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Corrie ten Boom House
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Corrie ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom House

The Hiding Place · Haarlem, Netherlands

The Ten Boom family were watchmakers and devout Christians who lived above their shop in the Barteljorisstraat. During the German occupation they hid Jews and members of the resistance in a secret room behind a false wall. In 1944 they were betrayed; Corrie's father and her sister Betsie died in prison and in the camp, but Corrie survived Ravensbrück and later spoke all over the world about forgiveness. Today you can visit the house and see the hiding place for yourself.

Did you know?

During the raid in 1944, six people were hiding behind a false wall in Corrie's bedroom. They were never found.

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An inspiring story

The hand she could not lift

Can you forgive the person who hurt you most?

Corrie ten Boom's family hid Jews in their house in Haarlem. They were betrayed, and her sister Betsie died in the Ravensbrück camp. In 1947, after speaking about forgiveness in a church in Munich, Corrie saw a man coming towards her. She recognised him at once: one of the guards from Ravensbrück. He said he had become a Christian and asked: 'Will you forgive me?' She stood frozen and could not lift her hand. Why couldn't she, after preaching it herself? Because forgiveness is not a feeling you can switch on. She prayed silently for help, put out her hand anyway, and felt, she said, a warmth flow through her.

'I forgive you, brother, with all my heart.' Sometimes forgiveness starts with just a hand, and the feeling follows.

There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still.Betsie ten Boom, Ravensbrück

Sources

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