*NEW EXCELLENT CONDITION*** Overview 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 Communists...and a reemergence into the love and lordship of her mother's Jesus. Eventually Maria and her family came to the United States. You will find chuckles vying with tears as you see the New World through the eyes of these immigrants, bewildered by the careless affluence of their adopted land and dazzled by the freedom to serve and teach one's deepest convictions. Maria Anne Hirschmann “Hansi” was born in Czechoslovakia. Orphaned as a baby, she grew up in a foster home, experiencing loneliness, hunger, rejection and fear. After Nazi troops “liberated” Czechoslovakia, she was chosen for training to be a Nazi youth leader. Brainwashed, Maria’s god became Adolph Hitler, and when Germany fell, her world shattered too. After spending several horrible months in a communist labor camp, one day Hansi walked out, expecting a bullet to end her life. The shot was never fired. After several weeks of walking in the rain and sleeping under trees or bridges, existing on herbs and mushrooms, she ended up in “no man’s land.” After an incredible escape from a Russian death trap, she stood on freedom’s ground in Western Germany. Though she did not know Him through those times, God kept His hand on her life. Finding Jesus Christ as her Savior and Lord in Western Germany, from there, in 1955, Hansi came with her family to the United States. She experienced extreme culture shock, but slowly learned to love America and its freedom, which she at first could not understand. She became a citizen of what she declares today the “greatest nation in the world” and she is proud to be “an American by choice.” Hansi taught for several years in American schools, and drew recognition for her work with high school dropouts and troubled teenagers. In response to requests, she began to tell about her experiences. She soon recognized the call of God upon her life, which has resulted in her traveling to many countries and all over the United States telling what Christ has done in her life and of her deep appreciation for America.

ISBN: 0932878091