Max and Hannah Zimmer, Parents of Hanna Kroeger
Hanna Kroeger was born on October 5, 1913 in Attabey of Amasya, Turkey, to German missionaries. When she was two years old, her mother took her and 5 older children to their grandparents in the Black Forest region, near Freudenstadt in southern Germany, because her father had enlisted in WWI. He came back from the war when she was 7 years old and decided to take his family back to their home in Turkey. Because the journey was potentially dangerous (they had to go through Moscow and finally were smuggled on a boat to return to Samsung) her parents decided it would be too difficult to take the two youngest children. Hanna and her brother Guenter were separated and spent over a year at the homes of different relatives. The siblings were reunited with the family and returned to Turkey when Hanna was eight. Her father, Max Zimmer, was a top adviser to Kamel Pasha, the far-seeing military man who had defeated the British in a brutal battle at Gallipoli a few years before. In 1922, Kamel Pasha (Ataturk) took control of Turkey’s political structures and was instrumental in developing modern Turkey as we know it today. Hanna’s father was also very interested in the works of philosophers of his age and communicated regularly with Alice Bailey and Hanna was educated by her mother in the mornings and by her father in the evenings, when he held round-table discussions open to all the villagers. Hanna said these were fascinating discussions about science, philosophy, politics, and
While growing up in Turkey she spent much time in nature. She spent hours caring for the puppies and baby donkeys which were discarded by the pack trains that passed her village. After completing high school she became a translator for an American missionary doctor, Dr. Clark, who traveled from village to village binding up wounds and healing people using common remedies (herbs, cream of tartar, baking soda, vinegar), prayer, and intuition to help people in remote northern regions of Turkey. Under the recommendation of Dr. Clark, Hanna went to an American Hospital in Istanbul to study to become a nurse, later finishing her studies at the University of Freiburg in German
 Hanna Kroeger (Right) and Two Siblings |
 Hanna Kroeger at 16 |
 Hanna Kroeger Completes Nursing School |
