Hey all, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Timmy Dermias.

Today, two writers who confront untold family stories by exploring the past.

In the minute, we'll hear about Aaron Hamburger's novel, Hotel Cuba,

which takes place amid the mass migration of European immigrants to the U.S.

But first, the book Fatherland by Burkhard Bilger.

It's a personal look at Billiger's grandfather and his role as a member of the Nazi

party in Germany.

In this interview with Weekend Edition host Scott Simon, Bilger discusses what led him down

the decade-long journey to tell

this story and why it wouldn't let him go until he did. In the U.S., national security news

can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors

on our new show, sources and methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand

why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Burkhard-Bilder grew up in a family of German immigrants in Oklahoma in the 1960s and says his mother spoke of Nazism in World War II,

as she might tell a sinister fairy tale in rough woodcut images, black and white, gouged with red.

The admired New Yorker writer has turned his repertorial skills on his own family,

the role of his grandfather, Carl Gunna, who was sent from Germany to oversee a school in a village

in Alsace in Nazi-occupied France in 1940. He risked his own life to save lives or gave orders

that cost lives, depending on who you ask, or was it

both? Burkhard Bilger's powerful new memoir is Fatherland, and he joins us from Brooklyn. Thank you so

much for being with us. Oh, it's great to be here. I have to begin by asking, why not just let

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