When Helga Scheider was four her mother Traudi adandoned her to pursue her career. In 1988 Helga recieved a letter asking her to visit Traudi, then 90 years old, before she died. Mother and daughter had only met once after Traudi left, on a disasterous visit when Helga first learnt the terrible secret of her mother's past. Auschwitz and Ravensbruck and was involved in Nazi 'medical' experiments on prisoners. She had never expressed even the slightest remorse for her actions, yet Helga still hoped that at this final meeting she would find some way to forgive her mother.