Book: The Hiding Place
Author: Corrie Ten Boom
Pages: 269
Date: 3/20/25
I chose this book because I toured the actual home where the book took place in 1992 when I was an exchange student in The Netherlands. I wanted to refresh myself on the story.
I learned the following from this story:
The main characters of the book are:
Casper Ten Boom (papa)
Betsie Ten Boom (Corrie’s oldest sister)
Willem Ten Boom (older brother)
Nollie Ten Boom (3rd child & older sister)
Corrie Ten Boom (youngest daughter & author)
Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker who became a heroine of the Dutch Resistance, a survivor of Hitler’s concentration camps, and one of the most remarkable evangelists of the 20th century. In WWII, she and her family risked their lives to help Jews & underground workers escape from the Nazis, and for their work they were tested in the infamous Nazi death camps. Only Corrie among her family survived to tell the story of how faith ultimately triumphs over evil.
The first 1/3 of the book discusses how Corrie grew up, her relationship to her family members, the strength of their Christian faith and describes their home. The Nazis invaded Holland in May of 1940. They were required to turn in their radios – they turned in one of the two. During the first year of Nazi occupation, there were few attacks on the Jews. The family first helped a Jew in November of 1941. By May of 1942, they were a stopping point for more & more Jews who were on their way to finding more permanent hiding spots – mostly in the rural areas. By early 1943, the only places left to hid Jews was in the cities. Thus, ration cards were required and Corrie (51 years old) was getting them from various sources. The family built a false wall in Corrie’s bedroom (the one highest in the home – on the 3rd floor) that allowed for 2.5 feet in width and the length of the entire room. There was a secret door in a closet to this room & the wall was built out of bricks (brought in a few at a time to avoid suspicion) so that it would not sound hollow.
By February of 1944, there were six Jews & underground workers living at their home. The house is raided on 2/28/44 and they were unable to set up their signal that there were Nazis in the house, so more people were caught coming and going throughout the day. Amazingly, the 6 people were able to make it to the hiding place and stayed there for 48 hours before they were able to be spirited away.
The family and other entrapped people were taken to prison. Papa Ten Boom (85 years old) dies on 3/9/44. Corrie is placed in solitary confinement on 3/16/44 and finds Betsie when they are all moved to a camp that is close to the border of Germany in June. On 9/4/44, they begin a nightmare transport by boxcar to Ravensbruck concentration camp near Berlin. Betsie dies on 12/16/44 and Corrie is released on 12/30/44. A week after she left, everyone in the camp is killed and she learns later that she was only released due to a clerical error. She returns to Holland. She sets up a rehabilitation center for war victims in May of 1945, which ultimately grows into something much larger – helping not only Dutch victims but those from other countries and people from the Pacific theater as well.
The rest of her life, she spends time raising money for various centers, ministering to people around the world and writing books. She dies in 1983. The museum of her home opened in 1988 and a movie called “The Hiding Place” is released on DVD in 2003. I encourage people to watch the movie. I intend to watch it when I get out of prison.
What I learned that will help me increase my prospects for success after prison are:
1) Believe & trust in God. There were multiple instances where Corrie & her family were saved by small miracles. The clerical error that saved her life, the fact that she was not searched in her cell during solitary confinement or when they were moved to Ravensbrook (she hid a Bible & sweater for Betsie) and several other instances were listed in the book. I strongly believe that God exists, is currently watching over me and has a greater plan for me when I am released. This gives me strength and faith to thrive in the current environment and do something of merit afterwards.
2) The Ten Boom family was so strong in their faith that they were unable to lie. Once, when they were searched by German soldiers they were asked where the men of the family were hiding. One of the sisters replied, “Under the table.” She was able to say this because there was a trapdoor under the table where the three men were hiding. This leads to the discussion about legality vs morality. It was illegal to help the Jews, but morally correct to do so. There may come a time in my life, or the life of my children, when we will have to make the determination between legality & morality. I hope that God provides me with the ability to determine when this happens and I make the correct choice.
3) Do the hard thing. It was not easy for the Ten Boom family to hide people and help them. It took nearly all of their money and an immendous amount of resources. You can see when viewing a picture of them that none of them are fat as the most often way to extend food was to eat soup and add water to it as more people came there to eat it. Believing in God is hard. Getting up early to read books & write book reports is hard. Finding 7 hours per day to work at Unicor while still finding time to exercise, pray, shower, sleep and call my family is hard. Not swearing in prison is hard. Rebuilding my life and re-introducing myself to my family when released will be hard. I am doing the hard things now so that I have the ability and stamina to do it later when I am released.
