In 1970, a world-renowned professor received a letter from his past that would change the course of his life forever. The letter's contents shattered everything he knew about who he was and his true origins.

Dr. Skamene is a professor of genetics at McGill University and one of the founders and directors of Montreal's newest state-of-the-art super hospital, The McGill University Health Centre. In 1997, the professor was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Then in 2001, he was awarded the Prix Armand-Frappier.

Similarly, in 2005, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec. He was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Genetics. However, even with his talent and significant contribution to research in genetics, interestingly enough, the professor did not really know about his own legacy, hidden deep within the strands of his own DNA.

Until much later in life...

Emil's journey to discovery will take us from his adoptive home of Montreal all the back to the country where he was raised, the Czech Republic. And what we will discover is truly shocking to the core.

We find out that Dr. Emil Skamene was indeed born to a Jewish family in Ukraine during the Nazi invasion of WW2. Against all odds, he was rescued at birth by an unexpected stranger, who was able to get him out of Ukraine and to safety. The SS soldier hid baby Emil inside a backpack and carried him through storm and snow a hundred miles west to safety. But his story remained a secret for decades after that.

Ever since then and throughout his entire childhood and young adult life, Emil was unaware of his true Identity.