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Eight decades ago, two middle-aged women and an elderly man made a remarkable impact on history. The Ten Boom family, a modest group of watchmakers from outside Amsterdam, bravely rescued over 800 Jewish refugees during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
The immeasurable effect on the lives they saved is beyond calculation, but the Ten Boom family faced severe consequences. When their actions were discovered by the authorities, most of the family members were sent to various prisons.
Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Eastern Germany. At the end of the war, Corrie found herself alone, single, middle-aged, grieving, and traumatized, having lost almost everyone close to her.
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However, it is what she did with this immense loss that continues to resonate even today. Corrie didn’t simply rebuild her life and move forward.
From “The Hiding Place,” a filmed stage-play about Corrie Ten Boom.
The experiences she had endured had fundamentally changed her life’s purpose. She dedicated the remainder of her years to establishing a rehabilitation center for women from concentration camps. Additionally, she traveled the world, speaking and preaching wherever she felt called to share her experiences of darkness and its aftermath.
Corrie made the choice to forgive Nazis and to love those in front of her. She transformed the ruins of war into a garden. In the last three decades of her life, she testified to the enduring light that not even a Nazi death camp could extinguish.
In a very real sense, her decision to love her neighbors during the war came at a great personal cost. She lost everything and everyone she loved. Yet, 80 years after the heroic act of hospitality by the Ten Boom family, look at the legacy they have left for the world.
If you mention Corrie Ten Boom’s name in a conversation, you may receive one of two reactions. Either a blank stare of unfamiliarity or an exclamation of how her book (published in 1971 by Chosen Books) or her movie (released in 1975) had a profound impact on someone’s life.
If the person you’re talking to is over 60 years old, they might even share a personal encounter with Corrie that has stayed with them throughout their lives.
Thousands consider her a mentor and role model, while millions view her book as a life-changing story. While the legacy of Corrie Ten Boom is undoubtedly seen in the ongoing Jewish family trees of those she helped, her impact on the wider culture is immeasurable.
Corrie lived her life in a way that her sole mission was to ensure that the world never forgot the atrocities of Nazi Germany. She wanted people to know that the Christ she served had given her a purpose in the darkness.
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But what about those blank stares? Well, the story is an old one, and unless it is shared and retold, the world will forget.
From “The Hiding Place,” a filmed stage-play.
When I was asked to adapt Corrie’s story for the stage, I hesitated with great apprehension. The weight of this historical event extended beyond the Holocaust itself. It carried the weight of the countless lives this woman had touched through her testimony.
Today, in 2023, most individuals who hold Corrie in high regard and appreciate her story are older. It is my hope that this play and film can awaken a new generation to the bravery of this past hero.
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Only through storytelling does the world remember, and silence leads to forgetfulness. Therefore, this August, we are breaking the silence and sharing this story once again, in a fresh and renewed manner, with new individuals and a new perspective.
The Ten Boom family, including Corrie, Betsie, Casper, and Willem, gave us a remarkable story, but they paid a great price. We owe it to them to ensure that the world never forgets.
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