Today is Feb. 18, 2021, I had finished reading a book called "The Hiding Place." It was a wonderful book about A Christian woman named Corrie Ten Boom. When I was younger and hearing about Corrie Ten Boom, I thought she was a Jew. To my surprise my son and I watched the movie called "The Hiding Place" and discovered her family were Christian's. They were hiding Jew's in their home during the holocaust.
Corrie's family owned a clock store. They would make and sell clocks and watches and repair them. Corrie became the first license watchmaker in Holland. I wanted to give you some notes I had taken from her book.
_Note: If you haven't read "The Hiding Place" my notes will SPOIL the book.
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When Corrie was around ten or eleven, she learned of a word called (sexism) and she was curious in knowing what it meant. She was too shy to ask her teacher and it wasn't discussed at home. Well, one day she went alone to the train station with her father. She seated next to her father and asked,
"Father, what is sexism?" He turned to look at her as he always did when answering a question, but to her surprise he said nothing. At last, he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over their heads, and set it on the floor.
"Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?" he spoke. She stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.
"It's too heavy," I said.
"Yes," he said. "And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now, you must trust me to carry it for you."
And I was satisfied. More than satisfied-wonderfully at peace. There were answers to this and all my hard questions-- for now I was content to leave them in my father's keeping. +++
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When Corrie was young, she remembers visiting a poor family in the neighborhood. The woman had lost her little baby. Her mother brought some homemade bread to give to them and Corrie was afraid to go inside the home. She went upstairs with her mom and Nollie her older sister. The baby was laying lifeless inside her homemade crib. Corrie barely touched the little child's curled hand, and it was cold.
That night when her father tucked her in bed with Nollie beside her, Corrie burst into tears. "I need you! I sobbed. "You can't die! You can't!"
Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed.
"Corrie," he began gently, "When you and I go to Amsterdam- when do I give you your ticket?"
I sniffed a few times, considering this.
"Why, just before we get on the train."
'Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too.
Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need --just in time."
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The warning system was a triangle-shaped wooden
sign advertising "Alpina Watches," which was placed in
the window whenever it was safe to enter inside
their clock store business.
When the triangle sign was taken down it meant
it wasn't safe for the underground workers and Jews
to enter in.
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Corrie's Mom told Corrie when she was young
"Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie,
It's something we make inside ourselves."
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Corrie's Father spoke to his sister-in-law, Jan. She was Corrie's Tante Jan (Aunt) and the announcement that she was dying of tuberculosis; was hard to give her. She was sobbing with tears and Corrie's Father gently said, "There is a joyous journey which each of God's children sooner or later sets out on. And, Jan, some must go to their Father empty-handed, but you will run to Him with hands full!"
Corrie's Aunt Jan was listening with disbelief; she lowered her hands and with tears still streaming down her face whispered, "Dear Jesus, I thank You that we must come with empty hands. I thank You have done all---all---on the Cross, and that all we need in life or death is to be sure of this,"
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Corrie had a crush on a boy name Karel. They spent their times walking on the streets of Haarlem and looking at beautiful flower gardens. He was five years older than Corrie. When they were in their twenties Karel had left to work for a minister who had a large congregation. They both wrote letters to one another, but Karel's was becoming more seldom.
One day the doorbell rang, and Corrie ran downstairs to answer it.
"I flung open the alley door and there was Karel. Beside him was a young woman.
She stood smiling at me. I took in the hat with its sweeping feather, the ermine collar, the white-gloved hand resting on his arm. Then a blur seemed to move over the scene, for Karel said to Corrie," I want you to meet my fiancée."
They visited with Corrie's family for a half an hour. Karel gave the news of President Wilson was sending American troops to France!
Corrie's sister Betsie took them down to the door. Before the door clicked shut Corrie ran upstairs to her bedroom sobbing. Later, Corrie's Father came into Corrie's room to console her.
He said, "Corrie, do you know what hurts so very much" It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain.
"There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.
"God loves Karel -even more than you do- and if you ask Him, he will give you His love for this man, a love nothing can prevent, nothing destroy. Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give us the perfect way."
That night when Corrie went to bed. She whispered an enormous prayer:
" Lord, I give to You the way I feel about Karel, my thoughts about our future---oh, you know! Everything! Give me your way of seeing Karel instead. Help me to love him that way. That much."
And even as she said those words; she fell asleep.
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Corrie's Mom became ill and began having cerebral hemorrhages. This spread slowly across her body causing paralysis.
Corrie was amazed of the quality of her mom's life; during her three years in a wheelchair. Her crippled body didn't keep her from trying to reach out to her neighbors. she was always looking out into the streets and interested in the outside world. And so, Corrie learned that
"Love is larger than the walls which shut it in."
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When the rounding up of the Jewish people began, Corrie Ten Boom's family began hiding the Jew's. They placed them in a hidden wall in Corrie's bedroom.
That night Father and Betsie and I prayed long after the others had gone to bed. We knew that spite of daily mounting risks we had no choice but to move forward. This was evil's hour:
We could not run away from it. Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed,
would God's power alone be free to work."
Once again, we considered stopping the work. Once again, we discovered we could not.
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"Would you be willing to take a Jewish mother and her baby into your home?"
Color drained from the man's face. He took a step back from me. "Miss ten Boom! I do
hope you're not involved with any of this illegal concealment.... It's just not
safe! Think of your father!"
I pulled the coverlet back from the baby's face. The man
bent forward, his hand in spite of himself reaching for the tiny fist curled round
the blanket. For a moment I was compassion and fear struggle in his face.
Then he straightened. "No. Definitely not. We could lose our lives for that
Jewish child!"
Unseen by either of us, Father had appeared in the doorway. "Give the child to me,
Corrie," he said.
Father held the baby close, his white beard brushing its cheek, looking into the
little face with eyes as blue and innocent as the baby's.... "You say we could lose
our lives for this child. I would consider that the greatest honor that could come
to my family."
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While Corrie was in her prison cell she made a calendar on the wall, behind her cot. She started to record special dates beneath the calendar:
February 28, 1944 Arrest
February 29, 1944, Transport to Scheveningen
March 16, 1944 Beginning of Solitary
and now a new date:
April 15, 1944, My Birthday in Prison
At least I would have a song at my party! I chose one about the Bride of Haarlem tree---she would be in full bloom now. the child's song brought it all close; the bursting branches, the petals raining like snow on the brick sidewalk----
"Quiet in there!" A volley of blows sounded on my iron door. "Solitary prisoners are to keep silent!"
I sat on the cot, opened the Gospel of John, and read until the ache in my heart went away.
note:( A small Bible was smuggled in when She and her sister Betsie was in the concentration camp.)
Her mom had passed away before the raid on their home. Their father had to go to another concentration camp, where he died a few weeks later.
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Finally, Betsie and Corrie were quarantined in the same Concentration Camp.
They held prayer meetings in their barracks among the women. Betsie was a good teacher to the woman who seemed to want to learn about the bible. Corrie and Betsie both helped form the
Bible study and it helped place God's light into the darkness.
The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ.? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
Sometimes Corrie would slip the Bible from its little sack with hands that shook, so mysterious had it become to her. It seemed to be new; as if had just been written. The description of hell and heaven, of how men act and how God acts. She knew the story well of Jesus being arrested, flogged, beaten, stripped of his clothing. She felt the pain and humiliation of Jesus of all the things she has placed her eyes upon. The treatment in the Concentration camps seemed unhuman and unspeakable. She and Betsie had to walk naked across the guards to enter the showers. They were shivering and waiting in the corridor, that yet another page in the Bible came to her mind. "He hung naked on the cross."
I had not known- I had not thought .... The paintings, the carved crucifixes showed at the least a scrap of cloth. But this, I suddenly knew, was the respect and reverence of the artist.
I leaned toward Betsie, ahead of me in line, her shoulder blades stood out sharp and thin beneath her skin. "Betsie, they took His clothes too"
Ahead of me I heard a little gasp. "Oh Corrie, and I never thanked Him..."
When Corrie and Betsie go to their permanent quarters, they were both excited that they were not examined. They had their Bible hidden and it never was found. They were both thankful for God's words and how they can share it among the women. Betsie was even thankful for the Fleas!! Betsie was praying as Corrie was throwing a fit about having Fleas in their beds.
"Corrie!" she said excitedly. "He's given us the answer! Before we asked, as He always does! In the Bible this morning. Read that part again!"
Corrie glanced down the long dim aisle to make sure no guard was in sight, then took the Bible from its pouch. "It was First Thessalonians: Comfort the frightened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus-----"
"That's it, Corrie! That's His answer. "Give thanks in all circumstances!
They were thankful for being assigned together.
Being able to hold the Bible.
Thanks for the very crowded room! Since they are packed so close, many more women will hear the Words of God!
The Fleas!
This was too much. Corrie found no purpose in Fleas!
"Give thanks to All circumstances, " Betsie quoted.
"It doesn't say "in pleasant circumstances.
Corrie was certain that Betsie was wrong.
Later as time went on in the concentration camp, Betsie found out why the guards never
came near the women's beds. They never once stopped them from having their prayer group meetings. The reason for this were the Fleas!
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At the beginning of their stay at the concentration camp together! There would be fighting among the women with scuffling, slaps, sobs.
In the dark I felt Betsie's hand clasp mine, "Lord Jesus," she said aloud, "send Your peace into this room. There has been too little praying here. The very walls know it. But where You come, Lord, the spirit of strife cannot exist...."
The change was gradual, but distinct. One by one the angry sounds let up.
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One time while Corrie and Betsie had to work outside digging up rocks and holes. Betsie could no longer work due to her illness. She had a bad cough and feverish. The guard whipped Betsie across her chest and neck. Corrie rushed at the guard. Betsie stepped in front of Corrie and dragged her arm to her side. "Corrie, keep working!" Betsie tugged the shovel from Corrie's hand and dug into the mud. Corrie could see the red stain appearing on Betsie's collar; a welt began to swell on her neck.
Betsie noticed Corrie looking at her wounds. Betsie covered it with her hand. "Don't look at it, Corrie. Look at Jesus only."
One night Betsie's fever registered over 104 degrees. She had to be taken to the hospital, that was on the same grounds as their barracks. That evening all the women in the dormitory wanted to know about Betsie! The lights went out and everyone was scrambling into the bunks. Corrie noticed no scuffles nor cursing happened. Everyone was saying "Sorry!" 'Excuse Me!" and "No harm done!"
Corrie had to sleep alone without Betsie. How was it possible, packed so close, to be so utterly and miserably alone?"
Note: Betsie and Corrie were both loved by the women in their dormitory (barracks.) They showed the women there is another way outside of these walls that shut them in! They helped them know and find the Words and Wisdom of Christ Love.
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"The Blue Sweater"
At early on in their arrest and sentence in prison. Corrie received a blue sweater ' from a package sent to her during her solitary confinement. The sweater came from their older sister Nollie. As soon as she could be with Betsie , she gave her the blue sweater. Corrie had Betsie place it underneath her prison uniform; so, she could keep warm.
Even though Betsie couldn't work outside, she had to go out twice a day for row call.
December temperatures fell, and many did not survive. One dark morning when ice was forming around the streetlamps, a feeble-minded girl standing two rows ahead of Betsie and Corrie, suddenly soiled herself. A guard rushed at her, swinging her thick leather crop while the girl shrieked in pain and terror.
"Betsie," I whispered "What can we do for these people? Afterward I mean. Can't we make a home for them and care for them and love them?"
"Corrie, I pray every day that we will be allowed to do this! To show them that love is greater!"
But I realized that I had been thinking of the feeble-minded, and Betsie of their persecutors.
Betsie's fever became too high and had to return back to the hospital. Corrie would visit Betsie every day. Betsie's bed was near a window and Corrie would talk to her through the window. Corrie also found a way into the hospital from a broken window in the back of the building. It led into the washroom. People inside the hospital would think Corrie was just another patient.
Corrie and Betsie could not believe their eyes as they took in every detail of the hospital scene; their brains refused. They had known that when overcrowding reached a certain point, the sickest were taken to the brick building at the foot of the great square smokestack. There was a group of sick women and girls that were loaded up on the flatbed trucks. The nurses themselves helping them climb aboard. Corrie could not put it together with the kindly behavior of the nurses. What was passing through their minds?
Corrie would keep visiting Betsie every day while she was sick on her hospital bed. One day she went to visit Betsie and noticed two nurses picking her naked body up with sheets. They carried out of the room. Corrie went in the back of the building through the broken window. She suddenly could see a pile of dead bodies naked on the floor. She could see her precious sister's lifeless body among them.
For their lay Betsie, her eyes closed as if in sleep, her face full and young. The care lines, the grief lines, the deep hollows of hunger and disease were simply gone. In front of me was the Betsie of Haarlem, happy and at peace. Stronger! Freer! this was the Betsie of heaven, busting with joy and health. Even her hair was graciously in place as if an angel had ministered to her.
A pile of clothes was heaped outside in the hallway; on top lay
Nollie's blue sweater that she had given her.
Corrie was told not to touch the sweater because of black lice. They burned all the deceased clothing.
And so, Corrie left behind the last physical tie. It was just as well. It was better. Now what tied her to Betsie was the hope of heaven.
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"Corrie's Release"
Corrie was finally released from prison on New Year's Day, 1945. Betsie had predicted it to Corrie before her death. She also predicted that there will be a green building with flower boxes all around it! Betsie said, "We have so much work to do Corrie!" We will be helping others recover from the War!
Corrie later found out that her release was a clerical error. All the women in her barracks had been taken to the gas chamber a few days after Corrie was released. She would have been among them.
When Corrie was back home in Haarlem, and the War had ended. She was invited to speak at a Church group; where hundreds of families lived. It was an abandoned factory building. She could see the sheets placed up for walls, babies crying, and family quarreling. She said to herself " How could I speak to these people of the reality of God and then go back to my quiet room at the church outside of the city? " No, before I could bring a message to them, I would have to live among them.
It was during the months Corrie spent in the factory; that a relief director came to see her. She was trying to tell him of her lack of experience of running a rehabilitation center. He made her an offer she could not refuse. "We've located a place for the work," he said, "It was a former concentration camp that's been released by the government.
They drove to Darmstadt to look over the camp. It had rusty barbed wire surrounding the building. The building was drab gray barracks. Corrie pushes the creaky door open and steps between the rows of metal cots. "Window boxes " "Well have them at every window! The barbed wire must be removed, and I want the building painted green.
Betsie's prediction came to life!
Corrie Ten Boom was born (April 15, 1892) and she died on her 91st birthday (April 15, 1983).
The Hiding Place Movie and Video's / 9-1-2020
Corrie Ten Boom (Righteous Among the Nations) / 2-2021
Corrie Ten Boom ( Family Photo's)
Quotes from "The Hiding Place" / 9-2020
I Safely Passed By / 1-31-2023
Psalm 91 Security Under God's Protection / 8-2016
Anne Frank ( Notes taken from Lori Foster's Journals)
