We might translate it as patriotism or national pride, but it describes more than that. Heimat is a German word that doesn’t have an English equivalent.

She’s searching for something she believes is lost to Germans, after adult citizens were investigated and declared to be “major offenders, offenders, followers, or exonerated.” She’s looking for “Heimat.” In it, Krug seeks to uncover her family’s association with the war and the Nazi party. It’s a scrapbook-styled collection of cartoon-ish illustrations, handwritten prose, and reproductions of photographs and letters. Nora Krug’s “Belonging” is an examination of both personal and cultural culpability. They know that forgiveness is hard and forgetting is impossible. They’ve grown up with the knowledge that their countrymen committed such crimes against humanity. In Germany, however, four generations of citizens born since the end of the war, are reminded of it daily. We’re far removed from the everyday, passive reminders of the horrors and losses suffered under the Nazi regime. At least, this feels true to me, living in the U.S. The impact of World War II is fading from our collective memory. Lynd Ward BookMark Review 2019: 'Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home”

Nora krug belonging