Daniel Stein, Interpreter

'This world in which we have so much difficulty living is filled with misunderstanding at every level.'

What can one man do, faced with such a world? Daniel Stein, Interpreter explores the lives of those affected by some of the worst conflicts of the twentieth century, from survivors of the ghetto and escapees of Soviet oppression to those caught up in the violence of the Arab–Israeli conflict. All of them have one thing in common: their lives are touched by Daniel Stein.

Stein is a Polish Jew who miraculously survives the Holocaust by working for the Gestapo as an interpreter. After the war, he converts to Catholicism, becomes a priest, enters the Order of Barefoot Carmelites, and emigrates to Israel. Despite this seemingly impossible progression, the life and destiny of Daniel Stein are not an invention — the character is based on the life of Oswald Rufeisen, the real Brother Daniel.

Feeling his life has been saved in the war for a reason, Stein dedicates himself to bringing understanding and reconciliation to a violent world, in his own compassionate and irreverent way. In an age of increasing mistrust between faiths, Daniel Stein, Interpreter serves as a timely and nuanced exploration of what it might mean to really try to understand each other.