I am not quite sure how I managed to get through all these years without reading The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom's remarkable account of surviving the occupation of her beloved homeland and eventually her own incarceration by the Nazis during World War II.
Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker who became a heroine of the Dutch Resistance by risking her life to help Jews and underground workers escape from the Nazis. Eventually, ten Boom and her family were betrayed and she, her sister, and father were rounded up by the Gestapo and put in prison. As the war reached its final stages, Corrie was transferred to Ravensbruck, the notorious concentration camp for women in Northern Germany. Even in its final throes of defeat the murderous work of Nazi Germany continued. She was miraculously released from the camp shortly before the end of the War. In 1959 Corrie was part of a group that visited Ravensbruck, which was then in East Germany, to honor her sister and 96,000 other women who died there. There Corrie learned that her own release had been part of a clerical error; one week after her release, all women her age were taken to the gas chambers.
What strikes me as most remarkable about Corrie's story is her unshakeable faith in Christ that imbued her with courage and peace that no doubt aided in her survival. There are a number of miracles recorded in her account. She became a minister of love, peace, and endurance to all those around her during and after the War. Corrie's is a terrific account of how good can eventually triumph over evil.
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