My Father's Country

On August 15 1944, defense officer Hans Georg Klamroth was tried for high treason at the People's Court. Eleven days later, he was executed in Ploetzensee prison. Wibke Bruhns, his youngest daughter, was six years old at the time. Decades later, watching a TV documentary about the events of July 20, images of her father in the court room suddenly appeared on screen. 'I stare at this man with the empty face. I don't know him. But I can see myself in him - his eyes are my eyes; I know I resemble him. I know I wouldn't be here without him. And what do I know about him? Nothing at all.' In My Father's Country Bruhns tells the story of her search for her father. Looking deep into the past, she returned to Halberstadt in Northern Germany, where her ancestors, the Klamroth family, worked for generations as country merchants. She discovered photos, letters and diaries, documenting the fate of the renowned merchant family from Kaiser Wilhelm to the end of WWII, which she uses to tell a unique and unforgettable family epic. Engaging with her family on both an emotional and political level, My Father's Country is a family memoir that is also a remarkable work of history, powerfully told and deeply touching.