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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Antisemitism
Moderate: Violence, War
Minor: Rape
Since the 1980's there has been a whole genre of books and movies by younger German generations who look into the Nazi pasts of their families and towns. This is an excellent example of that type of book - with a good twist thanks to it being an adult illustrated title.
I first came across Krug when I read the graphic edition of Timothy Snyder's outstanding "On Tryanny". Her bio blurb sounded interesting, including this earlier title of hers, winner of numerous awards.
There appears to be an English edition that shares the title of the German edition, "Heimat". That is a much better title, with connotations of her missing Germany (she now lives in NYC). But it was also a Nazi catch phrase for an imagined "pure" Germany from the past (no wonder Snyder chose her to illustrate his book!).
I had a hard time putting it down each evening - what will come next in her search into her family's history?
This is not only the story of her family's Nazi ties (or not), but also the stories and the truth and the interaction of her families from both sides (her father and his older sister have not spoken in decades). Thankfully there is a family tree for both sides on the end papers - it can become a bit confusing at times.
She tells a powerful story here, stunningly complimented by her illustrations. Which are often more collages than drawings.
And the occasional one page chapters on WWII photos and letters and other items she has picked up at German flea markets. Or, again, the one page chapters on things that are uniquely German (e.g., Persil, and the difference between American and German washing machines).
Such odd twists within the family - such as her father, born after the war, being named the same as his much older brother. Who died in Italy fighting for the Germans, Or who really did the Bambi woodcuts in the family home (Hitler banned Disney films - remind you of someone else more current?).
In the end she realizes she will never have definite answers, but she can come close. But I do wish she had spent a bit of time on who her father's father really is (there are DNA tests now, but it might be a bit uncomfortable asking your elderly father to give you a mouth swab!).
Or, something you don't hear about much - German guilt, and the younger generations feeling of it (she tries to hide her accent in NYC).
She also simply shares what people say, without any judgement - like when she is talking to some older German people, and they say, "Well, you know we Germans had it rough too, with the reparations and all...." (How many years did Britain have rationing? And they won!)
Just a fantastic story, so well told and shown. I am looking forward to her new book coming out later this year, on Russia and the Ukraine!
If I could give this book a 7 out of 5, I would have! One of the few books I finished and immediately handed over to my wife and said, "You've got to read this!"
I first came across Krug when I read the graphic edition of Timothy Snyder's outstanding "On Tryanny". Her bio blurb sounded interesting, including this earlier title of hers, winner of numerous awards.
There appears to be an English edition that shares the title of the German edition, "Heimat". That is a much better title, with connotations of her missing Germany (she now lives in NYC). But it was also a Nazi catch phrase for an imagined "pure" Germany from the past (no wonder Snyder chose her to illustrate his book!).
I had a hard time putting it down each evening - what will come next in her search into her family's history?
This is not only the story of her family's Nazi ties (or not), but also the stories and the truth and the interaction of her families from both sides (her father and his older sister have not spoken in decades). Thankfully there is a family tree for both sides on the end papers - it can become a bit confusing at times.
She tells a powerful story here, stunningly complimented by her illustrations. Which are often more collages than drawings.
And the occasional one page chapters on WWII photos and letters and other items she has picked up at German flea markets. Or, again, the one page chapters on things that are uniquely German (e.g., Persil, and the difference between American and German washing machines).
Such odd twists within the family - such as her father, born after the war, being named the same as his much older brother. Who died in Italy fighting for the Germans, Or who really did the Bambi woodcuts in the family home (Hitler banned Disney films - remind you of someone else more current?).
In the end she realizes she will never have definite answers, but she can come close. But I do wish she had spent a bit of time on who her father's father really is (there are DNA tests now, but it might be a bit uncomfortable asking your elderly father to give you a mouth swab!).
Or, something you don't hear about much - German guilt, and the younger generations feeling of it (she tries to hide her accent in NYC).
She also simply shares what people say, without any judgement - like when she is talking to some older German people, and they say, "Well, you know we Germans had it rough too, with the reparations and all...." (How many years did Britain have rationing? And they won!)
Just a fantastic story, so well told and shown. I am looking forward to her new book coming out later this year, on Russia and the Ukraine!
If I could give this book a 7 out of 5, I would have! One of the few books I finished and immediately handed over to my wife and said, "You've got to read this!"
The power of human denial is overcome by the power of human curiosity.
I end up having to read graphic novels twice. I read them too fast and miss important details.
I end up having to read graphic novels twice. I read them too fast and miss important details.
This is only my second graphic novel, my first being Persepolis. So I'm quite new to this genre.
Actually, what do you call a graphic novel that is non-fiction? Graphic non-fiction? Graphic memoir? Those aren't very catchy. This particular book is part scrapbook, part graphic novel, part memoir and part social history.
I know that this book won't be for everyone. The story doesn't wrap up in a neat little bow. The author doesn't necessarily find what she is looking for, and there are no easy lessons to be learned. But for whatever reason, this book really worked for me. I found it so touching and relatable, even though I have very little in common with the author.
I've known for a long time that many Germans find it difficult to feel patriotism, and that the reason Germany was so instrumental in the formation of the EU was because it was important for Germans to feel pride in their Europeanness, rather than their Germanness. And, having been to Germany before, I knew that some tourists still make horrible Hitler jokes and do the Nazi salute (despite it being against the law). I didn't consider that some Germans might feel the need to pretend to be Dutch while travelling. I hadn't thought much about how it might be difficult for families to openly grieve for loved ones who died during the war because of their association with the Nazi regime, or about how those loved ones might not feel entitled to their grief.
Nora Krug grapples with a lot of complex emotions here, and for whatever reason I was just really moved by her slow uncovering of her family's past. I just adored this book.
Actually, what do you call a graphic novel that is non-fiction? Graphic non-fiction? Graphic memoir? Those aren't very catchy. This particular book is part scrapbook, part graphic novel, part memoir and part social history.
I know that this book won't be for everyone. The story doesn't wrap up in a neat little bow. The author doesn't necessarily find what she is looking for, and there are no easy lessons to be learned. But for whatever reason, this book really worked for me. I found it so touching and relatable, even though I have very little in common with the author.
I've known for a long time that many Germans find it difficult to feel patriotism, and that the reason Germany was so instrumental in the formation of the EU was because it was important for Germans to feel pride in their Europeanness, rather than their Germanness. And, having been to Germany before, I knew that some tourists still make horrible Hitler jokes and do the Nazi salute (despite it being against the law). I didn't consider that some Germans might feel the need to pretend to be Dutch while travelling. I hadn't thought much about how it might be difficult for families to openly grieve for loved ones who died during the war because of their association with the Nazi regime, or about how those loved ones might not feel entitled to their grief.
Nora Krug grapples with a lot of complex emotions here, and for whatever reason I was just really moved by her slow uncovering of her family's past. I just adored this book.
I really enjoyed this book. The great details (pictures/information) made me feel like I was there alongside her during her journey. It was such a quick read because I didn't want to put it down. I really wanted to know what she would discover next. Sometimes, when reading books with this subject matter, I can take months to read the whole thing. I think the fact that this was a graphic memoir, it really drew me into the story much more than a typical text-heavy book would have done. I'd recommend this to anyone who is looking to read another viewpoint from the World War II era. I plan to save this for my daughter to read once she's a bit older.
(I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway.)
(I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway.)
Beautiful, honest, touching. A unique and unforgettable memoir.
What a captivating, fascinating, thought-provoking, & beautifully-illustrated book!
I appreciated the way the author revealed her developing process from childhood to adulthood to parenthood grappling with difficult entanglements & shifting perspectives, allowing herself & readers to absorb one aspect at a time of her family's involvement in a shameful episode of human history; the holocaust the Nazis perpetrated before & during World War 2.
In a way, this works as a roadmap for anyone in Germany (or the United States or a handful of other nations who have decimated minority ethnic groups) to excavate their own family history. She investigates personal questions - some that have ephemeral evidence at the moment but won't soon, others that never had documentation, along with public questions of cultural predilections, social patterns, civic history, and the evidence & testimony reported in international courts. She considers the significance of tiny scraps of the story - a receipt here or there, one line from a letter, a memory of learning the vocabulary of the Holocaust - and tries to piece together whether or not she could be "fault-free" and whether her "sense of belonging" ("heimat" in German) to a culture with such a heinous past can also be something positive in her life.
On the closer side; Was Nora's own grandfather or any other family member present at the ReichsKristallnacht in Karlsruhe in November, 1938, when the town's Jewish citizens were beaten & rounded up, shipped to a concentration camp, and their businesses, homes, & synagogues smashed & burned? If they were present, what did they see, do, & think? Were members of her family directly responsible, tangentially culpable, or actively resistant?
On the further side; In the thirties, what portion of the population deeply supported, reluctantly voted for, or actively resisted the party that relied on racism to sell its platform & policies? Are the measures the German people are taking now leading to healing & a transformation that will avoid a repetition?
Through her collages of the ephemera Krug finds at garage, thrift, & e-bay sales, copies of historical documents from the town's records, family letters & photos, and her clarifying graphic novel re-enactments, we see all the possibilities, as well as the narrowing likelihood that anyone in Germany could ever claim unaffected ignorance of this episode.
By the time she concludes that her family probably took a few small actions to preserve friends who were Jews or other non-Jewish friends who were helping Jews, it is clear that this is the absolute bare minimum to escape culpability. (ex: charging Nazi soldiers an extra 5 pfennig for beer when they occupied their town, taking over operations of a Jewish mechanic's business so it wouldn't be used by Nazis, friendship with a known Communist, etc.)
If Krug's family had been deeply entrenched in the Nazi party, racists, Holocaust-deniers, or were in the photo of perpetrators of Kristallnacht, what would she have taken that in her book? In a way, as difficult as this clearly was to work through, this is the easiest version to tell; a family that supports her investigation - some by reluctantly pointing her to the few in the family who are willing to talk about it, some by sending her letters they couldn't bring themselves to read, some by being fully open to reminiscing & having frank conversations. All of them kept some small thing from the period, but none of it is incriminating, so she can speak her mind & allow her ruminations to unfurl.
If Krug's family had any specific thing to feel even deeper shame about - worse even than simply standing by when assholes & bullies perpetrated genocide - it seems unlikely that she would've been encouraged - from childhood on - to collect ephemera, turn hard questions over & over in her mind, indulge herself in all the feelings of connection & disconnection, and create artwork that reveals her whole family's history to the world.
So, even though we may never hear anyone admit to having a vicious, dedicated, fully enthusiastic Nazi in their family, Nora Krug's personal investigation reveals the various ways any & all of us are fully culpable by just trying to make a living & support our families, avoiding politics, and loving our birthplaces, when our government and a significant portion of our citizens are perpetrating atrocities in our name & with our tax dollars.
I appreciated the way the author revealed her developing process from childhood to adulthood to parenthood grappling with difficult entanglements & shifting perspectives, allowing herself & readers to absorb one aspect at a time of her family's involvement in a shameful episode of human history; the holocaust the Nazis perpetrated before & during World War 2.
In a way, this works as a roadmap for anyone in Germany (or the United States or a handful of other nations who have decimated minority ethnic groups) to excavate their own family history. She investigates personal questions - some that have ephemeral evidence at the moment but won't soon, others that never had documentation, along with public questions of cultural predilections, social patterns, civic history, and the evidence & testimony reported in international courts. She considers the significance of tiny scraps of the story - a receipt here or there, one line from a letter, a memory of learning the vocabulary of the Holocaust - and tries to piece together whether or not she could be "fault-free" and whether her "sense of belonging" ("heimat" in German) to a culture with such a heinous past can also be something positive in her life.
On the closer side; Was Nora's own grandfather or any other family member present at the ReichsKristallnacht in Karlsruhe in November, 1938, when the town's Jewish citizens were beaten & rounded up, shipped to a concentration camp, and their businesses, homes, & synagogues smashed & burned? If they were present, what did they see, do, & think? Were members of her family directly responsible, tangentially culpable, or actively resistant?
On the further side; In the thirties, what portion of the population deeply supported, reluctantly voted for, or actively resisted the party that relied on racism to sell its platform & policies? Are the measures the German people are taking now leading to healing & a transformation that will avoid a repetition?
Through her collages of the ephemera Krug finds at garage, thrift, & e-bay sales, copies of historical documents from the town's records, family letters & photos, and her clarifying graphic novel re-enactments, we see all the possibilities, as well as the narrowing likelihood that anyone in Germany could ever claim unaffected ignorance of this episode.
By the time she concludes that her family probably took a few small actions to preserve friends who were Jews or other non-Jewish friends who were helping Jews, it is clear that this is the absolute bare minimum to escape culpability. (ex: charging Nazi soldiers an extra 5 pfennig for beer when they occupied their town, taking over operations of a Jewish mechanic's business so it wouldn't be used by Nazis, friendship with a known Communist, etc.)
If Krug's family had been deeply entrenched in the Nazi party, racists, Holocaust-deniers, or were in the photo of perpetrators of Kristallnacht, what would she have taken that in her book? In a way, as difficult as this clearly was to work through, this is the easiest version to tell; a family that supports her investigation - some by reluctantly pointing her to the few in the family who are willing to talk about it, some by sending her letters they couldn't bring themselves to read, some by being fully open to reminiscing & having frank conversations. All of them kept some small thing from the period, but none of it is incriminating, so she can speak her mind & allow her ruminations to unfurl.
If Krug's family had any specific thing to feel even deeper shame about - worse even than simply standing by when assholes & bullies perpetrated genocide - it seems unlikely that she would've been encouraged - from childhood on - to collect ephemera, turn hard questions over & over in her mind, indulge herself in all the feelings of connection & disconnection, and create artwork that reveals her whole family's history to the world.
So, even though we may never hear anyone admit to having a vicious, dedicated, fully enthusiastic Nazi in their family, Nora Krug's personal investigation reveals the various ways any & all of us are fully culpable by just trying to make a living & support our families, avoiding politics, and loving our birthplaces, when our government and a significant portion of our citizens are perpetrating atrocities in our name & with our tax dollars.
This was very good. I love her drawings and way of telling the story in a graphic novel format. I learned about what happened after WW2 in Germany and the ripple effects on the people, Non-Jewish Germans and Jewish Communities for generations. Her experience was very helpful in broadening my understanding of what the German people experienced as a consequence of the Holocaust.
A different perspective on the holocaust. The author was German was and researched her families involvement in the atrocities. I've been to the area she is from and it's hard to imagine these things happened on the streets I walked down. A really powerful story.
I wanted to like this more but it was hard to follow and in some cases hard to read. Often there would be a large image with text on either side but instead of reading as individual columns it was all one copy block and you had to read two words on the left and two words on the right of the image. Distracting. Hard to follow.