With John and Elizabeth Sherrill

There are some stories you seem to already know, be it from sermon illustrations or harrowing stories often recounted in discussions of WWII. Take for example, The Diary of Anne Frank. Even if you’ve never read the book, you likely could tell major portions of the story simply because you’re a living human being having grown up in the Western world (supposing you are, of course).

The same goes for the life of Corrie ten Boom. This woman, whose greatest sufferings happened in her 50s and her greatest triumphs in the three decades that followed, was a household name, even when I was growing up. And she died when I was just 3 months old!

So while I knew great chunks of this woman’s life as a member of the Dutch Resistance during the Nazi occupation of Holland, I’d never read the nitty gritty details firsthand. This book has been on my shelf for decades probably, and I’m so glad that I finally took the time to read it!

To quickly summarize, this memoir recounts Corrie’s life as she grows up in Haarlem, Holland, the daughter and apprentice of her ancient father, the watch repairman. Together, her family lives in an equally ancient house they call “the Beje” (bah-yay). Although deeply interested in a man in her 20s, she never marries, but instead helps lead the home for her father and siblings after her mother dies. When the Germans take over neutral Holland and begin harassing, arresting, and killing Jews, Corrie begins work in the underground, which means helping the Resistance acquire food, paperwork, and protection for the Jews in their district. They even create a secret room in her bedroom in the Beje where they permanently hide 7 Jews and countless others who pass through the area.

Ultimately, Corrie is arrested by the Nazis for having helped acquire some stolen food cards, and the majority of the book then details her experiences in German prison camps. While the situations remain miserable, she and her sister Betsy ultimately find their joy and peace in Jesus their Savior and the pieces of Bible they’re able to savor. Betsie eventually dies in a camp along with 96,000 other women (a heartbreaking and shocking statistic for just one camp!), and Corrie is later released due (as she later found out) to a clerical error—a miracle in fact that spared her life, for just a week later, all women her age and above were summarily gassed.

Following her release, she continued her work in the underground until Holland was liberated. She then realized that she simply must tell the world all that these women and her family and the Jews had experienced during these awful years. She began speaking wherever she could, focusing mostly on Germany itself, and sharing alongside her story the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The many stories of miracles and opportunities that filled her final decades she later recounted in what’s essentially a sequel to this book, A Tramp for the Lord. Corrie ten Boom was a prolific writer in her final years, much of her pieces being devotionals about living through trials and trusting the Lord. And even though I haven’t read the half of them, I recommend them all for future reading!

I’ll conclude by sharing some of my favorite bits of advice shared in this book, advice delivered early but that proved essential to her sanity and survival later on. From her mother, for example, she learned that:

“Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surrounding, Corrie. It’s something we make inside ourselves.” (33)

Then during a discussion on a train where young Corrie asked her father about sex, he illustrates his answer by asking her to carry his heavy case filled with watch-repair paraphernalia. When Corrie says that the case is too heavy for her to carry, he wisely responds:

“Yes, and it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger, you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.” (26-27)

And Corrie was satisfied with this response. She used this wisdom as a guide through those times when she just couldn’t understand why the Nazis were allowed to do the things they did. She couldn’t bear the knowledge, but she could trust her Heavenly Father to do so, and peace would once again secure her heart.

She also learned a great deal from her sister, Betsy, like when they first entered one particularly cramped bunkhouse just riddled with fleas. Betsy recalled their morning reading from 1Thessalonians and the command to “give thanks in everything.” She then thanked God for what they had: being together…and fleas. Corrie couldn’t understand why her sister would thank God for miserable fleas (and honestly, Betsy didn’t know either!), but later on they learned that all the German guards kept their distance from this bunkhouse because of the fleas, giving the prisoners relative freedom and privacy whenever they were “home.”

A final bit of wisdom came from the Holy Spirit Himself and at just the right time: forgiveness. Following the war, Corrie met one of the prison guards, a man who had actually given his life to Christ. As hard as it was to forgive this man for being part of the atrocities she’d suffered, she did, because of the forgiveness exemplified by God himself.

Along the lines of this forgiveness, she also shares a harrowing thought that peacetime folks like us don’t realize:

“Strangely enough, it was not the Germans or the Japanese that people had the most trouble forgiving; it was their fellow Dutchmen who had sided with the enemy.” (236)

And forgiveness was long in coming. Partly, this was due to the shame the betrayers felt, and partly the anger from those whom they’d betrayed. But eventually, as time passed and passions settled, miracles would take place, like one neighbor offering another some carrots from the garden. Relationships would mend and forgiveness would find its way.

This was an inspiring book for me to read this week, and I’m so glad to have taken the time to enjoy and savor it. It’s well worth your time and a book that I believe would be a prime pick for a book club that wants to dig deeper into the real issues of life. I highly recommend it.

©2022 E.T.

Read More from Corrie Ten Boom:

• Marching Orders for the End Battle (1969)
• The Hiding Place (1971)
• Tramp for the Lord (1971)