Hannah: From Dachau to the Olympics and Beyond

Hannah is the last survivor of a group of 146 Jewish children liberated barely alive from the German concentration camp at Dachau in 1945. She was seven years old and had been interned for four brutal years. Hannah never saw her family again after being separated upon arrival at camp. Taken in by German nuns who ran a convent high in the Bavarian Alps, those who recovered went to school for the first time and received homemade wooden shoes for their previously unshod feet. Taught to ski by the nuns, as a teenager Hannah was chosen to train with the German Olympic team, although unidentified as a Jew. She participated in the 1956 games at Cortina, Italy.An update from the Author: As fascinating as Hannahs story is, I regret to inform readers that it is not true. The book was published in 2005, and the deceit was discovered in 2009. Hannah promptly disappeared and was later discovered in Butte, MT but her whereabouts are presently unknown.A few days before this shocking revelation a second printing of the book was made, the result of national interest that developed as a consequence of TV evangelist Beth Moore publicly baptizing Hannah. (However, she was not Jewish and was raised as a Catholic.) My reaction was to promptly discard $4000 worth of new books; I publish my own books. I hope for those who already have copies that they will be collectors items some day.Hannahs former husband, who she claimed was MIA in Vietnam, was located, and he told me that she was schizophrenic. While hospitalized many years ago, the psychiatrists who treated her believed her story. And she may truly believe that these things really happened to her.Hannah lived and worked in Longmont, CO for several years, where I met her while I was living in nearby Windsor. She was wellknown, wellliked, and through the years had aroused a great deal of admiration, compassion, and interest in her past. I had no official verification of her story except she had the familiar rectangular scar on her inner forearm that we have seen on former camp survivors in their attempt to remove the camp tattoo number. Who would question its authenticity? Her husband said she didnt have a tattoo or scar when he knew her forty years previously before they were divorced. She had apparently mutilated herself? My only other attempt to verify her origins was to contact an historical agency at Dachau and give them her number and family name. I was told that the number was within the range used early at Auschwitz, which connected, but her family name was so common they would need more information in order to research further. I didnt have that and was reluctant to reveal to her that I was checking up on her.Hannah became a close friend and was welcomed into my family, as she didnt have one of her own. Painful and embarrassing as all this has been for me personally and professionally, I dont condemn her as evil. I see her as sick and regret the conditions under which she must now be living. In her late 70s, she is alone, a fugitive looking over her shoulder, wanted in Colorado for substantial check fraud. Her deception caused distress, disillusion, and $$$$$ to a lot of other people as well, and there have been lessons learnedcaution that I hope doesnt induce cynicism.There is more to the story, and I wanted to write a book about this sequel, but Hannahs husband wanted it to go no farther. I wouldnt do it without his approval and participation. For forty years he had been looking for her and their son whom she had kidnapped after the divorce and of course he didnt know that that boy had been killed in a plane crash. These revelations were very stressful for him, at a time when he was suffering from exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam.I appreciate any reaction and/or information from readers, as well as tolerance for my goof.Jean Messinger