Corrie Ten Boom House

Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch woman who lived in Haarlem with her father and sister.  The family had a watch shop which was located in the lower front corner of the house; Corrie helped in the shop and her sister, Betsie, kept house. 

During the War, Corrie was already in her late forties, and her sister a bit older.  Her father was already past 80.  However, they felt very strongly that the Jewish people were God's chosen ones.  They held weekly prayer meetings for the people of Israel (and had been doing that for Corrie's whole life, not just during the War), and they did what they could.

Among other things, Corrie and her family started to hide some of the Jews who were trying to evade the Nazis.  In their goodness, they hid those who otherwise could not have found a home because they posed a danger:  an asthmatic older lady whose breathing would have been too noisy, a baby, a very loud, obviously Jewish man who tended to break out into loud prayer at inopportune times, and so on.

Eventually, they were discovered and sent to the camps.  Corrie was the only one of the family who survived to tell the tale -- which is documented in her book, The Hiding Place.

The sign in the window showed that it was safe.

The watch shop

Tante Jans's Room

The Hiding Place

The entrance to the hiding place

We had the opportunity to visit the Ten Boom house, and to see where the people were hidden.  We also had a chance to see the life of the time, and the streets where Corrie herself had walked.  The children really enjoyed seeing the reality after having read the book!

Love,

Alexandra