EARLY YEARS

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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 Germany.