Holland’s First Female Watchmaker

Ten Boom was born on April 15, 1892, in Haarlem, in the Netherlands. Before her first birthday, her grandfather died and left his home and watchmaking business, founded in 1837, to her father. The family, which included older sisters Betsie and Nollie, and a brother, Willem, moved into the hiding place corrie ten boom on Barteljorisstraat 19, and her father took over the storefront business below. The family lived in a quirky warren of rooms above the shop over three separate floors, and Corrie Ten Boom, she and her sister Betsie shared a room at the back of the house on a high third floor. During their youth, the household also included three aunts, who helped care for the four ten Boom children.

Like Betsie, ten Boom never married, and eventually joined her father’s watch sales and repair business. She also became the first licensed woman watchmaker in the Netherlands. The family members were devout Christians, active members of the Dutch Reformed church, and ten Boom followed in the footsteps of one of her aunts and participated in several charitable aid projects in Haarlem. The ten Boom home and business served as a hub of activity in their neighborhood, and they regularly provided a meal to beggars and took in foster children. All the local children were especially fond of ten Boom’s pious but genial father, Casper, nicknamed “Opa,” or grandfather.

Extend the 100-Year Prayer Meeting

"God does not have problems. Only plans," proclaimed Corrie ten Boom when a clerical error allowed her to be released from a Nazi concentration camp one week before all women prisoners her age were executed.

Though she was released from the horror of Ravensbruck concentration camp, Corrie continued to live with a remarkable reliance on God, just as her family had as they hid Jews in the hiding place from Nazi terror. Generations of ten Booms held Christian prayer meetings for Israel for 100 years prior to World War II. Click here to begin our inspirational virtual tour of the ten Boom home.

Traveling the world as an ambassador of the power of forgiveness in Christ, Corrie later established rehabilitation centers to help other Holocaust survivors. Her 1971 autobiography, The Hiding Place, became a movie in 1975, inspiring many to see God at work through the darkest of life's circumstances. You can preview a portion of this powerful movie within our virtual tour by using the compass to visit location #3.

You can become a part of the Corrie ten Boom incredible legacy.

Hiding Place Saves Jews

During the Nazi Occupation, the ten Boom family hid Jews, as well as Gentiles who were targeted by the Nazis. The hiding place Corrie ten Boom was built in daughter Corrie's room. Everything was thought of from outside venting to water, hardtack and vitamins. Those who stayed in the ten Booms’ home ate together, shared in the household chores, read scriptures and prayed together, and even put on plays and evenings of entertainment, celebrating all faiths' holidays. Although the Jews and other guests slept in spare rooms throughout the house an alarm system had been installed to alert them of danger. This would allow those in hiding a chance to run to the top floor of the long house and slide into the small closet behind a false wall in Corrie's bedroom.

Eventually Corrie along with other family members was arrested. Corrie spent four months in solitary confinement at a prison and then was transferred with her sister to Ravensbrück. Her sister Betsie died in December of 1944. Corrie was released on a clerical error weeks after her beloved sister's death. Casper ten Boom died after 10 days in prison. In fact all the family rescuers but Corrie, her nephew Peter, Willem and Nollie died at the hands of the Nazis for their altruistic actions.

The Hiding Place Plot Summary

by Erin Thomsen

Published in 1976, THE HIDING PLACE, a bestseller, and still in print, this is the famous autobiography of Corrie Ten Boom who lived through the Nazi occupation of Holland in WWII and formed part of the Dutch resistance in Haarlem.

The Hiding Place is the story of Corrie ten Boom's life as a middle-aged woman in Holland during World War II. She was an active member of the resistance, harboring Jews in her home, the Beje. Her story begins when she is a child, but quickly progresses to her adulthood. The main plot is Corrie's work helping Jews. She took them into her home, usually for a short time, and then helped them find a better hiding place. She supplied them with false papers and ration cards. Corrie worked with a group of Dutch Christians and built a network in Holland to help whoever needed help. Her older sister hid Jews as well, and her brother ran a nursing home and was able to help Corrie.

Unfortunately, the Nazis find out that Corrie is active in the resistance and she, her sister, her father and many others are arrested in a night raid (miraculously, the Jews in her home are hidden so well they aren't found and all but one live through the Occupation). Even though she is elderly, Corrie survives prison and is transported to Ravensbruck, a concentration camp, with her sister Betsie.

Gaza Flotilla: Is Israel the Target?

Early on the morning of May 31, Israel Defense Forces naval forces intercepted six ships attempting to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The intercept took place after numerous warnings from Israel and the Israel Navy that were issued prior to the action. The Israel Navy requested the ships to redirect toward Ashdod, where they would be able to unload their cargo which would then be transferred to Gaza over land after undergoing security inspections. The IDF stressed that the passengers could then return to their point of departure on the same vessels.

During the interception of the ships, the demonstrators onboard attacked the IDF naval personnel with live gunfire as well as light weaponry including knives, crowbars and clubs. The demonstrators had clearly prepared weapons in advance for this specific purpose.

According to reports from sea, on board the flotilla that was seeking to break the maritime closure on the Gaza Strip, IDF forces apprehended two violent activists holding pistols. These militants apparently grabbed the pistols from IDF forces and opened fire on the soldiers.

The activists were carrying 10,000 tons of reported aid to Gaza. Israel provides 15,000 tons of aid weekly to Gaza. Source: The Jewish Federations of North America


Dr. Mike Evans of Jerusalem Prayer Team -

ISRAEL THE TARGET It seems the whole world is mad at Israel because of the flotilla incident. I am furious for a totally different reason, and that is, to see terrorist-harboring, aiding, and funding organizations and countries, and terrorists themselves contrive a slick, smoke-and-mirror campaign to break Israel's naval blockade. The blockade was established because arms and missiles were being sent into Gaza for only one purpose: to kill Jews. Read More …

The Hiding Place Corrie ten Boom

The Hiding Place is a 1971 book on the life of Corrie ten Boom, written by ten Boom together with John and Elizabeth Sherrill.


The idea of a book on ten Boom’s life began as John and Elizabeth Sherrill were doing research for the book God’s Smuggler, about ten Boom’s fellow Dutchman, Brother Andrew. Corrie ten Boom was already in her mid-seventies when the Sherrills first heard about her. She was one of Brother Andrew’s favorite traveling companions and many of his recollections were about her. In the preface to the book, the Sherrills recount:

…his [Brother Andrew's] fascinating stories about her in Vietnam, where she had earned that most honorable title “Double-old Grandmother” – and in a dozen other Communist countries – came to mind so often that we finally had to hold up her hands to stop his flow of reminiscence. “We could never fit her into the book,” we said. “She sounds like a book in herself.” It’s the sort of thing you say. Not meaning anything.

It was later made into a film of the same name, along with a comic book adaptation.

The title refers to both the physical hiding place where the ten Boom family secreted Jews from the Nazis, and also to the Scriptural message found in Psalm 119:114 which states, “Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word… “