Nora Krug is a German-American author and illustrator whose drawings and visual narratives have appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde diplomatique, and A Public Space, and in anthologies published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Simon and Schuster, and Chronicle Books. Krug is the recipient of many fellowships as well as awards. Her books are included in the Library of Congress and the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University. Krug is Associate Professor of Illustration at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. She was born in 1977.
This book is a very special pick since it is not only a very emotional and touching story but the book itself is a piece of art since it includes numerous drawings and art pieces. It also discusses crucial parts of German history in a personal way that I have never seen before. This book is not only informative, touching, and beautiful but it also makes you feel all the emotions and think about you, your family, and what "Heimat" means to you. This book is one of the best books I have ever read and I am thrilled to include it in my German Book Club.
Nora Krug was born decades after the fall of the Nazi regime, but the Second World War cast a long shadow throughout her childhood and youth in the city of Karlsruhe, Germany. For Nora, the simple fact of her German citizenship bound her to the Holocaust and its unspeakable atrocities and left her without a sense of cultural belonging. Yet Nora knew little about her own family’s involvement in the war: though all four grandparents lived through the war, they never spoke of it.
Now in her late thirties, after almost twenty years of living abroad (first in the UK, then in the US), Krug realizes that living away from Germany has only intensified her need to ask the questions she didn’t dare or didn’t think to ask a child and young adult. Returning to Germany, she visits archives, conducts research, and interviews family members, uncovering in the process the stories of her maternal grandfather, a driving teacher in Karlsruhe during the war, and her father’s brother Franz-Karl, who died as a teenage SS soldier in Italy. Her extraordinary quest, spanning continents and generations, pieces together her family’s troubling story and reflects on what it means to be a German of her generation.
Belonging wrestles with the idea of Heimat, the German word for the place that first forms us, where the sensibilities and identity of one generation pass on to the next. In this highly inventive visual memoir—equal parts graphic novel, family scrapbook, and investigative narrative—Nora Krug draws on letters, archival material, flea market finds, and photographs to attempt to understand what it means to belong. A wholly original record of a German woman’s struggle with the weight of catastrophic history, Belonging is also a reflection on the responsibility that we all have as inheritors of our countries’ pasts.
Awards:
National Book Critics Circle Award (Autobiography winner)
Victoria and Albert Museum (Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year winner and Book Illustration Prize winner)
Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize (winner)
Art Directors Club (Gold Cube and Overall Discipline Winner)
Art Directors Club Germany (Bronze Nail)
Society of Illustrators (silver medal)
American Institute of Graphic Arts (50 Books winner)
Schubart-Literaturförderpreis (winner)
Evangelischer Buchpreis (winner)
Ludwig-Marum-Preis (winner)
British Book Design & Production Award (graphic novel winner)
Honors:
New York Times Critics’ Top Books of 2018
The Guardian 50 Biggest Books of Autumn 2018
The Guardian Best Books of 2018
NPR Book of the Year 2018
Kirkus Reviews Best Memoirs of 2018
Time Magazine 8 Must-Read Books you May Have Missed in 2018
Time Magazine The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2018 (honorable mention)
San Fransisco Chronicle Best Books of 2018
Boston Globe Best Books of 2018
SWR Bestenliste January 2019
School Library Journal Best Graphic Novel of 2018
Nominations:
German Youth Literature Prize 2020 (short list: winner announced in October 2020)
German Youth Literature Prize 2019 (short list)
National Jewish Book Award (short list)
Orwell Prize for Political Writing (short list)
Longman History Today Prize (short list)
Harvey Book of the Year Award (short list)
Chautauqua Prize (long list)
Angoulême International Comics Festival Fauve D’Or
I recommend reading it in German for people with fluency levels B1 or higher (since it contains many scientific words). For everybody else, I recommend getting the German and English versions to help you understand everything properly. If your German is below B1 please read it in English and do not skip this one. It really is a great book and worth your time. You will learn a lot about German culture and history!
If you would like to participate in the Book Club post the answers to the questions (and all other comments) in the comments and hopefully we will have a fruitful discussion.
Questions:
Did you find the book interesting and why did you like it or didn't like it?
Do you think you recognized something specific "German?"
Did you learn something new about German history and culture if so what was it?
Which is your favorite page and why?
Were you familiar with the German word "Heimat" before and if so what did it mean to you?
Which of the "German things" were you familiar with and how did you get to know about them?
Did this book inspire you to find out more about your own "Heimat/Belonging?"
Was there anything about the book or writing that stood out to you?
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