Hirschmann
In my May 3 column, I write about Maria Anne Hirschmann, who was invited to speak in February at an Air Force Academy symposium but was then canceled. The reason, according to the academy, is that the vetting process turned up some unsettling things.
Hirschmann, 82, was born in Czechoslavkia and attended a Nazi youth camp in her teens. Once a follower of Hitler, she renounced the Nazi leader soon after World War II after meeting American soldiers in Europe who, she said, “were so kind to her.” Hirschmann moved to America in 1955, and for the first time her life, she “understood what freedom was.”
Hirschmann founded Hansi Ministries in 1974. She told me she’s been giving speeches at U.S. military institutions for 30 years.
But Hirschmann also hold some controversial views. She paints Muslims as evil, sees U.S. military might as divinely inspired, and compares President Barack Obama to Hitler again and again. I recounted some of this in my column. Below is an edited excerpt from my interview with Hirschmann.
MARK BARNA: You were a Nazi youth leader?
HIRSCHMAN: The Nazis brainwashed me. I believed it was the way to save the world.
BARNA: How to did you become a Christian?
HIRSCHMANN: The first human beings who were nice to me were American soldiers in 1945. I was trying to find answers because everything was so confusing. I became a Christian in western Germany in 1946.
BARNA: You’ve been a critic of President Barack Obama
HIRSCHMANN: Obama is the result of a trend in America that is going away from the Judeo-Christian ethic. Obama is a socialist, one step from communism.
He could pave the way for a future Antichrist. Obama scares me because he has no record and people flock to him. Hitler also had no record, people flocked to him and both wrote a book. Christians laid flat and Hitler came to power, just like with Obama.
Obama is the result of the secular news media brain washing America. The media put Obama into power. He is so inexperienced …
BARNA: What was your impression of America when you arrived in the 1950s?
HIRSCHMANN: I got so excited about freedom. I had never experienced it before. The good Lord sent me to America.
BARNA: When did you start speaking at U.S. military institution?
HIRSCHMANN: I started in 1974.
BARNA: You have a great love for U.S. troops.
HIRSCHMANN: If it wasn’t for those American soldiers, I wouldn’t be here today.
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