"Well, the derivation of this screen name is kind of esoteric, so I'm not surprised that it threw some people for a loop. If you've ever read the novel 'Everything Is Illuminating' you'd instantly recognize this handle as trading on one of that novel's most uttered lines. One that is repeated by its protagonist-seemingly-ad infinitum."
Ah, that explains it. I don't read fiction. ;')
Or, to be more accurate, many things that happened during that historical epoch.
I don't know if you could compare it to "Bel Canto," which was based upon a specific incident, but it does flesh out a lot of generic areas relating to contemporary Eastern European history. At least, that part of it which dovetailed with the Nazi occupation.