Gary’s Letter

Description

Trailer

Synopsis

At 88 years old, Gary Sternberg decides to reach out to the current residents of the house where his story began. Born in 1931 as the son of a Jewish father in Nazi Germany, his early life was marked by upheaval and escape. In 1940, his family fled to Shanghai, enduring the harsh years under Japanese occupation. Later, he sought refuge in the United States, building a life as a blackjack dealer at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

One day, driven by curiosity—or perhaps a sense of unfinished history—he enters the address of his birthplace into a search engine. To his surprise, he discovers that his parents’ names are etched into memorial stones placed in front of the house in Cuxhaven, Germany. Moved by this unexpected find, he reaches out to the present occupants. In doing so, after decades of estrangement and bitterness, Gary begins to forge a new connection to the country he had long left behind.

Director

As the granddaughter of a high-ranking SS officer, she wrote her first book about her grandfather, Bernhard Krüger, also delving into the family debates she encountered throughout her life. She works as a freelance journalist and a director of TV documentaries. Occasionally, she speaks at schools about the Holocaust and her grandfather’s story.

One day, she was invited to speak with Prof. Kevin Ostoyich, who told her about Gary Sternberg and his friendship with Dörthe Lindemann. This conversation sparked the idea for her first documentary short, Gary’s Letter.