A Woman's View

More wisdom--and a challenge--from a one-time Nazi youth leader

Let's pick up Hansi's story where we left off last time. Maria Anne Hirschmann, a one-time Nazi youth leader, kept us glued to our seats recently when she spoke to an area gathering of Christians.

"When I was chosen for the Nazi Youth Leaders' Camp at age twelve, I was
honored. They told us we would help change the world," she said. "Once I believed in Jesus, now I believed in Adolph Hitler. Hitler became my God and I never lost faith, even when we had no food. "Finally the end came, when I was nineteen. The Allies declared victory and Russia took over Czechoslovakia. They sent us to a Communist Labor Camp. The hardships of war seemed easy compared to the rapes, beatings and  deprivations there. I saw other women raped," Hansi says, "but nobody touched me. They wouldn't dare! Remember, I was a trained killer and I vowed I would never take that from anyone.

"After awhile we knew we could not survive that cruel place much longer, so a group of us decided to risk breaking out. Even if we died, it could not be worse than what we had. We walked away and somehow no one came after us. We walked for weeks, mostly under cover of darkness. We drank from streams and ate tree roots and wild mushrooms to stay alive. Always we headed towards the West. Someone told us we had to go through 'No Man's Land' to get to the Americans. That cleared area was a kilometer or more across, no trees, no place to hide, with searchlights and Russian soldiers waiting to shoot anyone who tried to cross.

"Once we got to that place," Hansi said, "we huddled among the trees and brush at the edge, waiting in the eerie quiet. Then I heard a child crying pitifully. She was separated from her mother and sister. I hushed the child and took her back, telling my friend we could not leave her behind. We were so tired we could barely walk, but we made ourselves run, packs on our backs, dragging the three-year-old between us. All the time we knew Russian soldiers watched, ready to shoot us. They never did.

"We saw no farms nor houses, no light in that black night. So we trudged on. We had to brave an icy river, with water up to the child's chin. Somehow we made it. Then we straggled onto the bank, dripping wet and shivering. The child would die unless we found shelter, so we could not stop," Hansi says. "We were too weak to carry her, so we sort of pulled her between us. Then we saw light from a window in a low, white building ahead. Would it be Russians again? Americans? 

"I crept up to the door and knocked. My worst nightmare answered. An American. He stood there filling the doorway, looking just like pictures Camp commanders showed us of the enemy. I knew American soldiers might smile, like this one, but they were worse than the Russians. I was never so scared in my life, but I said to myself they would never touch me!

"Holding up the little girl, I said, 'Please take this child, or she will die. We nothing else. Take her and we will be on our way.'

"I spoke no English, he spoke no German," Hansi said, "but somehow he understood. He picked her up and carried her into the big room, which was all light and warm. Someone brought blankets and a cot and someone else brought food. My girlfriend and I tried to slip out while they were busy, but they stopped us. The big American said, 'Listen, me American. Me no Russian.'

"He pointed to himself and said, 'Me good man,' and smiled again. Then he gestured to a room with two cots and motioned my girlfriend and me toward it. We kind of fell down on those two cots and covered up with the blankets. The soldier left and shut the door after him. Next day someone knocked and woke us. It was another smiling soldier carrying a tray loaded with food. So much food! We had not had a full meal for so long we forgot how good food could taste.

"You couldn't have argued me out of my Nazi beliefs with words," she said. "But we couldn't believe the kindness of these Americans. Their kindness and love witnessed more powerfully to me than any words. I went out very confused and stayed that way a long time. What was truth? How could I find it?

"Then I located my foster mother. She told me she never stopped praying for me, not one day, even though she did not know whether I was dead or alive. She talked again of Jesus, how He kept me safe. Slowly I began to remember what I believed as a child.

"My friends, I want you to know that my Jesus will never leave the ones you pray for," Hansi says. "What you teach your children, especially the first six years, they will not forget. They may want to. They may push it aside. But they cannot drive it out of their hearts and minds.

"I came to understand that Truth is a person and that person is Jesus. He loved me even while I was a sinner, while I was an enemy of God. Because of Jesus, God loved me. The Bible says if you sincerely seek Jesus with all your heart, you will find Him. My mother could not do it for me. God has no grandchildren. I had to seek him on my own, with my whole heart.

"From that time on I wanted desperately to come to America. At last in 1955 my family and I came to this country. Freedom was hard to understand. I asked people what I could do and they would say, 'Do your own thing.' Well, I had no idea what 'my thing' might be. All my life people told me what I could do and what I should say. I didn't know how to think for myself. When I asked where would we be permitted to move, they told us, 'Anywhere you want to go.' When I asked what school or what work we would be allowed, they told us, 'Anything you want. You decide. It's a free country, so just work hard, because it's up to you.' I couldn't believe it!

"I fell in love with America and with American freedom. When I became a citizen and pledged allegiance, I knew what it means to be an American. I know that our freedom rests on the Judeo-Christian laws and system of Government we love.

"Our freedom as Americans depends on each of us having the inner control that comes from living under God," Hansi says. "Without that, we cannot function as a free country.

"God gives freedom, but we always have the choice. Long ago Governor Wm. Penn said, 'You have a choice. You may be governed by God or ruled by tyrants.'

"We must teach the children that freedom is a choice and we are responsible for that choice. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, teachers, we are training the citizens of tomorrow. Read the Old Testament and you will see, Israel fell away when the older generation failed to teach the young. The next generation did not follow God.

"My fellow Americans," Hansi said, her eyes glowing, "do not take the freedom we have in this country for granted. We could lose it in no time. I know that's true, because I saw it happen. But there is hope! What the Lord told Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14 is still true.

'If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.'

"That is our calling, my friends, to humble ourselves and pray. To become intercessors for this nation and our leaders. Instead of just making a living, let us make a life! So we start where we are. We pray for our neighbors and ask God to give us opportunities and open doors for us.

"We say we are just one person," Hansi said. "Well, Martin Luther was just one person, too, but look how God used him. The Lord gives you and me a commission: To be who we say we are. To live so that nobody ever has to ask, 'Are you a Christian?'

"My friends, I say again, get involved in your communities. Know what's going on and what your officials and candidates stand for. Treat voting like the privilege it is and vote in every election! If we treat our precious freedom carelessly, we stand in real danger of losing it.

Then this vibrant 84-year old woman said, her eyes twinkling, "By the way, the word 'retire' is not found anywhere in the Bible. God lets us live and gives us strength because He has work for us to do that no one else can do.

"Never forget that God works through people, people like you and me, to change the world."  

Question for you: What will you remember from Hansi's story? How does she speak to your heart?

Here's to being willing to be used,

Lenore

(Note: Both this post and the previous post are based on extensive notes I took when Hansi spoke. I also went to YouTube--and you can, too. Once you're on YouTube, write Maria Anne Hirschmann. There are five segments. You can Google Hansi's website, too:  www.hansiministries.org)

A one-time Nazi youth leader speaks wisdom for today

Not long ago I attended an area gathering of Christian women. We all knew our speaker would be "Hansi," a woman who grew up under Hitler. I supposed it would be interesting to hear of her long-ago experiences.

I think it's fair to say none of us expected we would hang on every word that proceeded from the mouth of this vibrantly alive eighty-four year-old woman. Nor did we know how her story would relate to current events here in America.

Maria Anne Hirschmann was born in Czechoslovakia to German-speaking parents, which made them part of a small minority. Times were terribly harsh, with food always too-short. When Hansi's mother realized she was pregnant with their third child, her husband insisted his wife must have an abortion, a common "solution" for an unexpected pregnancy. "But my mother believed in God," Hansi said, "and she could not do that."

When the infant turned out to be a third daughter, her father took one look and said, "Yuck! Another girl," and walked away in disgust. 

Not long after, this Christian mother urged her best friend to take in Hansi, even though the woman already had four children. Seeing her friend's distress, she answered, "I will take your child and I will raise her for Jesus." 

"She kept her promise and I learned about the Christian faith," Hansi said, "but my foster mother stressed that God wants us to be good and then He would love us. So I grew up believing God could never love me, because I was not an easy child. I always talked, always asked, 'Why?' and was forever in trouble. I felt unwanted at home and at school, but now even by God." 

Times were hard all over Czechoslovakia. The young girl grew up sleeping in haylofts and seldom had shoes, even in the coldest winter. Hunger stalked the land. "We had almost no food, no hope things could change and nothing to believe in.

"Then one day over the hill came the Nazi soldiers carrying the German flag. They told us not to be frightened. Hitler would take care of us. He would see to it that we had food and clothing and work, which meant money to spend. Within six weeks it all came true. We had enough to eat and at last we had shoes. Factories started up again, so we had jobs. All this came about because of the goodness and wisdom of Adolph Hitler. So now we had someone we could put our faith in--and we did, because we saw the change all around us. Now we could dare to hope again."

Nazis went throughout the country testing children, even in the little one-room school Hansi attended. They chose her to attend the Youth Training Institute in Prague. "For the first time somebody actually chose me. I was the poorest kid in the village, so I could not expect to go on to high school or college," Hansi said. "Now I thought I had caught the rainbow. As I got on the train my foster mother whispered in my ear, 'Don't forget about Jesus.' I promised I wouldn't, but within a year I had totally forgotten everything I ever learned about Jesus."

For the first time Hansi had a bed of her own, with warm blankets, in a warm room. She had new clothes, her uniforms, with three good meals every day. Leaders constantly told these young people. "The 'Great Supreme Being' has chosen Hitler to save Germany and all of Europe. And Adolph Hitler has chosen each of you to be a leader, to help him change the world."

"At last I had a purpose," she said. "Folks always ask me how the people of the Reformation could believe in Hitler and allow Nazism to take over their land. I tell them we were brainwashed, which is nothing more than being told the same thing over and over and over. We didn't know the word 'brainwashing,' didn't even guess it was happening, but it was. After awhile, you think it must be right, because you keep hearing it everywhere. We all believed what we heard and millions turned away from God.

"I know now that all this proves the truth of Proverbs 14:12, which reads, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."

"My friends," Hansi told us on that recent California Saturday, "that is my biggest fear for my beloved America. I am very, very afraid for our country. As a nation we have turned to the ways of the world and it seems right. In so many ways we have abandoned the God of our forefathers. I know from personal experience that when you turn away from God a country can be destroyed very quickly.

"That's why I say to you and all my fellow Americans, Vote! Learn all you can about the candidates and choose carefully, but vote! If two people are running and you don't like either one, then vote for the lesser of two evils. But don't ever forget that being allowed to vote is a tremendous privilege and freedom is never something to take for granted. It is God's gift and it is precious. I know, because I have lived without it." 

In my next post I'll tell you the rest of Hansi's story. Don't miss her dangerous escape from Russian captivity and her first frightening encounter with a dreaded American.

(Please note: This is my best paraphrase of Hansi's words. I took good notes when she spoke and also watched the five-part YouTube series on Maria Anne Hirschmann, a.k.a., Hansi.)

God bless you and God bless America!

Lenore

Does Prayer Work?

A lot of people wonder about that. What one calls an answer to prayer another calls "luck" or "coincidence."

Some people pray only for Big Things. Others say they pray about everything from finding a job to finding a parking place at the mall.  
 
The other day a friend told of not being able to find her Kindle. "I took my house apart," she said. "Went through every pocket, turned my purse inside out, looked absolutely everywhere, but I absolutely could not find it. I was beside myself. The friend who gave it to me is fighting cancer and I felt just terrible.

"I finally remembered to ask God to help me and about two minutes later I realized I hadn't checked the wooden box on my counter where I keep my appointment book and a bunch of other small things. So I checked and there it was.

"One thing I've learned over the years. God does answer prayer. Not always what we ask for, but always what we need--and sometimes we have to wait to see that."

Another friend who lives alone nodded her head. Then she told about getting out the ladder to change a light bulb in her bedroom light fixture. She tried and tried, but the old bulb wouldn't budge. "I came down the ladder and was about ready to give up," she said. "Finally I just said, 'Lord, I don't know what to do. I don't want to have to call someone to come in. Please, Lord, help me!'

"I decided to give it one more try. A couple of twists and that bulb came right out. I know it was just a light bulb, but I really needed to know God is watching over me."

Everyone standing around chimed in, each one with a story to tell, a story of God's faithfulness and provision. We all attend different churches, but we're all Christians. Each of us walked away from the conversation smiling, encouraged and reinforced in our faith and by sharing our stories. That's what friends are for.

You've probably heard people say, "Prayer really works."

I think that's not quite accurate. I think God really works.

He can bless us with or without our prayers. But when we pray and things seem to "work out," then we know it's God answering our prayers and we give Him thanks and praise. If we didn't pray, we wouldn't look for His hand in our lives and we wouldn't thank Him.

As for whether to pray only for Big Things or for everything, I vote for the latter. I think maybe that's what the Apostle Paul meant in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

What do you think? I'd love to know your thoughts. 

Blessings,

Lenore