The Hiding Place (36 page)

1926 [34]
Willem starts working with the Society for Israel. He goes to Leipzig, Germany, for one year to study for his doctorate, writes his thesis on racial anti-Semitism, and receives his Doctorate of Philosophy in 1928 (FtB 106).

1937 [45]
The 100th anniversary party of Ten Boom Horlogerie (watch shop) is held.

1940 [48]
Nazis invade Holland beginning May 10. Occupation lasts five years.

1941 [49]
In November, Corrie obtains help from Willem and Kik ten Boom to find a safe house for two Jewish friends (HP 86–87).

1942 [50]
Early spring, Corrie decides she must help save Jewish people. She becomes involved in the underground. Her nephew Peter van Woerden spends time in prison for showing patriotism to Holland (HP 91–93).

1943 [51]
Many Jews pass through the Ten Booms' home; most are relocated quickly. The names mentioned below are those who spent extended time with the family.

May 13
Ten Booms take young Dutchman Hans Poley into hiding; he becomes involved in the underground (RHP 15).

May 14
Hansje “Thea” Frankfort-Israels (Jew) moves in (RHP 29).

June
Mary van Itallie (Jew), Henk Wessels, and Leendert Kip (underground workers) move in.

June 2
First drill for newly constructed hiding place is held (RHP 44).

June 28
Meyer Mossel, “Eusie,” (Jew) moves in (RHP 47).

July
Henk Wiedijk (underground worker) moves in (RHP 64). Henk Wessels and Leendert Kip find other places to live, so Mr. de Vries (Jew) moves in (RHP 75).

August 14
Nollie is arrested for hiding a Jew. She spends four weeks in prison. Due to danger of Gestapo searching family members' homes, all in hiding leave Beje (Ten Booms' home) for other safe houses. Mary, Eusie, Henk, and Hans return in three weeks. The others remain elsewhere (RHP 81–85). Mirjam de Jong (Jew) moves in (RHP 86).

September 30
All in hiding leave Beje again due to Gestapo worries (RHP 90). Mary, Eusie, and Hans return in two weeks (RHP 96). Nel (Jew) and Ronnie Gazan (Jew—real name Ronnie da Costa) move in (RHP 97).

1944 [52]

January
Meta (Martha) and Paula Monsanto (Jews) move in (RHP 118). Paula leaves and moves in with Hans Poley's parents (RHP 120). Willem ten Boom's home is raided by Gestapo; no evidence is found (RHP 121).

February 5
Hans Poley is arrested trying to warn another family of a Gestapo raid (RHP 125). Because of danger, all in hiding leave Beje (RHP 139). Eusie, Mary, Martha, and Ronnie return in one week (RHP 140). These are the four Jews living in Beje on February 28.

February 28
Gestapo agents raid Beje at about 5 p.m. (RHP 142). Six people illegally in the house (four Jews and two underground workers) run into the hiding place. About 11 p.m., Casper, Corrie, Betsie, and Willem ten Boom and Nollie and Peter van Woerden are taken to the Haarlem jail along with about thirty others (PY 14, RHP 146). Six people remain in the hiding place while Nazis guard the house. Herman Sluring (Pickwick), Corrie's contact in the Dutch National Underground, is arrested elsewhere in Haarlem (HP 145).

February 29
The six family members are transferred to Scheveningen prison near Den Haag (PY 19).

March 1
After over 47 hours, all six in the hiding place are rescued at about 4:30 p.m. Eusie, Mary, Martha, and Ronnie (Jews) are taken to new safe houses. Reynout Siertsema and Hans van Messel (underground workers) leave the Beje safely (RHP 160).

March 9
Casper ten Boom dies at age 84 (PY 22).

March 16
Corrie begins solitary confinement in cell 384 (PL 18).

April 15
Corrie spends her birthday in solitary confinement (HP 164).

June 5
Corrie and Betsie find each other as they are transported by train from Scheveningen prison to Vught Concentration Camp in Holland, arriving June 6 (PL 11).

September 4
Corrie and Betsie begin nightmare train ride—three days and three nights jammed into a boxcar. Their destination is Ravensbruck Concentration Camp near Berlin, Germany (PY 85).

September 8
Corrie and Betsie are officially registered as prisoners in Ravensbruck (PY 88).

December 16
Betsie dies in Ravensbruck at age 59 (LST 63).

December 25
After learning she is to be released, Corrie is put in Ravensbruck hospital due to edema (HP 233).

December 30
(or December 28—both dates appear on discharge) Corrie is released from Ravensbruck Concentration Camp (PY 88).

1945 [53]

January 1
As a free person, Corrie arrives in Berlin and finds a train to Groningen, Holland, where she spends ten days in a nursing home. One of her nurses, Truus Benes, is a friend from the YWCA (LST 69). Then Corrie recuperates with Willem and Tine for two weeks before returning to Haarlem (HP 236–40).

May 5
Liberation Day in Holland. Shortly afterwards, Corrie rents and opens part of Schapenduinen (the home of Mrs. Bierens de Haan) as a Christian rehabilitation center for war victims (HP 244–45).

May 8
VE Day (Victory in Europe)

June 19
Corrie writes to Jan Vogel, the man who betrayed her family to the Gestapo, and forgives him (PL 81).

June
Corrie's first book,
Gevangene en
Toch
. . .
(A Prisoner and Yet . . .)
, is published in Holland.

1946 [54]
Early in the year, Corrie travels by freighter to the United States (U.S.A.) to share her story. She begins in New York City and receives advice from Irving Harris. Then in Washington, D.C., she is helped by Rev. Abraham Vereide and his daughter Alicia, Marian Johnson, Mrs. Frank McSherry, and Kate Cheney. From there, Corrie travels to speaking engagements across the country (HL 149–52). She writes a July prayer letter from Kansas having already worked in New York, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Vermont, Michigan, Illinois, and Canada. (Corrie's “work” is evangelism and discipleship.) In Canada, she is helped by Mrs. Bobbie Halliday. She works in California, Utah, and Iowa (PrL 10–46). On December 13, Corrie's brother, Willem, dies at age 60 from tuberculosis of the spine, contracted in prison (HP 249). She returns to Holland after ten months abroad (PrL 6–47).

1947 [55]
Corrie continues work at Schapenduinen (PrL 6–47). She also works in Germany, where she meets a guard from Ravensbruck and forgives him (TfL 82). In September, she works in Canada (CP).

1948 [56]
On her birthday, Corrie speaks in Los Angeles at the University of California (
Contemporary Christian
Acts
magazine 4–78). She attends a Youth for Christ conference in Switzerland (HL163).

1949 [57]
Corrie speaks in Germany and works in refugee camps there. With help from the German Lutheran Church, she rents and opens Darmstadt (a former concentration camp) for refugees. The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary serves the refugees on an ongoing basis until the camp closes in 1960 (CP, HP 249). She also works in Switzerland and the U.S.A. (CP).

1950 [58]
Corrie works in California (HL163– 64), Washington, D.C., (CP), Michigan, Canada, and Bermuda. In Bermuda, she speaks twenty times in one week (PerL 3–50). She returns to Holland by freighter and works several months in Germany (CP).

1951 [59]
Corrie works in Germany, England, Canada, and the U.S.A. (CP). During this year, she returns to Holland to complete the purchase of the house Zonneduin for the Christian retreat and training center. It moves from its rented house, Schapenduinen (HL 166). She is associated with this work until 1966 (PerL).

1952 [60]
Corrie works in the U.S.A., and then, on her way to Japan, she stops in Hawaii and speaks sixteen times in four days (PerL 4–52). She works in Japan for nine months, partly with missionaries Father and Mother Mitchell (PerL).

1953 [61]
Corrie's second book,
Amazing Love,
is published. It is her first book printed in English. She works in Taiwan and visits leprosy patients with Lillian Dixon (PrL 1–53). She also works in the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, Israel (CP), South Africa (Reim. 66), Spain, Switzerland (PrL 12–53), and Holland (PerL). On October 22, her sister Nollie dies at age 63. Corrie is greatly affected by her sister's passing (TfL 62). In December, she is in Haarlem where she falls and injures her hip. She is cared for at Zonneduin (PrL 5-54).

1954 [62]
In early January, Corrie is prayed for; she receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit (TfL 62). She works six months in Germany (PerL). She meets a nurse who was cruel to Betsie in Ravensbruck and leads her to the Lord (HL 160). Corrie also works in the U.S.A. (PrL 10–54), Bermuda, and Cuba (12–54). Her first book,
Gevangene en Toch
. . . , is translated and published in English as
A Prisoner and Yet.
. . .

1955 [63]
Corrie works in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.A. (PrL 1–55, 5–55). This trip lasts sixteen months (PrL 1–56).

1956 [64]
Corrie works in Hawaii for one month, where she speaks at 85 meetings (PrL 5–56). Remainder of year she works in New Zealand and Australia with the Revival Fellowship Team of J. Edwin Orr (PrL 1956).

1957 [65]
Corrie continues her work with the Revival Fellowship Team in New Zealand and Australia for this entire year (PrL 1957). While in Australia, Corrie meets a Jewish young man named Martin. As a baby, he was rescued by Corrie's underground group (PrL 6–57). Her books
Not Good
If Detached
and
Common Sense Not
Needed
are published.

1958 [66]
Corrie works in India, Borneo, Korea, Japan, and Formosa (IHT 1958). Having been christened as a child, she is baptized by immersion at the William Carey Baptist Church in Calcutta, India, on March 20 (PerL). The name of her personal updates changes from
Prayer Letter
to
It's
Harvest Time.

1959 [67]
Corrie begins the year working in Hong Kong, then in Vietnam and Europe (IHT 1959). She returns to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp to discover her release was a clerical error (HP 250).

1960 [68]
Corrie works in Germany, Spain, England, Switzerland, and for three months in Israel (IHT 1960). In Switzerland, she meets Billy and Ruth Graham (LST 106). She begins traveling with a personal companion, Conny van Hoogstraten. They work together seven years (HL 176).

1961 [69]
Corrie works in India for three months, then in Africa for eight months (IHT 1961).

1962 [70]
Corrie works in South America and the U.S.A. (IHT 1962). On April 17, the Netherlands' Queen Juliana makes Corrie a Knight in the Order Oranje-Nassau (LST 102).

1963 [71]
Corrie writes about recent work in Bermuda and Canada (IHT 1–63). She works in the U.S.A. (IHT 3–63). She stays in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the apartment of Dr. Gwen Shepherd for six weeks. This is the first time in sixteen years she has stayed in the same home that long. She speaks in many meetings and visits patients at Dr. Shepherd's hospital. Then Corrie works in Cordoba, Argentina (IHT 6–63, TfL 102), and Brazil (PerL 7–1963). She returns to Holland for hospitalization due to an infection of the liver (IHT 10–63). She flies to the U.S.A. December 31 (CP).

1964 [72]
Corrie works in the U.S.A. (CP), Germany, Poland, and Finland (IHT 1964). Then she is diagnosed with hepatitis. Under doctor's orders, she takes a year off from working. Her sabbatical year begins in September. She spends the first two months receiving medical treatment in Bavaria, Germany; then she stays with her nephew Peter van Woerden and family in Switzerland (IHT 1964–65).

1965 [73]
The remaining months of her sabbatical year are spent with Harry and Evelyn Campbell in Uganda, East Africa (HL 177). During her “year off,” Corrie occasionally speaks in prisons and churches in Kenya and Uganda (CP, HL 178). In October, she starts to work again in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, and Uganda (CP, IHT 12–65/3–66).

1966 [74]
By the end of January, Corrie finishes four months of work in Africa by speaking in Congo, Kenya, and Ethiopia (CP). Then she works in Canada and the U.S.A. (CP). For several months, she works in Russia and Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia), then Germany and Holland (CP).

1967 [75]
Corrie works in France and Indonesia (CP). She celebrates her 75th birthday in Vietnam. It is wartime, and she is working with missionary Brother Andrew (LST 89). When she returns to Holland, Baroness Elisabeth van Heemstra loans her an apartment to use as a “home base” whenever she is in Holland (HL 186). In the summer, Conny leaves to marry Lykle Hoogerzeil, a Dutch missionary doctor to India (ML 23, 28). Ellen de Kroon becomes Corrie's next personal companion. They work together for nine years. A car Corrie is riding in is involved in a serious accident, and her arm and shoulder are broken. She spends nine weeks in the hospital (HL 186).
Plenty for Everyone
is published.

1968 [76]
On February 28, Corrie is honored by Israel at Yad Vashem (Holocaust Memorial). She is asked to plant a tree in the Garden of the Righteous because of the many Jewish lives she and her family saved during World War II. She works in Israel, Holland, Germany (IHT 5–68), the U.S.A., England, and Moscow (CP).

1969 [77]
Corrie begins the year in Switzerland, then works in France (IHT 4–69), the U.S.A. (CP), Moscow (CP), Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Germany (IHT 1–70), and Cuba (CP). Corrie's book
Marching Orders for the
End Battle
is published.

1970 [78]
Corrie works in Israel and Cyprus (IHT 5–70). Her former personal companion, Conny, dies of cancer. Corrie speaks at the funeral (HL 179). She returns to Holland for five months' rest—under doctor's orders (IHT 9–70), then works in Alaska and the northern U.S.A. (IHT 12–70).
Defeated Enemies
is published.