#8 – Visit the Corrie Ten Boom House

I remember reading ‘The Hiding Place’ and ‘Tramp for the Lord’ when I was a child and being impacted by Corrie Ten Boom’s story.  I even wrote her a letter, but later found out that although she was still alive she was already ill after two strokes and completely paralysed by that stage.  Guess that would explain why she never wrote back to me. 

Willem Ten Boom opened a watch shop in this house in 1837 and lived with his family in the rooms above the shop.  It passed to his son Casper, and then to Casper’s daughter, Corrie, who became the first female licensed watchmaker in the Netherlands.  And still today the Ten Boom Jewellers is open for business below the house.  In 1988 the house became a museum and tours are given each day by volunteers. Ever since I heard that the Ten Boom house had been turned into a museum I had wanted to visit it.

On Saturday morning we caught a train from Amsterdam to Haarlem.  The house is in the centre of Haarlem just a short walk from the station and we arrived just before it opened at 11am.  We were in luck, not only was the first tour of the day an English tour but there were also no others in line waiting.  So we got a tour all to ourselves! 

As we sat in the lounge above the watch shop surrounded by photos of the Ten Boom family we heard a little of the family history and it was just such an inspiring story.  To hear how Corrie’s grandfather had begun a prayer group in that very room almost 100 years before the war to pray for Jews, to see how God had prepared so far ahead his plans for this amazing family.  Just to know that I was sat where Corrie and her family had been, and to see the reality of the story I had known for so many years.

The Ten Boom family were amazing and God certainly prepared them but in a way he also prepared the house for the task ahead.  The house was originally two houses which were later put together with a thin windy staircase down the middle making the house is an interesting mismatch of levels.  Quite useful in the end for concealing the hiding place as the house’s irregularities means it is hard to judge what level you are on or where rooms should end.   In the end it was what saved those hidden in the secret room when the police finally raided the house.  The family was arrested for extra ration cards found under a stair.  But the hidden Jews remained in their hiding place for many days undetected by the Germans, before they were secretly released by a Dutch policeman and taken to another hiding place.

Going into Corrie’s bedroom you are able to see the hiding place and a hole has been knocked through the false wall showing just how small the hiding place was.  Climbing in through the hole in the wall was so much easier than through the bottom of the cupboard like those in hiding had to enter.  I had seen photos of the hiding place, and seen how small it was and yet there is nothing like actually standing in it to realise just how small the area was, and that was just with one person in it.  Imagine six people for over 47 hours with nothing to eat but crackers and no idea when they would be able to leave.  It just doesn’t bear thinking about.

Corrie Ten Boom and her family were not Jews, and therefore were not in hiding themselves, but they took great risks every day in hiding and protecting Jews and underground workers.  They showed what grace and obedience to God really means.  Corrie was the only member of the family to survive the war and be able to tell the story.  But the tour made me realise that the story was not hers alone.  She was raised in a family completely committed to God, to prayer and to loving others.  As early as Willem Ten Boom the actions and attitudes of the family were reflected in their open house.  For them their actions during the Second World War were just the reflection of this history with its foundation in their love of God. 

Although we did many museum tours and packed lots of action into our three days in Amsterdam this visit was, and still is, my highlight of the trip.  I came out feeling inspired, encouraged and feeling like there was hope even in the darkest places.  As Corrie and her sister Bessie used to say: “There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still”.   Quite the testament when you consider the deep pit they both knew.