Belonging, Memory Culture, and the Power of Visual Narratives

Series: Conversations on Memory Culture in Contemporary Germany
Organized by the Institute of European Studies at UC Berkeley, the Pacific Regional Office of the German Historical Institute Washington, and the Goethe-Institut of San Francisco

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, German Historical Institute Washington, Pacific Office Berkeley, Goethe-Institut San Francisco

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The third and last installment of our series, Conversations on Memory Culture in Contemporary Germany, features German-American author and illustrator Nora Krug. Central to Krug's artistic work is the goal of coming to terms with the National Socialist era as well as the practice of being historically conscious and actively taking responsibility. Her graphic memoir Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home wrestles with the idea of Heimat or the German word for the place that first forms a person. Krug's memoir draws on letters, archival material, flea market finds, as well as photographs and combines different forms of artistic expression in a highly innovative manner. In her latest collaboration with Timothy Snyder, a graphic edition of the book On Tyranny, Nora Krug deepens the lessons for surviving and resisting America’s arc toward authoritarianism on a visual level. Some of the questions we will address include: what is the power of illustration with regard to a very complex subject like tyranny? What is the potential of less traditional depictions of, for example, the Holocaust, for German and American memory culture? The conversation will be moderated by Bettina Wodianka (Goethe-Institut San Francisco).

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. Krug was named Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year and 2019 Book Illustration Prize Winner by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her visual memoir Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home (Scribner, 2018, foreign edition title Heimat), about WWII and her own German family history, was chosen as a best book of the year by the New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, Kirkus Review, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Boston Globe. It was the winner of the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award, the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, the Art Directors Club gold cube and discipline winner cube, the Society of Illustrators silver medal, and the British Book Design and Production Award, among others. Her collaboration with historian Timothy Snyder, a graphic edition of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (Ten Speed Press, 2021), was named a Best Graphic Novel of 2021 by the New York Times, and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Krug’s illustrations have been recognized with gold and silver medals by the Society of Illustrators and the NY Art Directors Club. Krug is Associate Professor of Illustration at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.