Corrie Ten Boom Popular Books

Corrie Ten Boom Biography & Facts

Cornelia Arnolda Johanna "Corrie" ten Boom (15 April 1892 – 15 April 1983) was a Dutch watchmaker and later a Christian writer and public speaker, who worked with her father, Casper ten Boom, her sister Betsie ten Boom and other family members to help many Jewish people escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust in World War II by hiding them in her home. They were caught, and she was arrested and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Her most famous book, The Hiding Place, is a biography that recounts the story of her family's efforts and how she found and shared hope in God while she was imprisoned at the concentration camp. Early life Corrie ten Boom was born on 15 April 1892 in Haarlem, Netherlands, the youngest child of Casper ten Boom, a jeweller and watchmaker, and Cornelia (commonly known as "Cor") Johanna Arnolda, née Luitingh, whom he married in 1884. She was named after her mother but known as Corrie all her life. Corrie had three older siblings: Betsie, Willem, and Nollie. Her three maternal aunts, Tante Bepa, Tante Jans, and Tante Anna, lived with the family. Her father was fascinated by the craft of watchmaking and often became so engrossed in his work that he forgot to charge customers for his services.The Ten Boom family lived above Casper's watch shop in what Corrie called "the Beje," a house named for the Barteljorisstraat where they lived. Corrie spent the first part of her life in charge of the housekeeping. However, when a cold sent Betsie, Corrie's sister, to bed for an extended period, Corrie took Betsie's place and began to work in the family watch shop. She quickly discovered that she loved the "business side" of the watch shop, and she organized the financial proceedings by developing a system of billings and ledgers. Even when Betsie recovered, Corrie kept her place in the shop and Betsie managed the housework, to the delight of them both.She trained to be a watchmaker herself, and in 1922, she became the first woman to be licensed as a watchmaker in the Netherlands. Over the next decade, in addition to working in her father's shop, she established a youth club for teenage girls, which provided religious instruction and classes in the performing arts, sewing, and handicrafts. She and her family were Calvinist Christians in the Dutch Reformed Church, and their faith inspired them to serve their society, which they did by offering shelter, food and money to those who were in need. Some important tenets of their faith included the fact that the Jews were precious to God and that all people are created equal – powerful motivation for the selfless rescue work she would later become involved in. World War II In May 1940, the Germans invaded the Netherlands. One of their restrictions was the banning of the youth club. In May 1942, a well-dressed woman came to the Ten Booms' with a suitcase in hand and told them that she was a Jew, her husband had been arrested several months earlier, her son had gone into hiding and Occupation authorities had recently visited her so she was afraid to go back. She heard that the Ten Booms had previously helped their Jewish neighbors, the Weils, and asked if they could help her too. Casper readily agreed that she could stay with them although the police headquarters was only half a block away. A devoted reader of the Old Testament, he believed that the Jews were the "chosen people" and told the woman, "In this household, God's people are always welcome." The family then became very active in the Dutch underground, hiding refugees and honouring the Jewish Sabbath. The family never sought to convert any of the Jews who stayed with them.Corrie and her sister Betsie opened their home to Jewish refugees and members of the resistance movement, and as a result, they were sought after by the Gestapo and its Dutch counterpart. The refugee work which Ten Boom and her sister did at the Beje became known by the Dutch Resistance, which sent an architect to the Ten Boom home to build a secret room adjacent to the room for the Jews who were in hiding and an alert buzzer that could be used to warn the refugees to get into the room as quickly as possible. Thus the Ten Booms created "The Hiding Place" (Dutch: De Schuilplaats or de Béjé, pronounced "bayay", an abbreviation of the street, Barteljorisstraat). The secret room was in Corrie's bedroom behind a false wall and would hold 6 people. A ventilation system was installed for the occupants. A buzzer could be heard in the house to warn the refugees to get into the room as quickly as possible during security sweeps through the neighborhood. They had plenty of room, but wartime shortages meant that food was scarce. Every non-Jewish Dutch person had received a ration card, the requirement for obtaining weekly food coupons. Through her charitable work, Ten Boom knew many people in Haarlem and remembered a family with a disabled daughter, whose father was a civil servant who was now in charge of the local ration-card office. She went to his house one evening, and when he asked how many ration cards she needed, "I opened my mouth to say, 'Five,'" Ten Boom wrote in The Hiding Place. "But the number that unexpectedly and astonishingly came out instead was: 'One hundred.'" He gave them to her and she provided cards to every Jew she met. Ten Boom's involvement in the Dutch resistance grew beyond gathering stolen ration cards and harboring Jews in her home. She soon became part of the Dutch underground resistance network and oversaw a network of smuggling Jews to safe places. All in all, it is estimated that around 800 Jews were saved by Ten Boom's efforts. Arrest, detention and release On 28 February 1944, a Dutch informant, Jan Vogel, told the Nazis about the Ten Booms' work; at around 12:30 p.m. of that day, the Nazis arrested the entire Ten Boom family. They were sent to Scheveningen Prison when Resistance materials and extra ration cards were found at the home. The group of six people hidden by the Ten Booms, made up of both Jews and resistance workers, remained undiscovered. Though the house was under constant surveillance after Ten Boom's arrest, police officers who were also members of the resistance group coordinated the refugees' escape. Ten Boom received a letter one day in prison, "All the watches in your cabinet are safe," meaning that the refugees had managed to escape and were safe. Four days after the raid, resistance workers transferred them to other locations. Altogether, the Gestapo arrested over 30 people who were in the family home that day.Though the Gestapo soon released most of the 30 people they had captured that day, Corrie, Betsie, and their father Casper were held in prison. Casper died ten days later. Corrie was initially held in solitary confinement. After three months, she was taken to her first hearing. At her trial, Ten Boom spoke about her work with people with mental disabilities; the Nazi lieutenant scoffed because the Nazis had been killing individ.... Discover the Corrie Ten Boom popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Corrie Ten Boom books.

Best Seller Corrie Ten Boom Books of 2024

  • Corrie Ten Boom synopsis, comments

    Corrie Ten Boom

    Jean Watson

    The story of Corrie ten Boom has inspired millions of people all over the world. Jean Watson is a skilful author and presents Corrie's stirring life and challenging hopefilled mess...

  • Unvergessene Pastoren und Evangelisten synopsis, comments

    Unvergessene Pastoren und Evangelisten

    Matthias Hilbert

    Es sind außergewöhnliche Persönlichkeiten, die in diesem Buch porträtiert werden: Fritz Binde, der Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts eine radikale Wende vom Sozialisten und Nihilisten z...

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    Beautiful Courage

    Sam Wellman

    They’re bold. They’re fearless. They’re adventurous. They have a faith that can move mountains. They’re women of courage. This series of easyread biographies celebrates the lives o...

  • The Five Silent Years of Corrie Ten Boom synopsis, comments

    The Five Silent Years of Corrie Ten Boom

    Pamela Rosewell Moore

    Pam Roswell Moore had her doubts when she interviewed to be companion of the muchloved author Corrie ten Boom. Corrie's bestselling book The Hiding Place, which recounted how she a...

  • Seven Women synopsis, comments

    Seven Women

    Eric Metaxas

    In his eagerly anticipated followup to the enormously successful Seven Men, New York Times bestselling author Eric Metaxas gives us seven captivating portraits of so...

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    Die Zuflucht

    Corrie ten Boom

    Was machte man in Amsterdam während des Zweiten Weltkriegs, wenn ein Jude vor der Tür stand, der sich verstecken musste? Man ließ ihn herein, telefonierte und versuchte mit CodeWor...

  • Life Lessons from The Hiding Place synopsis, comments

    Life Lessons from The Hiding Place

    Pam Rosewell Moore

    Corrie ten Boom was a woman admired the world over for her courage, her forgiveness, and her memorable faith. From her unforgettable experience in a Nazi prison camp during World W...

  • Corrie ten Boom synopsis, comments

    Corrie ten Boom

    Sam Wellman

    For challenge and encouragement in your Christian life, read the life stories of the Heroes of the Faith. The novelized biographies of this series are inspiring and easytoread, ide...

  • Seven Women synopsis, comments

    Seven Women

    Eric Metaxas

    A beautiful gift edition of this instant classic exclusively for graduates, with a special letter from Eric Metaxas to those entering the next phase of life’s journey.What makes a ...

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    Women of Faith And Courage

    Vance Christie

    Through some of the bestloved heroines of the Christian faith, God's glory is manifest as He accomplishes significant things through imperfect people. In Women of Faith readers dis...

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    Siete mujeres

    Eric Metaxas

    Cada una de las figuras que cambiaron el mundo presentes en estas páginas: Juana de Arco, Susana Wesley, Hannah More, Maria Skobtsova, Corrie ten Boom, madre Teresa, y Rosa Parks, ...

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    Corrie Ten Boom

    Laura Caputo-Wickham & Isabel Munoz

    En 1940, los alemanes invadieron los Países Bajos, y Corrie ten Boom y su familia ayudaron a ocultar tantos judíos como les fue posible. Incluso tenían un cuarto secreto construido...

  • Victorious synopsis, comments

    Victorious

    Stan Guthrie

    "Stan has given us a book that is full of insightabout the life of one great woman, yes, but also about some of the most complicated, nuanced, and significant questions of our time...

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    Das Versteck im Uhrmacherhaus

    Judith Janssen

    Haarlem, 1943: Die Jahre des Kriegs und der Besatzung haben Teuns Leben vollkommen auf den Kopf gestellt. Teun entdeckt nicht nur, dass sich sein Freund Jaap verändert hat und ihm ...

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    Three Ordinary Girls

    Tim Brady

    “The book's teenage protagonists and their bravery will enthrall young adults, who may find themselves inspired to take up their own causes.” Washington Post An astonishing Wo...