Saturday, July 30, 2011

Hansi

I just finished reading the book Hansi, The Girl Who Loved the Swastika.  Before you begin to think I have jumped off the deep end, read the back cover.



"Don't ever forget Jesus!" This tearful admonition of her foster mother followed the teen-aged orphan girl as she began her trip to Prague.  Maria (Hansi) was the envy of all in her little Czechoslovakian village because she had won a scholarship to the Nazi school in the capital and would be able to serve the Fuhrer. 

Thus Maria began a long journey in 1940 which was to lead her into the darkness of blind devotion to Hitler and the atheism of the Nazi system.  The path led to a storybook romance ....cruel disillusionment at Hitler's suicide...a traumatic awakening to the swastika's scourge across Europe and upon the Jews....a breathtaking escape from the Communists...and a reemergence into the love and lordship of her mother's Jesus.


Maria Anne Hirschmann tells her story of becoming part of the Hitler Youth, surviving the Russian occupation of Eastern Germany and her daring escape to the West.  She also shares how a girl who was raised by a Godly foster mother accepted Hitler's atheistic views and then how God brought her back to faith in Him. 

It was a great read and will definitely be part of our literature when we study modern history again in a few years.

1 comment:

  1. I read that a few years ago one night when I was doing in-home caregiving, and I was on an overnight assignment. It was on the bookcase in the spare bedroom I was staying in. Great book!

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