A German Girl in a Communist Country
We have known her for many years and value her strong sense of justice and her love for freeedom, beauty, and truth. She was born and raised in Romania in a German-origin family in Transylvania. Her adoptive parents brought her up in loving care and showed her an example of standing up for justice and equality. Her biological parents also strongly encouraged these values.
Germany’s tainted history badly affected the way she was treated as a German girl in a communist nation.
Discriminated and Disadvantaged
Driven by her sense of justice, Katharine Siegling wanted to take up a legal profession and study law after her graduation. But neither her nor her parents were members of the communist party, and were under governmental scrutiny for having requested permission to emigrate to Western Germany, so she was denied access to law studies. Instead, she went on to become a certified mechanical technologist for engineering drawing and studied art on top of her technical profession. Both degrees were recognized and accredited by Bavarian Government in 1985.
The Price for Freedom
She and her family were always aware that Romania was not their true home. Since 1970, they had fought for the permission to emigrate from the dictatorship of Ceaucescu to Germany. In the fall of 1983, they managed to get their story and that of their Romanian friends, a Baptist family who were discriminated because of their faith, sent to western radio stations. The attempt to contact the Munich station “Freies Europa” and the BBC with their urgent call for help was a dangerous venture for which they risked life and freedom. Not knowing whether their cry for help would be heard, both families prepared for hunger strike. But, indeed, their stories had been aired on the radio and the late prime minister of Bavaria, Franz Josef Strauß, learned of their distress and arranged help to get them to Germany.
Expropriation and Loss of Employment
But that was not the end of the families’ troubles. When the government informed her company of the family’s soon emigration, Katharine Siegling along with other engineers and technicians of German origin was removed from her position and job. Her employment record vividly documents the enforced job loss. The paintings she had on display in an exhibition at that time were withheld from her and never returned. The family was forced to give up personal possessions and leave them behind.
Franz Josef Strauß Enables Emigration
Another year passed until Katharine Siegling finally got the opportunity to personally thank Franz Josef Strauß for his intervention. What a joy! Photographs taken in the spring of 1985 show her expressing her gratitude to Franz Josef Strauß for the relief he brought by enabling them to escape the Romanian regime and emigrate to Germany.
Her Personal Commitment for the Oppressed
To this day, she is committed to bringing relief to the oppressed and discriminated, which includes her being an honorary member of a Human Rights Association. Numerous activities - we do not have the time to tell them all - account for her courage and enthusiasm to stand up for the discriminated and oppressed.
Dramatic Turnaround: From Kant to Jesus, from Schopenhauer and Nietzsche to the Bible
The family’s Romanian Baptist friends, who later managed to emigrate to the USA, had been the first ones to share their faith with her. To this day, they have stayed in touch with each other.
But Katharine Siegling’s life was all about art exhibitions, where she presented her paintings, and about the philosophic concepts of Enlightenment Philosophers like Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, so that the Bible remained a closed book for her.
Despite all these obstacles, God reached her heart during a Word of Faith conference in Munich on the 1st of August in 1987 when Mark Brazee ministered. God healed her in a dramatic way and began to work miracles in her life - Jesus Christ was her new Lord now!
Life and Service in the Holy Spirit
She received the fire of the Holy Spirit in the Euro Fire Conference held by Reinhard Bonnke and Benny Hinn in 1987 in Frankfurt. After that, she lived in Munich, the Bavarian capital, for a few years, where she attended Word of Faith bible school and later graduated from pastoral training.
Examples of Faith
Faith examples like Mark Brazee, Lester Sumrall, Reinhard Bonnke, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Oral Roberts, and Steve Hill sparked and encouraged in her a deep love for the word of God and the Holy Spirit.
Katharine Siegling:
A Life of Passion
Katharine Siegling is a woman of exuberant passion for the kingdom of God. Her personal life, her integrity, and her spiritual ministry give new hope, new courage, and new strength to countless people.
