Corrie ten Boom

At thirty-two years of age, Corrie became the first woman in Holland to become a certified watchmaker.  She worked with her father in his business of clockmaking.  As the world became focused on Adolf Hitler who was intent on annhilating the Jews, Corrie’s father became more intent on saving as many Jewish lives as he could.  In fact, Casper ten Boom’s daughters, son, and grandsons all became involved in the underground effort to hide Jews and then get them to safe places.  Holland had become occupied by German forces.  Of course, in order to hide the Jews, they also had to find ration cards to be able to feed so many people.  The watchmaker’s house was the perfect place to hide people!  It was two houses joined together with space in between which would be easy to camouflage.  A Mr. Smit, actually a fictitious name for a renowned builder, came to their home and created the hiding place, a secret room.  

Many Jews were hidden in the ten Boom home and then moved to safer places.  One day, a man with the gestapo disguised himself and came and asked a very sick Corrie for money to help his “Jewish wife” escape. Corrie wasn’t able to think clearly, but told the man to return the next day for the money.  It was a trap.  He returned the next day to arrest the entire ten Boom family.  Fortunately, every Jewish person in the ten Boom home had been able to hide in the secret room as the gestapo converged on the home.  

The ten Boom family was taken to a concentration camp.  It was there that Casper died within ten days of his arrival.  Corrie’s nephew also died in captivity.  Corrie and Betsy were in the same flea-infested barrack.  The fleas allowed them privacy from guards who wanted nothing to do with the infestation.  It was in the barracks that Betsy & Corrie read their smuggled Bible to the others and taught them about God’s love and how He wanted them to forgive their enemies. Betsy became ill but told Corrie that she believed they would be released by the new year.  And they were.  Betsy was released to heaven and Corrie was given her freedom and returned to her beloved home.  

Betsy also told Corrie that she believed God would give them a home to help restore the broken people after their release.  And that’s exactly what happened.  Corrie was given a beautiful mansion which she shared with many people to help bring about their healing.  She traveled all over the world to share her story and tell how important it was to forgive our enemies. In fact, in two of those meetings, she was confronted with guards from the concentration camp—and offered a hand of forgiveness to them both.  She died from a stroke at her home in California at 91-years-of-age.  Her story continues with her book and movie, The Hiding Place.