Nikita Miller

In the Soviet Union we were the Germans, in Germany we are the Russians" - these words from his grandmother are etched in Nikita Miller's memory like a Soviet stamp on a deportation order. His grandmother would still swear today that a glass of vodka with pepper can solve any problem - from a cold to an identity crisis. But it's not quite that simple.

When Nikita was expelled from grammar school in the 90s because he was supposedly "too Russian" for Schiller, he had no idea that this very cultural divide would one day become his greatest treasure. Between German sandwiches and Russian pierogi, between the secondary school playground and the stories of his grandmother who was deported to Kazakhstan, he found his very own path.

Today, while the world is once again upside down, Miller digs deep into his family history and finds astonishing parallels to the present. He wants to know: What actually makes us who we are? The genes of our ancestors? The place where our identity card was issued? Or perhaps the fact that we were the only ones in the class who knew how to pronounce "Dostoyevsky" correctly?

With the precision of a German master watchmaker and the soul of a Russian poet, Miller takes his audience on a journey through time and cultures. Because in the end, it's like a good borscht - it's the mixture that makes it interesting. And sometimes it takes an identity crisis to find out who you really are.