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Corrie ten Boom
April
15, 1892 saw the birth of the youngest child to Dutch parents, Casper and Cornelia ten
Boom, whose baby daughter bore the name of her mother. She was better known as
Corrie among her family and so many who would become her friends. Haarlem, Holland
was the hometown of these devout European Christians, situated 22 miles from the
internationally renowned city, The Hague in the Netherlands. Life began simply
enough for the family, with Casper ten Boom attending to his watch shop located on the
bottom floor of their house—a rather common existence. Corrie learned the
trade of her father and grandfather and was the first woman in Holland to do so. But
her ambition leaned more toward social work in her community. This was no
great surprise to her loved ones, who themselves had a well-earned reputation for helping
people in need.
Moved by her deeply rooted faith, the Dutch
native operated the Haarlem’s girl’s clubs for 20 years beginning in 1921.
She also decided to open her own clubs for girls in both Holland and Indonesia. The
organizations were similar to the YWCA or girl scouts, with activities ranging from
gymnastics to camping. Naturally, Corrie used these attractions as an
opportunity to reach young ladies aged 12 to 18 with the gospel message during their
formative years. She ran one club specifically for the mentally handicapped,
observing that they seemed to understand the concept of God’s love for them.
Corrie’s notoriety came from helping those in real crisis, however.
In 1940, the usually peaceful surroundings to
which the citizens of the city had become accustomed were suddenly introduced to the
rumblings of World War II. May 10th of that year became a dreadful memory
in the minds of the ten Boom’s and their fellow countrymen. Corrie and sister
Betsie were awakened by the sound of explosions that rocked the nation of Holland.
For five days, their armed forces fought to withstand Germany’s invasion, but
fell under the regime of Hitler. The residents of Haarlem along with other locales
became prisoners in their own neighborhoods, with German soldiers standing guard.
Curfews were enforced at earlier and earlier times and Corrie soon had no choice
but to close her centers for the youth. She took solace in the fact that she taught
them to have faith in Christ and hoped that faith was strong enough to endure the horrors
of war.
During the days following the attack, the usual
hospitality the ten Boom’s extended to their neighbors expanded to include hiding
Jews (whom Hitler was determined to exterminate) and underground workers who supported the
overthrow of the Germans. As many as 6 or 7 Jews and Dutch dissidents resided in a
secret room next to Corrie’s bedroom at any one time. It was built just for
that purpose. An elaborate network of townspeople coupled with
government officials with sympathy for German opposition functioned to protect anyone
threatened by the Nazis. Corrie chose which individuals to approach for help
following extensive prayer for God’s wisdom. Code words from ‘customers’
entering the watch shop assisted to communicate the need for concealment of endangered
persons. Not only did the ten Boom’s hide many in their home, but they acted as
liaison for those they didn’t have room to accommodate, shuffling needy ones to
places outside of town. This continued up until February 28, 1944, when the Gestapo
(German police) raided their home after getting wind of their participation in human
smuggling. They stayed there for the day, seizing all who entered the residence,
about 30 in all. Fortunately, the group of long-term residents had performed drills to
prepare for such an event, and was able to go completely into hiding in less than one
minute. The police searched for about 30 minutes around the home, but found no Jews
or underground workers. Uncertain if there were somehow people hidden in the house,
guards were posted for nearly two full days at the home. Miraculously, no one was
discovered, although they were thoroughly spent from lack of food and sleep. They
eventually escaped. As for the ten Boom’s, Corrie, Betsie, Casper, sister Nollie,
brother Willem, and nephew Peter were arrested along with the 30 who entered the house
that day. The guards physically assaulted corrie and Betsie as they searched for
Jews or insurgents in the house.
After a brief stay of one day at the local
police station, the group was sent to a prison near The Hague. They were each sent
to separate cells and Casper died 10 days later at the age of 84, though Corrie didn’t
know it at the time. Willem didn’t fare too well, either. Willem
was soon released from custody, but while in prison, he became afflicted with tuberculosis
that claimed his life just after the war. He was in his sixties at the time of his death.
Meanwhile, Corrie fell ill in prison and was sent to the institution’s medical
ward. Determining that she was too sick to mingle with the other prisoners,
officials decided to keep her in solitary confinement for the next four months. The
woman of God then found out that her father had died on an occasion when the guards were
absent to celebrate Hitler’s birthday. All news was not bad news, though.
Back in Haarlem, her sister Nollie sent her a letter and some personal effects.
Under the stamp on the envelope, she left an encoded message to inform Corrie that
the persons left in the house the day of their arrest were safe.
Corrie was then questioned by a Gestapo officer
and responded by telling him of her work with the youth on Christ’s behalf.
Resistant at first, the officer became interested in the peace of God spoken of by
the brave saint. He later came to offer her as much assistance as possible.
In June 1944 the prisoners at the camp were rounded up to board a train bound for
southern Holland. While boarding the train, Corrie and Betsie reunited.
The next stop was a labor camp where inmates manufactured radios for German
aircraft among other things. Corrie took pride to do a poor job at
piecing together equipment, although she was very adept mechanically, as evidenced by her
watch making experience.
But times ahead were the toughest yet. 700
male inmates were shot in one day. One reason for hope existed as news came that
Allied forces had begun to get the upper hand in the war. In September 1944, the
prisoners were moved to the dreaded Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany, where many
of them were made to do grueling manual labor, forced into poor, overcrowded and
flea-infested housing, and were rationed food, if fed at all. Conditions were dire
enough to motivate an increasing number of prisoners to put stress-induced differences
behind them and attend a bible study started by the ten Boom sisters. Fortunately,
the flea problem was so bad, that the camp guards ignored violations of possessing
Biblical literature because they didn’t want to tangle with the miniature pests!
That led Corrie to say, “thank God for the fleas”! The challenges
persisted with the small victories, though. Betsie was cruelly beaten by one of the
guards and many of the sick residents were killed and then taken to the incinerator and
burned. A relative managed to smuggle a bottle of vitamin drops to Corrie, who
shared them with the other inmates. Malnutrition was rampant and the bottle never
seemed to run out of drops!
Betsie got sick, however, and, in December 1944,
she died while in prison. A few days later Corrie’s grief was mitigated by way
of release papers that came for her. She was free at last! It turned out that
her release was a ‘mix-up’ in paperwork—a ‘mistake’. The
very next week, the prison officials killed all the inmates in her age range. One
final personal sting from the war for Corrie was the death of her nephew, Kik (Willem’s
son) while imprisoned by the Germans in 1945. Germany surrendered later that year
and World War II was in the history books.
Before her death, Betsie shared a vision she had
with Corrie of a large house, and expressed a burden to travel the world to share the love
of God. The lone surviving ten Boom went on to fulfill both those ambitions by
opening a rehabilitation center and traveling to over 60 countries testifying about the
goodness of the Lord. She was knighted by the queen of Holland and honored for her
kindness to the Jews by the newly reborn nation of Israel. She chronicled her
experiences in the book The Hiding Place, which became a best seller. She
wrote eight other books, as well, and produced 5 films. The heralded survivor firmly
believed that to make a full psychological recovery from the events of WWII, one must
learn to forgive the offenders. She got her opportunity one day as a former prison
guard asked to shake her hand. Reluctant at first, she realized the God in her was
big enough to forgive any trespass. In 1977, Miss ten Boom gave up traveling and
settled in California. She had a stroke later and lost her ability to speak,
but she continued to intercede for others. On April 15, 1983 Corrie died on her 91st
birthday, an event many Jews count as a privilege afforded to only the most honorable
people.
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