George and Hanna, who presently divide their time between Germany and the USA, are well known to an increasingly large circle of Christian believers. I met Hanna almost ten years ago at a conference in Antioch, (Antakya) Turkey.
When the German military was taking in Jews to be sent to concentration camps, a family wanted to save Hanna. At that time, a trainload was being prepared with a determined, limited number of Jewish children to be sent to England. There was no room for seven-year-old Hanna to get on board in Cologne, but miraculously, a German permitted her on "as the last child." The date was July 24, 1939, shortly before World War II. The kinderttransport trains rescued 10,000 Jewish children from Germany.
In England, she was given a home with a Christian family. Only much later did she come to know that her parents were Jews. She eventually traced the path her mother and father took from her home town to the concentration camp. The trip to forgiveness first took her through years of detective work.
Her father and mother were stripped of their business and ripped from their home. She read documents showing the name, dates, and addresses in German, decades after it all happened. Then, she found other documents, showing they spent six months in Lodz Getto under inhuman conditions. More documents were discovered in this sad detective experience. These showed her parents being taken to the forested area of Chelmno, Poland where a brutally efficient killing operation was underway. May 3, 1942, in the ledger, shows the date of her mother and father being burned in the gas chambers.
Taking the Scriptures literally, that she should love her enemies, Hanna prepared herself with the help of German believers. Learning to forgive those who took her parents' lives was not going to be easy. Germans and Americans came alongside her. Her path to forgiveness and the eventual breakthrough to larger and larger circles has occupied me through George and Hanna's frequent prayer letters.
How I thank God for this dear family. Hanna's book is called A Garland for Ashes and is available here. It took her four years to complete her autobiography. What began as a sentiment of vengeful anger and hatred was transformed into a journey that you can now read in the comfort of your own home. Her release from bitterness has brought blessing to thousands.
Note: This blog focuses on faithfulness - those who lived in former years, and those who are still alive. Hanna's story is one of the most touching you will come across. At age seventy-five she wrote the book and now at age eighty-eight, she is a living testimony to the power of God's redemptive love in Jesus Christ.
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