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artofkcf 's review for:
Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home
by Nora Krug
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.