Belonging by Nora Krug

In this graphic memoir, framed like a scrapbook, German ex-pat Nora Krug tries to answer a question that lives in the heart of many Germans: "What role did my family play in the Holocaust?"

To find answers, she delves into local archives and government records, as well as her relatives' memories and photo albums. Her ultimate hope is to alleviate her sense of inherited guilt, but of course nothing is ever so straightforward. On her journey, she meets new relatives, fact-checks family lore, and is eventually able to see her long-gone family members as real people with real lives and real emotions, and finally accept her heritage, mixed bag that it is.

Germany has always been a particular interest of mine, so I was completely fascinated by this first-hand, highly personal account of a modern German grappling with the guilt and shame of her country's past. While not graphically explicit, the story packs an emotional gut punch. Peppered with tidbits of German culture from toadstools to laundry detergent, this is an incredible read for anyone interested in a modern German perspective on World War Two.