On a cold January morning, thirteen-year-old Karl Zimmer awakens to find the public square of his city draped in crimson-colored flags. Hitler has been named Chancellor. Karl doesn't know what this means but he understands danger is in the air. Narrated in the first person, What the Living Remember is the story of Karl's coming of age during the pre-war Nazi period. Karl must navigate adolescence amidst mounting anti-Semitism, his mother's wish to flee the country, and his father's opposition. Ultimately, Karl learns that those who survive trauma and genocide confront the responsibility of remembering those who are gone.