Michael Goering

December 1938: Sigmund, 15 years old, Jew, orphan, is on a train to England: children’s transport. He survives the war and the Holocaust, studies and becomes a teacher. In 1949 he returns to post-war Germany – it is difficult to go home. His son Frido is also looking for a home and a bond. The anchor point remains the Hotel Dellbrück, where Sigmund grew up.

Unexpectedly strong, the adult Frido feels the forces of the place that has shaped him and his father so much. How much does the fate of the father, who cannot find peace between feelings of guilt and hatred, shape the son? Frido experiences how important it is to be courageous at the right moment and to open up to the unknown.

Michael Göring is head of the ZEIT-Stiftung and teaches at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg. His first novel, Der Seiltänzer, was published in 2011.