Corrie Ten Boom

The Ten Boom family – Corrie, her father, Casper, and her sister, Betsie – were devout Christians who practiced their faith. Corrie was involved with helping foster children and the mentally challenged. Then World War II hit, when Adolf Hitler believed the world must be rid of Jews. He forbid anyone to help or shelter a Jew. The Ten Boom family disobeyed the rule and their home, called the Beje, became a refuge for the Jews.

The Germans discovered the hideout and arrested the family. Casper died ten days later. Corrie and Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck, a concentration labor camp for women. Betsie and Corrie's barrack's were full of fleas. But the fleas turned out to be a blessing. Corrie managed to smuggle a Bible with her when she left the Beje. Anyone caught with a Bible would be severely punished. But the sisters read it to their fellow prisoners. The guards never came in to the barracks because of the infernal fleas, so the Bible was never discovered.

Betsie and Corrie had hopes that they would one day be free and when they were, they wanted to travel and teach. But Betsie grew sick and died. After her sister's death, Corrie was set free “on accident”, due to a typing error. Not long after she was released all the women her age in Ravensbruck were killed.

Corrie began to travel, as she and Betsie had planned to do together. She taught that Christ's love and forgiveness were brighter than the darkness surrounding them. Corrie experienced this first hand when she forgave a former guard of Ravensbruck when he asked for her to. She also wrote many books, her most famous being The Hiding Place, which tells of her family's work during the war. She died on April 15, 1983 in California at the age of ninety-one.