Young Anita Dittman & Jesus: Trapped in Hitler’s Hell
Young Jewish girl has Jesus as her constant companion while Trapped in Hitler’s Hell. Discover the Messiah’s faithfulness, even in the midst of the holocaust.
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Trapped in Hitler’s Hell
by Anita Dittman with Jan Markell
Age 14+ – Depictions of war, violence and rape (non-graphic). Please preview to determine what age is appropriate for your family.
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How does a little girl, only 6 years of age become the beacon of love and hope to the Jewish people around her?
What stands out in this book written by Anita Dittman herself along with Jan Markell, is her unshakeable trust in Jesus from a very early age. I have read many autobiographies by holocaust survivors but while they may have survived physically, many were still racked by bitterness, guilt, a sense of despair and unforgiveness. Trapped in Hitler’s Hell stands apart from many other accounts in that Anita knew that whatever she endured, God had a purpose for her life and would use it for good.
Enduring some of the greatest evils man can perpetrate against his fellow man, Anita never lost sight of the everlasting faithfulness of Jesus. She wrote,
“With all the religious options I had as a six-year-old, it is incredible that I could discern that Jesus truly was God. I did not believe in the rituals of Judaism or Catholicism, or Father’s ardent atheism, or Mother’s wavering practice of theosophy. The spirit of God touched a little girl; in a few years I would take up my cross and follow Him… Mother had allowed the sophistries of the intellectual world to lure her away from the God of the Old and New Testaments. Realising her failure, she gave me freedom to seek the God of my choice.”
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
– Romans 8:18
Anita’s remarkable faith and love for Jesus enabled her to reach out to others who had hated and despised her and while being mercilessly persecuted, she continued to show love and forgiveness to those around her, including her own father. In the lead up to World War II and the rise of the Hitler, Anita’s German Aryan father abandoned his Jewish wife and children after it became illegal to help or even associate with Jewish people.
After her sister was able to flee to England, Anita and her mother found refuge in one of the few German churches that didn’t renounce their faith in God, nor synchretize their Christian beliefs with Naziism and Hitler’s regime. Loved and valued, Anita found a substitute father in faithful Pastor Hornig, a true servant-hearted man of God. Pastor Hornig and his wife saw it as their honour and calling to love God’s people and win the Jewish people to salvation in Jesus, protecting and if possible, assisting them to flee to safety.
Unable to flee, Anita and her mother were eventually transported to separate prison camps. In the midst of unspeakable circumstances, Anita cried out to Jesus, the only one who could save her:
Be Merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusteth in You; And in the shadow of thy wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.
– Psalm 57:1
Spoiler alert!
Finally liberated by the Russians with her mother due to be sent to the gas chambers the following day, Anita and her mother were eventually reunited. They never lost hope of seeing each other again nor the hope that is found only in Jesus. On 18th June 1946, Anita and 900 homeless Jewish refugees were welcomed to their new home by America’s New York Harbor.
The Hiding Place
– Corrie Ten Boom
Filled with the same hope and love found only in Jesus that sustained Anita Dittman in Trapped in Hitler’s Hell, follow Corrie Ten Boom’s story in her autobiography, The Hiding Place.
The Hiding Place
Young Reader's Edition: Age 9+
It's World War II. Darkness has fallen over Europe as the Nazis spread hatred, fear and war across the globe. But on a quiet city corner in the Netherlands, one woman fights against the darkness.
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The Hiding Place
In darkness God's truth shines most clear.
Corrie ten Boom was the first licensed female watchmaker in the Netherlands who became a heroine of the Resistance, a survivor of Hitler's concentration camps, and one of the most remarkable ministers of hope in the twentieth century.
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
– 1 John 4:4
