Sibir

Siberia. For ten-year-old Josef Ambacher, it is a terrifying word that adults use for the distant, foreign East. In 1945, hundreds of thousands of German civilians are deported there by the Soviet army. When this fate also befalls Josef, he finds himself in the faraway land of Kazakhstan, in a harsh yet wondrous, mythical world. He learns to assert himself against the steppe and its illusions. Forty-five years later, Josef lives in Mühlheide, Lower Saxony, and is the father of a daughter. Yet, he is confronted with his past when a wave of resettlers reaches the small town in Lower Saxony after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now, his daughter Leila stands between worlds and must mediate—at a time when she is just beginning to grasp the specter of history.