII (including intergenerational suffering for their descendants, some of whom she interviews) becomes a backdrop.
- The illustrations of anti-Semitism make me wonder, who is this book for? If this was a memoir of a Japanese person, detailing their ancestors' involvement in the genocide/colonization of my indigenous Uchinanchu ancestors, I would be sickened by the displays I was reading. I would be traumatized by the photographs of my ancestors' dead bodies in the background of photographs that foreground their brutalizers. There are ways for someone in Krug’s position to share these realities respectfully, and I don’t feel that she does so.
- The valuable questions that are raised by this memoir came afterward, from conversations with others. The author's questions seem to focus obsessively on how relieved or disappointed she feels, as she uncovers new information and sorts the truth from apologist family lore.
- The art (mixed media collage and illustration) is undeniably powerful. The author's handles a complex web of family history deftly, despite its twists and turns.
- I'm glad I read this, but was deeply disappointed by where the author's focus lay. I don't know how to recommend this to others, unless they were interested in reading a societally-powerful person's insufficient grappling with shame, or a meditation on collective shame that has little to do with meaningful reparation/accountability. I think this narrative meant to tease apart the crucial nuance between guilt and shame, but these aren’t thoughtfully explored — instead, Krug’s need to know just what her ancestors did or did not do overwhelms the stories, and is resolved only after barreling past a tremendous amount of trauma (those of Jewish folks, and also her dad’s obviously traumatic relationship with his sister).
- Did anyone else think it was very inappropriate for her to join a group of German & Austrian Jews, in hopes that they will love her like a granddaughter?? I was shocked and grossed out.
Absolutely phenomenal. Great scrapbook style with a variety of illustration styles. Personal and thought-provoking, it revisits the age old question of familial sins and guilt.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I found this book in my favorite bookstore in Iowa City, Prairie Lights. The format of the book is really cool and unique; it reads like a scrapbook and the illustrations were gorgeous. For me, Belonging was cathartic and I learned a tremendous amount not only about the Holocaust, but also about German culture, especially the beautiful parts. I'm glad this book found its way into my hands.