Huberta von Voss-Wittig, a journalist who is the wife of Germany’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Peter Wittig, graciously hosted a dinner party in their Manhattan residence to celebrate the publication of Crossing the Borders of Time. It was an extraordinarily meaningful and memorable moment for me to be there as she spoke eloquently about the history evoked in the book. I only wished that my German-born grandparents, Sigmar and Alice Gunzburger, could have been with me to hear her.

My grandparents traced their roots in German soil back through several centuries, and it was with deep regret that they fled their home in Freiburg im. Breisgau in 1938. I know they would have been proud to see Ambassador and Mrs. Wittig celebrate my book, which delves into their German heritage and experience under Hitler.

Ambassador Wittig, who has represented Germany in the United Nations since 2009, earlier both studied and taught as an assistant professor at the University in Freiburg. Huberta von Voss-Wittig attracted public attention this past spring, when she and her British counterpart, Sheila Lyall Grant, released a video calling on Asma al-Assad, wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to stand up for peace in her country.