13
“Thanks for making the time to talk with me, Herr Bäcker.” Adam Forster made the call to Germany at three a.m. local time and spoke in his best German dialect.
“Dieter, please call me Dieter,” the forty-five-year-old grandson of the family that once cared for Benjamin Hoefer said.
“Thank you. I understand that you have no direct memory of Benjamin Hoefer as he was long gone before you were born, but I understand you have been putting together the family history. Did the Hoefer family feature in it ever so briefly?”
“Briefly, yes,” Dieter Bäcker confirmed. “I’m not sure what will interest you so shall I tell you the little I know? Perhaps you will steer me if there is something of relevance.”
“That would be great,” Adam agreed.
“My grandparents, Gynther and Antje, were close friend
