- Title
- Belonging
- A German Reckons with History and Home
- Author
- Nora Krug
- Format
I read an excerpt of Krug’s powerful and deeply introspective book somewhere and knew I had to read the whole thing. In Belonging, Krug digs deep into an identity of collective inherited guilt. The structure is touching and powerful, never flinching from the fundamentally unanswerable questions it asks. As a white American I’m only slowly coming to terms with my own culpability in the collective guilt of my heritage (which is arguably worse because we have so far not even tried to atone). I found in Krug’s introspection something I could identify with. This is heady stuff and Krug never let me down with platitudes. She is not atoning. She is not excusing. And she is not self-flagellating. She is only exposing the naked bulb of a heritage of intense cruelty, and refusing to look away.