CORRIE TEN BOOM
CORRIE TEN BOOM
Corrie Ten Boom(1892-1983): Ambassador For Christ
Among the 'righteous Gentiles' who risked their lives to save Jewish refugees was the ten Boom family of Holland. The Ten Booms lived in the beautiful old Dutch town of Haarlem, between Amsterdam and the North Sea. For many years the family had had a love for the Jews, God's chosen people, and their sympathies were known in the town. When the Nazis over-ran Holland, many Jews knew where they could turn for help, and the local rabbi brought all his Jewish rheological books to Corries father in the hope of preserving them for future use.
As early as 1937 ten Boom's son, Willem, had opened a home elderly Jews fleeing from germany, and as the place filled up he had to find other homes among only monir attacks on Jews; anti-Jewish graffitti on walls, signs in shop windows stating 'Jews will not be served' and orders forbidding Jews the use of parks, theaters and restaurants. And all Jews were ordered to wear the uellow Star of David with the word 'Jew' in the center.
Before long, Jewish people began to disappear and their shops closed. It happened to some Jews living opposite the ten Boom watch-shop, when their fuurriers was ransacked by German soldiers. Fearful of further trouble, Corrie arranged for the couple to stay at Willem's house in Hilverssum. This incident drew Corrie into working with the Dutch underground movement. But first she gave thought to the ethics of the matter: how far, she wondered, should a Christian become involved in this kind of intrigue? She finally accepted the challenge and was able to pray one evening: 'Lord Jesus, I offer myself for your people. In any way. Any place. Any time.'
In May, 1942 the ten Booms took in their first Jewish fugitives, and Willem was able to take them on to a safe haven after COrrie had found a means of obtaining ration cards for tehm. Her contact, in fact brought her not three but hundred ration cards, an invaluable assets for future refugees. Now deeply involved in the undeground movement, it was necessary for her to be introduced to some of her compatriots who could be of assistance to her.
At a specially arranged meeting she was introduced to one man who could supply her with false identification cards, and another who could arranged for her to have an official government car. Most important, she met an architect who suggested that she needed a secret room where her guests could hide in case of a Gestapo raid. Corrie's roon at the top of the house offered the ideal place, and when the hide-out was completed no one would have guessed there was anything behind
the seemingly stained old wall.
The number of guests staying with the ten Booms increased to nine and there was much coming snd going at the watch-shop. As their home was mere hundred yards from the police station, it was essential to take precautions. At one point, neighbours heard them having sing songs and warned Corrie to be careful; it was obvious more people knew about their activities than she realized. Her worst fears seemed to be confirmed when one day she was summoned to see the Chief of Police. She was relieved, however, to find that the man was a believer and was actually seeking her help.
It was only a matter of time before the Gestapo detected her mission. One Wednesday in February 1944 the house was raided by Gestapo officers and two Dutch Nazis. They searched the building thouruough;y for any jews who might be hiding, but failed to find the secret room. Despite being beaten, Corrie and her sister, Betsie, gave nothing away and the raiders were forced to admit defeat. Guards were deployed around around the house in order to starve out any who might still be hiding there, and the ten Booms plus some innocent visitors were taken to the Gestapo headquarters at The Hague. Eventually the prisoners were released except for Betsie and Corrie, 'the ringleader'; their father collapsed and died in hosputal ten days later. Four days after the arrests all the Jews in the secret room were rescued and led to safety.
Corrie and Betsie were tranferred to a prison in Scheveningen which marked the beginning of a ten month ordeal incaptivity. Facing the prospect of suffering and even death, the two sisters were stengthened by their faith and in many ways discovered that God had not forsaken them. At Scheveningen, Corie was separated from the other prisoners and kept for four months in solitary confinement. Interrogated by a sympathetic German officer, no verdict was ever pronounced, but she was transferred to a concentration camp in southern Holland to begin her sentence.
Re-united wit her sister, the two of them remained together for the rest of their internment. During the following months it became increasingly clear to them that the Lord had allowed their circumstances so that they could minister God's Word to the prisoners. As they met secretly each evening with believers, they were able to encourage them in their faith. Camp life was grim; over-crowding, inadequate food, long days working at a nearby factory and the frequent sound of the firing squad all took their toll. In September, news of the Allied advance through France and Belgium spread around the camp and everyone became excited at the thought of an early release.
Ravensbruck
Instead they were tranferred to germany, where at Ravensbruck camp they endured circumstamces far worse than any experienced before. At the camp reception Corrie managed to conceal small Bible and a bottle of vitamins drops sent into prison by their sister Nollie. She carried them in a pouch slung around her neck, and both items proved to be life-savers in the months to come.
Each evening the Bible became the centre of a meeting for worship and study ; the barriers of nationality and denomination were of no account as Catholic, Lutheran and Orthodox Christians met together to seek God. The fact that the barrack room was swarming with fleas kept out the guards so that the women were not disturbed.
With the approach of winter, daily life became increasingly ardous; a roll caall sometimes lasting several hours on a cold, dark morning; an eleven-hour working day, sustained by a meagre food ration; terrible working conditions and lack of proper medical care.
Betsie's physical condition gave Corrie cause for concern, but she was able to treat her with drops from the bottle of vitamins. Used sparingly, it gave as many as twenty-five doses a day- including other prisoners as well-and like the widow's cruse of oil, never seemed to fail. But on the day one of the prisoners 'removed' a small supply of yeast from the camp hospital, the drops gave out.
Despite her illness, Betsie's faith grew stonger, she proved to be the one whom they were all be able to lean, and her infectious haith generated a more caring attitude in the barrack room. But her condition deteriorated and near the end she was admitted to hospital.
Not long before she died, Betsie had a vision in which she saw a concentration camp in Germany and then a large house in Holland where she felt they were to work, caring for people who had beed damaged by the war. She also told Corries that the Lord had said they would be out of prison by the first day of the new year. Betsie died and three days later Corrie was informed of her discharge-she was released on the last day of December 1944. Without seeking it, both dreams were fulfilled for Corrie, exactly as her sister had envisaged them.
After the war Corrie travelled extensively, speaking of her experiences and sharing the gospel. At a chuch in Munich, in 1947, she was confronted by a man whom she recognized as one of the most cruel guards as Ravensbruck. It seems that he had become a Christian and knew that God had forgiven him- but would she? Corries had already faced the problem before when, with hatred in her heart, she was being challenged again. After long pause and great struggle, she was able to respond "I forgive you brother, will all my heart.'
In 1968 Israel honoured her for her work in aid of the Jews and she was invited to plant a tree in the Avenue of Righteousness
Gentiles Jerusalem. She must have recalled her father's words when he once witnessed Jews being deported:'I pity poor Germans, Corrie. They have touched the apple of God's eye.'
