In early December, Lucian Schepers dusted off his adoption file one more time. He thumbed through the stack of yellowed papers and translated what he could with the help of Google, trying once more to piece together the puzzle of his early life in communist Romania.
It seemed to him that every time he reexamined the documents, a new detail would emerge.
This time, Schepers found a discrepancy in a request by the municipal court in the Black Sea port city of Constanta for a medical document certifying that a minor is physically fit for adoption. It notes that Schepers was born in 1985, not 1986 as stated in his personal identification number (CNP).