From her early childhood in 1980s Germany, there were dark corners to illustrator Nora Krug’s family history that she knew not to probe, and one burning question she knew better than to ask — what role, if any, her relatives played in the Nazi regime and its atrocities. Only after living abroad for two decades, first in the UK and later in Brooklyn, did Krug begin looking for answers to that question. “Belonging,” a colorful illustrated memoir on sale now from Scribner, is the product of her quest.
To learn the truth, Krug returned to Germany, dug through historical archives and interviewed relatives, drawing forth a troubling story that calls into question what it means to be German. In a graphic novel format that’s equal parts family scrapbook and investigative narrative, Krug reflects on the sins of her country and her family and the responsibility she bears for that legacy.
Nora Krug is an American author and illustrator whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde diplomatique and elsewhere. She’s the author of “Shadow Atlas” and “Red Riding Hood Redux.” Krug teaches at illustration at the Parsons School of Design and lives in Brooklyn.
