the phone book. I started by
reaching out to some of his old
connections, German expats in
Johannesburg, a woman who used
to date one of his friends who knew
somebody who knew the last place
he stayed. I got nowhere. Finally my
mom suggested the Swiss embassy.
“They have to know where he is,”
she said, “because he has to be in
touch with them.”
I wrote to the Swiss embassy
asking them where my father was,
but because my father is not on my
birth certificate I had no proof that
my father is my father. The
embassy wrote back and said they