Corrie ten Boom

Corrie was always trying to smile

Imagine living through WWII as a Jew. It would be very tortuous and painful. The Holocaust was a horrible time when about six million Jews were killed by the Nazis. Jews were forced into hiding so they would not be killed. There was an organization called the Underground Railroad that was made to help protect the Jews from the Holocaust. This group of people provided protection and helped to get the Jews to a safe place. One of these few people that hid Jews inside of their home was a woman named Corrie ten Boom. Corrie and her family hid Jews inside their house in a place they called the Hiding Place, which was a fake wall in Corrie's room that the Jews would hide behind. Corrie ten Boom was a bold and fearless woman, who gave so much to save others.

The Jews were safely hidden inside the ten Boom's house until one day when the Gestapo raided their house. The Gestapo found out about the ten Boom's underground job from a friend of the family. In order to not get beaten, they told the ten Boom's secret while they were being interrogated. When the Gestapo raided their house, Corrie and her sister were beaten several times because they would not tell them where the Jews were hidden. Corrie was very courageous and took many beatings so that the Jews would not be found and killed.

Corrie ten Boom

After a few weeks in jail, Corrie was taken to her first hearing. Corrie would still not confess to having the Jews in her house during her hearing. She went to several hearings, and in the end the interrogator was turned to Christ. She gave him the only Bible she had with her at the jail. Corrie and several others were taken to two different concentration camps, one for a few months and they were moved again. At these camps, Corrie and her sister used her sister's Bible to teach other prisoners about Christ. If they had been caught using their Bible and having services every night, they would have been severely punished, possibly with death. Her sister soon got sick and died. Not long after the death of her sister, Corrie was released because of a clerical error. This happened just one week before all the women in her group were killed. She knew that this was a miracle and God was watching out for her. It was then that she realized God still had plans for her.

Soon after Corrie was released from the concentration camp, she became a traveling evangelist. One day, after giving a sermon, Corrie was confronted by a former officer of a concentration camp. At the time, he did not know she was a former prisoner. He told her his story and how he was now a Christian but still felt bad about his earlier sins of persecuting Jews. He was asking her to let him know, for comfort, that God had forgiven him. This was a very hard thing for Corrie since she had been beaten by this man. She, being the religious woman she was, forgave the man because she knew it was the right thing to do. She informed him that if he had repented of his sins that God had forgiven him.

Corrie and her family as kids

Corrie faced fear head on even if there was a chance she could lose her life. She was courageous for God and was an excellent example of a Christian. She showed courage by hiding the Jews and by taking beatings. She also had another trait, forgiveness, that she showed by forgiving her enemy. Corrie once said "The measure of life, after all, is not its duration but its donation." Corrie gave so much to the Jews, which makes her a person to look up to and admire. Corrie ten Boom is an outstanding hero.