I was born in 1939 in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. Because of the decision at the Yalta Conference to expel the German-speaking population from the country, our family needed to leave our home in 1946. I was then seven years old. My brother was eight; my sisters were four and three years old. My mother died in Czechoslovakia two months before we were moved. My father was a prisoner of war and was released because of my mother's death, so he could come with us to Germany. My grandmother was Czech and my grandfather German. They moved with us in order to take care of us.
Although I was raised in a religious family, many people in my environment were convinced that God did not exist. So, I wanted to find out for myself. At age 19, I went to England, worked in a hospital, and studied the English language. After one year, I went to Paris, stayed with a French family, worked there and studied French. There was one professor who spoke passionately about the existence of God, while so many others taught dialectical materialism. He had a profound influence in my life.
When I came to New York City in 1961, I was amazed that the churches were filled with people every day. Initially, I stayed with a family, and then worked as a trilingual secretary. The day I encountered Therese Stewart and Betsy Jones at St. Christopher Chapel at Washington Square, I heard them talking about a new movement founded by Sun Myung Moon which unifies all religions. I invited myself to their lecture, and my quest for God ended. Within three days, in September 1968, I knew that the Lord of the Second Advent was on earth, in the person of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, that he had completed Jesus' mission, and that since 1960, mankind had True Parents. That totally changed the direction of my life. I didn't need to search any more.
When I was eleven years old, my grandfather, whom I loved very much, told me that a historical event would take place in 1960, changing the direction of human history, that a man would come who will unify all religions, that his name will be known more and more in the 1980s and that he will usher in a world of universal peace. This was an excellent preparation for my acceptance of the Divine Principle.
From Tribute, pp. 172-73.