Lotta Hitschmanova, (November 28, 1909 – August 1, 1990) was a Canadian humanitarian. In 1945, she helped to found the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada (now called SeedChange), an international development organization consisting of a small group of aid workers sending supplies to war-torn Europe for relief and reconstruction. Attired in an army nurse's uniform and military-style hat, she traveled yearly to strife-torn and poverty-stricken parts of the world searching out towns and villages in need of Canadian assistance to recover from drought, war, disease and poverty. Early life Hitschmanova was born "Lotte Hitschmann" in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic), on November 28, 1909, to Max Hitschmann and Else Theiner. She had a younger sister named Lilly born fifteen months later. Their father was a malt merchant with factories located beyond Prague's suburbs. The family lived in moderate wealth and comfort. She attended a coeducational high school Stephans Gymnasium where she graduated with honours. In 1929 she enrolled in the school of Philosophy at the University of Prague where she excelled at languages earning diplomas in Czech, German, English, French, and Spanish. In 1932 she went to Paris where she studied political science and journalism at the Sorbonne. While at the Sorbonne institute she obtained diplomas in journalism and French studies. In 1935 she returned to Prague to work as a freelance journalist. She also completed her PhD at Prague University. She worked for several newspapers (i.a. the French written Romanian newspaper L'Indépendance Roumaine) (see below) as well as the Yugoslavian government news agency. Her writings reflected her anti-Nazi sentiments. When the Germans seized a third of Czechoslovakia following the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938 she left the country and returned to Paris. She eventually ended up in Brussels, Belgium. At this time she changed her last name to the Slavic variation Hitschmanova which sounded less like German. War years In Belgium, Dr. Hitschmanova worked as a journalist, but when the Germans invaded that country she escaped to France, eventually ending up in Marseilles, where she was able to obtain employment with an immigration service that assisted refugees. One day, while queuing in Marseilles's market over lunch hour, she fainted from fatigue and hunger. After regaining consciousness, Hitschmanova made her way to a medical clinic run by the Boston-based Unitarian Service Committee. This, says her biographer, Clyde Sanger, was her first contact with the organization. She became even more