Before the War, 1892 - 1940

The youngest of four children, Cornelia "Corrie" ten Boom was born on April 15, 1892, in Haarlem, Netherlands, to Casper and Cornelia Johanna Arnolda ten Boom-Luitingh. The ten Booms were devout Christians who believed in service to God and their fellow man.

Corrie's grandfather was a watchmaker who, in 1837, established a shop in Haarlem. He operated his business on the ground floor and the family lived in rooms above. The shop was eventually inherited by his son, Corrie's father, Casper. Like her father and grandfather Corrie also trained to be a watchmaker and, In 1922, became the first licensed female watchmaker in Holland.

For the next 18 years she lived a normal, peaceful life, working alongside her father in the shop. Then, in May of 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, and thus began the occupation of Holland.

The War Years 1940 - 1944

The peaceful existence of the Dutch people was over, and the lives of the ten Boom family was changed forever. In keeping with their true Christian beliefs and morality the ten Booms had always operated their home as a kind of "open house" for those in need, helping whenever, and whomever, they could. So, when their Jewish neighbours, a family by the name of Wells, was at risk, the ten Booms hid them in their home and helped them to escape Holland. In May of 1942, a woman, having heard that they had helped the Well's family, showed up at the ten Boom's door. She told them that she was a Jew and that her husband had been arrested by the Nazis. She asked for their help. Corrie's father agreed to allow the woman to stay with them, telling her that, "in this household God's people are always welcome." These two acts of kindness and bravery were the beginning of "the Hiding Place".

The ten Boom family became very active in the resistance movement. Their home became known as Beje House, an abbreviation of their street name, Barteljorisstraat, a safe house for those being hunted by the Nazis. A false wall was constructed in Corrie's bedroom, creating a small hidden room where the refuges could hide. Over the next two years many Jews, as well as members of the Dutch resistance movement sought refuge there. There could be six or seven people living illegally in the house at any one time, as well as any number of transients who would be harboured there before being moved to other safe houses.

Corrie, along with her father and sister Betsie, risked her life to help rescue people from the Nazi invaders. She formed, and became the ringleader of, "the Beje group", an underground network that sought out sympathetic and courageous Dutch families to provide additional safe houses for the refugees. Due to wartime shortages, ration cards were issued to non-Jewish Dutch citizens for food and necessities. Corrie managed to procure as many as 100 extra of these cards so that they could get provisions for the refugees.

It is estimated that during 1943 and the first two months of 1944 the ten Boom family, along with their Resistance network, rescued some 800 Jews and protected countless numbers of the Dutch underground. Then on the 28th of February 1944, the family was betrayed.

Imprisonment

Following a tip from a Dutch informant, the Nazi Gestapo raided the ten Boom home and arrested 35 people, including the ten Boom family. The German soldiers failed, however, to locate the secret hiding place behind Corrie's bedroom wall where six people—four Jews and two members of the Dutch underground—were hiding. They remained huddled there in the cramped space for three days before being rescued by the resistance.

All members of the ten Boom family were imprisoned. Casper ten Boom, Corrie's father, who was 84 years old at the time of his arrest, was sent to the Gestapo Prison in Scheveningen, Netherlands where he perished shortly after. Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to Germany and incarcerated at the infamous Ravensbruck concentration camp outside Berlin.

During their captivity the two sisters did what they could to try to alleviate some of the suffering of their fellow prisoners and give them hope. At night, after their long and torturous day of work, the two women would hold worship services in the women's barracks. There would be prayers and whispered hymns from some of the women, then Corrie or Betsie would read from the Dutch bible that they had managed to sneak into the camp, translating aloud in German. Someone else would then translate to another language, and so on around the barracks until the reading had been translated to the language of each prisoner.

The two sisters kept up these nightly services for months until December 16, 1944, the day Betsie died.

The Miracle

Just twelve days after the death of her sister, Corrie's life was saved by, what many believe to be a miracle. Though the exact circumstances are not known, it appears that a clerical error led to Corrie being released from Ravensbruck, just one week before all the women of her age group at the concentration camp were rounded up and executed.

After the War

After the war Corrie returned to the Netherlands. There, in Bloemendaal, she set up a rehabilitation centre for concentration camp survivors, helping them to heal the mental scars and emotional wounds inflicted on them by their cruel captors during the horrific time of their imprisonment. This refugee centre, in the true spirit of love and forgiveness for which Corrie ten Boom became known worldwide, also housed and cared for the jobless and homeless Dutch who had collaborated with the Germans during the war. In 1950 the centre opened its doors to anyone in need of care.

In 1946, at the age of 53, Corrie returned to Germany where she met with two former Ravensbruck guards and forgave them for their part in the concentration camp atrocities. Thus, began her worldwide ministry. In the years that followed she travelled the world, carrying her message of love and forgiveness to more than 60 countries. She also wrote numerous books on these topics.

In 1971 she published the book The Hiding Place, which describes her experiences during the war. In 1975 the book was made into a full length feature film of the same name.

Honours and Tributes

Corrie received much recognition for her courageous acts during the war, and her humanitarian work and worldwide ministry in the years following. Her awards and tributes include being named Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel and being invited to plant a tree in the Avenue of the Righteous Gentiles at the Yad Vashem, where Oskar Schindler is also honoured. She was also knighted by the Queen of the Netherlands and had The King's College in New York City name a new women's house after her. As well, the building that had served as her childhood home, the site of the family business, and the location of the hiding place has been preserved and now operates as the Corrie ten Boom Home Museum.

Jewish tradition holds that only specially blessed people are given the honour of dying on the same date they were born. There must be some truth in this as Corrie ten Boom passed away on April 15, 1983, on her 91st birthday.