My Sister: A Journey to Myself
Runner-up in the biography/autobiography category at the 2017 Paris Book Festival
A true story about a man’s search for family in the aftermath of the defeat of Nazism and the Holocaust and the resultant joy and exhilaration of discovering himself and his place in the world. Peter Breyer, a 59 year old PhD. health care professional, the son of immigrant parents from Europe, learns one day through his aged mother that his deceased father of 20 years was previously married and had a daughter. With only the suggestion of a name, Dr. Breyer begins his search into his father’s past after years of silence. It leads to his partially estranged German family, their Nazi past, their struggle to survive the immediate aftermath of the war in the Russian zone of occupation and their escape from East Berlin to the West. Each new revelation forces an examination of his own life and beliefs about the past and the need for forgiveness and drives an unrelenting desire to find his sister and reunite with his German family. A true and heartwarming story with unexpected turns and new insights on the meaning of family, self identity, the relationship between a son and father and the fulfillment of uncovering ones roots.