This book is about Corrie Ten Boom's experience with hiding Jews from the Nazis during World War II. Corrie Ten Boom was an adult Christian woman living in Holland with her fellow spinster sister Betsy and their father during the time of the occupation of the Nazi party. Corrie had another sister, Nollie, and a brother, Willem, who had moved away and married. Her mother and aunts had also lived in the house, but had since died. Corrie and her father and sister were basically the lone occupants of the house, along with their cat. They ran a watch shop in the bottom part of their house.



Things were growing increasingly tense in their neighborhood as the invasion of the Nazi party drew nearer. Corrie and her family saw Jewish neighbors' houses and shops being pillaged, their belongings flung out in the street. The people themselves were flung out of their homes as well, being carted off to the evil destinations their captors had in store for them. As the danger grew stronger, the Ten Booms decided to do something about the unfortunate plight of the Jews. They joined an underground operation which hid Jews, keeping them from the Nazi's grasp. They had a secret compartment in their home which they used to hide Jews, as the Nazis often popped in to different homes and places of business to see if anyone was keeping Jews. Their watch shop became a sort of meeting place for their underground operation, where members could exchange words in secret code while pretending to talk about watches. There was one especially powerful member of the underground operation, dubbed "Pickwick" whom Corrie's family depended on to give them the most accurate information about the Nazi party's next targets. As the war dredged on, food and other implements of survival were becoming scarce. Simple things like coffee and potatoes, items most people normally kept in their homes, were becoming scarce. Instead of staple items, these things became luxuries.



But more than the loss of food was the loss of an equally important item: freedom. Even if one was not a Jew they were scrutinized nonetheless on the outside chance they knew the whereabouts of a Jew. There were curfews and rations, and the tensions were growing. Even if one was able to stay in their home they were virtual prisoners, controlled by the soldiers who prowled the streets.



Corrie herself knew that the operation was probably doomed, but she and her family felt that it was their Christian duty to help. She even had a disturbing vision about the future; a mental preparation that maybe God had sent her to let her know what was to come.



The story goes on to describe Corrie and her family's experience at the hands of the Nazis, including horrifying experiences at concentration camps. Each seemed worse than the one before it, with increasingly deplorable living conditions and filth, along with near starvation. Through it all Corrie tried to keep her soul together with the help of her sister Betsy. Betsy had a very strong faith which helped to get Corrie through their experiences. But Betsy's health was fragile, and the physical and mental beatings they had to endure were a true test of faith. Without Betsy, Corrie felt she had nothing. So she did everything she could in her power to keep Betsy alive; she was the bright spot in her horror-infested life. The time at the last camp ends with a cresendo of bittersweet hope and despair. Hope of a better future, but despair at tremendous losses suffered.



Even though Corrie did find her way out of the maze of concentration camps, she did not come out unscathed. She faced loss and the emotional scars that came with experiencing brutality. However, her faith was not shattered, even when she met face to face with the man who may have caused them to be captured. She found out what happened to some family and friends and tried to rebuild her life. It was not easy; however. Her neighborhood was mostly deserted and there had been such hunger and poverty that even the tulip bulbs had been eaten. It had become a ghost town; full of haunting sins of the past mingling with the real ghosts of those who had been taken forcefully from a place they had loved.



This book is about parallels of hope and despair, but it is also about the strength of the human spirit. When Corrie recalls her colorful childhood, her war experiences and the heartbreaking loss of her only true love, you can feel the bittersweetness and heartbreak along with her. For it is not hard to feel empathy for a person whose heart was truly in the right place.

The storytelling

Concentration camp experiences

Appreciate the things I have

Thoughtful

Is a good storyteller

It tells a brutally honest but neccessary story

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Created Aug 01, 2003 at 2:18pm • Submit your own review...