Joasia was a Jewish infant in German-occupied Poland in 1942 when she was smuggled out of a Warsaw ghetto in a backpack and her life was miraculously spared. The baby, who was born amid Adolf Hitler's murderous campaign, survived due to the kindness of strangers and truly prodigious happenings — events her daughter, Karen Kirsten, regularly shares with audiences. What's perhaps most shocking is that Joasia didn't learn anything about these events until she was 32 years old.

"She was born inside this area that was known as the Warsaw ghetto, where over 450,000 Jewish people were walled in during World War II," Kirsten told CBN News. "And she only found this out when she was 32. She got a letter from a stranger who told her she had been born in the Warsaw ghetto and that she was smuggled out in a backpack." And that's not all. Joasia also learned from this individual that the only parents she had ever known weren't actually her biological mother and father. According to the letter, her mom and dad were murdered when she was a baby and she was "rescued by a notorious SS officer."

It's a truly remarkable story Kirsten details in her book, "Irena's Gift: An Epic WWII Memoir of Sisters, Secrets, and Survival." These bits of information filled in the blanks for Joasia. But secrets often have a way of begetting secrets, and this was the case with Joasia, who concealed these details from Kirsten until she was 13 and the truth was finally unveiled. "I discovered that the grandparents I adored weren't actually my grandparents," she said. Over time, Kirsten came to embrace her mother's story and is now a Holocaust educator, sharing what happened to help prevent other horrors like it.

As for her mom's survival as a baby, Kirsten said, "It was miraculous." This proclamation is undeniable, especially as the details are explained. Hear her tell the story.