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Chapter 9

An Evangelist: Corrie ten Boom

(1892-1983)

      World War II was a watershed experience for many; it was for Corrie ten Boom.  The suffering she endured in Nazi concentration camps became the impetus for a remarkable ministry.  Carl Jung made the observation that “suffering that is not understood is hard to bear, while on the other hand, it is often astonishing to see how much a person can endure when he understands the whys and wherefores.”  Corrie said the only suffering she could understand was her own.  She felt that she was brought to Ravensbruck for a specific purpose, i.e., to lead the despairing prisoners—who might die at any moment—to the Savior.  Perhaps because Corrie knew the whys and wherefores of her suffering, she survived the horrors of Ravensbruck.  Many, including her sister Betsie, did not.  But this is getting ahead of the story.

      Corrie was born in 1892—the fifth child born to the ten Boom family—a Dutch family of dedicated Christians.  Corrie was born prematurely and no one—not even her mother—thought she would live.  But live she did—the first of many amazing things that happened in her unusual life.

      Corrie’s father, Casper, was a watchmaker.  Whatever the ten Boom family lacked in material wealth was more than compensated by non-material benefits.  As far back as she could remember, Corrie shared her life with many “adopted” ten Booms—unwanted foster children, displaced refugees, and hunted Jews.  The ten Boom house—a narrow three-story stucco and brick watch shop in Haarlem, Holland—was nicknamed the Beje.  It was a place where even the least of God’s children found a warm welcome.  It was in this house that Corrie was born and from earliest days she was nurtured in her belief in God.  She said that her father, Casper, had great wisdom and touched the lives of everyone who knew him.  Her mother, who was known as the peacemaker in this active family, died when Corrie was still in her twenties.  Corrie said that Jesus was as much a member of the family as anyone.  “It was just as easy to talk to Him as it was to carry on a conversation with my mother, father, my aunts, or my brothers and sisters.”  Corrie was grateful to have lived in her father’s house.  “The love of God,” she said, “stretched in and out of the watchmaker’s shop to all parts of the world.”

      Corrie was almost 50 years old when World War II broke out.  Her devotedly Christian family began providing “hiding places” for persecuted Jews.  They hid them in the Beje until they were betrayed by a fellow Dutchman.  On Feb. 28, 1944 the ten Boom family was arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo.  When, after only ten days of imprisonment, Corrie heard that her father had died, she prayed, “Father in Jesus name, let me show that love I cannot give to him anymore to other people who need it.”

      The real hell of her imprisonment began after “D Day” in Europe (June 6, 1944).  Many Hollanders were taken to the prison at Vught.  This place had been the scene of a major scandal in 1943 when its commandant ordered 74 women to be locked into a small cell overnight.  The next morning, 10 women were found dead of suffocation, and others had gone insane.

The women’s barracks at Vught were scenes of numbing grief.  Husbands, sons, brothers, had been executed within earshot of their loved ones.  Corrie prayed, “Lord, give me Your Holy Spirit that I may bring this great sorrow to You and leave it with You.”[1]

      Later, they were taken deep into Germany—to Ravensbruck, known as the concentration camp of no return.  Corrie looked at Ravensbruck, the bleakness, the gray and black monotony of color, the emaciated women reaching through bars, with skeleton-like hands, begging for food, and thought, It does not look as if one could remain alive here.  Many didn’t.  Thousands died of malnutrition and disease, and thousands more were gassed or otherwise executed.

      After the war, Corrie called Ravensbruck “the deepest hell that man can create.”  Corrie was asked, “Why don’t you tell more of what really went on in Ravensbruck?”  She replied, “It is not important.  What is important is that people hear the Gospel.”

Corrie never wrote or told the story of how bad it was in that concentration camp.  One of her closest friends, the movie director Jimmy Collier, said that he thought God put a protective hedge around Corrie and Betsie, so that the worst memories of her prison-camp experiences would be erased.  While going through some of her old papers and memorabilia, he came across a diary, written in German by a woman who had been in Ravensbruck at the same time.  What a gruesome treasure this proved to be!  The diary described circumstances that even Corrie did not choose to reveal.  That poor, unknown woman told about the quarantine block where:

Our entire possessions consisted of a tin plate, a tin pot, and a wooden spoon—virtually nothing else, not even a hairpin, washcloth, sewing kit, or anything else…in very short time I was covered from head to toe with large, festering wounds caused by filth, dog bites, and vitamin deficiency.  My feet were rubbed raw by the wooden shoes.  It was impossible to keep myself clean.

We received one-quarter of a liter of ersatz coffee, which was undrinkable because of the addition of sodium carbonate, and a daily ration of bread (one slice).  We were always terribly hungry, while the SS guards were well supplied with everything.  They had well-stocked pig, cow, geese, hen and horse stalls, as well as greenhouses and vegetable gardens.  They lacked in nothing; even cigarettes and alcohol were lavishly available.  Our SS female guards ate their sausage sandwiches in front of our eyes, drank beer and coffee, while it was impossible to get a cup of tea for even the sickest prisoners.

      At Ravensbruck, all manner of ordeals were planned to break the spirit of the prisoners and weaken their morale.  The sleeping quarters were without sheets or blankets.  There were scarcely any panes in the windows and there was a continual draft.  Every morning, long before daybreak, the prisoners had to stand without any protective clothing in the cold.  Everyone knew where the punishment bunkers were, because they could hear the screams and moans.  According to the Ravensbruck diary:

      The worst things were the beatings prescribed by the Gestapo.  An SS doctor would take the prisoner’s pulse.  The prisoner was then beaten on the bare body with a rubber club or leather strap until the pulse stopped.  I saw the bodies of many of my female companions.  They usually collapsed and were then mistreated again after two or three days, until the prescribed number of strokes had been fulfilled.

      In spite of these conditions, twice a day Corrie opened her little Bible and invited anyone who wished to listen.  She later said, “What a joy it was to share the happy message of God’s Word!”

      One night she heard that 250 younger, stronger Dutch prisoners were being transported to a distant factory; destination unknown, return uncertain.  In the middle of the night, Corrie went to the washroom, climbed out the window, and stationed herself in the pitch dark in a place where she was sure the prisoners would pass.  She prayed, “Lord, give me some word for them.”  As each one passed, she stage-whispered:

      “Jesus is Victor.”

      “Oh, Corrie, how could you?  Go back to your barracks.”

      “Fear not, only believe.”

      “Thank you, Corrie.  God bless you.”

      “Underneath us are the everlasting arms.”

      Corrie later told Betsie, “The Holy Spirit gave me a short message for each one.”

Corrie was learning not to rely on her own strength, but to bring her grief to Jesus and leave it with Him. She was also learning to pray as she had never prayed before.  But the lessons of love for the enemy were hard.  The guards did not seem human; they were animals somehow disguised in the flesh and bones of real men and women.

Corrie said that while the maltreatment caused hate to well up within her, Betsie, her sister, never seemed to allow hatred or bitterness to penetrate her attitude.  She gave Corrie God’s strength during times when He seemed so far away.  However, on one occasion Betsie fell vulnerable to the misery surrounding her; the conditions were designed to break the strongest spirits.  At 3:30 A.M. they were driven from their beds, to stand for roll call in the Lagerstrasse.  Ravensbruck at that time contained 35,000 people, a sickening sea of wraithlike humanity.  Finally, numb with cold in the German winter, the Uhle (siren) sounded to fall out.  But the barracks door was locked, and for another forty-five minutes they were kept in the cold, with the Augseherin guarding the door with a whip.  A woman tried to crawl through a window and was beaten unmercifully, while the others watched, petrified with misery.

A feebleminded girl in front of Betsie and Corrie dirtied her pants and was brutally beaten and driven to the ground, a bleeding pulp.  An old woman collapsed and died.  Corrie looked at the faces around her and read the horror and hate, but also numb resignation and despair.  Betsie leaned against her beloved sister and whispered, “Oh, Corrie, this is hell.”

Courage is born in adversity, but Corrie said she was not brave, that she often pulled her dirty blanket over herself and prayed, “Lord I am weak and cowardly and of little faith; hold me close. Thou art the conqueror. Give me courage.” From that dependence, from that surrender to her Lord, Corrie accomplished feats that were astounding for a woman in her fifties, weakened by malnutrition and ill-treatment.

Betsie died on Christmas day in 1944. When Corrie found her body dumped in the washroom with other skeletal corpses, Corrie witnessed one of God’s miracles in the midst of unspeakable filth.  Betsie’s face in death looked incredibly young, full of peace, and as happy as a child.  Corrie said it was a bit of heaven in the midst of a surrounding hell.

In early 1945, after what must have seemed an eternity, Corrie and others were released for reasons unknown—perhaps because the Nazis, who knew they were losing the war, thought they would fare better in defeat if they released prisoners.

As Corrie journeyed back to Holland, she prayed, “Lord, I have received my life back from you.  Thank you.  Will you tell me how to use it?  Give me understanding.  Yes, Lord, you are right.  My work must be to save souls for eternity, to tell others about you.”

Many of the Dutch population did not return.  More than 140,000 of them died in the resistance, in German reprisal killings, concentration camps, air raids or from hunger.[2]

Corrie not only lost her father and Betsie, she lost her brother (who died at age 60) to an illness contracted in prison, and her brother’s son, who died (in his early twenties) in a concentration camp.

A few weeks after the end of the war, Corrie was told the name of the man who had betrayed her family to the Gestapo.  How did she react?  The following is a copy of the letter she wrote June 19, 1945:

Dear Sir:

Today I heard that most probably you were the one who betrayed me.  I went through ten months of concentration camp.  My father died after 10 days, my sister after ten months of imprisonment.

What you meant to be harmful, God used for my good. I have become closer to Him. A severe punishment is awaiting you. I have prayed for you that the Lord will accept you if you will turn to Him. Think about the fact that the Lord Jesus also carried your sins on the cross. If you accept that and will be His child, you will be saved forever.

I have forgiven you everything; God will forgive you everything also, if you ask Him.  He loves you, and He, Himself has sent His son to earth to forgive you your sins, that is, to bear the punishment for you and me.  From your side an answer must be given.  When He says “Come to me, give your heart,” then your answer must be: “Yes, Lord, I will.  Make me your child.”

If you have difficulty praying, ask then if God will give you his Spirit; He works the faith in your heart.  Never doubt the love of the Lord Jesus.  He stands with His arms wide open to receive you.

I hope that the hard road that you now have to go will bring you to your eternal Savior.

Corrie often said that in her own strength she could not have forgiven all the terrible things that happened to her and her family.  She confessed that before she wrote the above letter she felt an initial surge of hatred and bitterness in her heart.  Then she remembered the words of Jesus: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14, 15 NIV). With the help of the Holy Spirit, Corrie was able to forgive—from the heart.

Corrie’s post-war life continued to be a miracle and an inspiration.  For 33 years she traveled all over the world—to 64 countries—delivering her simple Gospel message.  Her attitude through those years can be seen in a conversation she had with an American just before she left Holland on a freighter to be a personal missionary to America.  Knowing that she had only $50 in her pocket, the American told her, “It’s not easy to make one’s way in America.” 

“I believe you,” Corrie said, “but God has directed me, and I must obey.”

Corrie’s stamina was amazing.  She could speak four or five times a day and hold counseling sessions in-between. According to her biographer, Carole Carlson, Corrie had a gracious way of making each person in her life feel that he or she was the most important person in the world.

A personal note: I once had the opportunity to hear Corrie speak.  She was 84 years old at the time, but no one would have thought so.  I can understand why Billy Graham dubbed her as “God’s merry saint.”  Her message was the story of God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, and she had a unique way of telling it. For example, to drive home the point that God’s forgiveness is permanent, she said that when we confess our sins, God casts them into the depths of the sea, and puts up a sign: NO FISHING ALLOWED.  Her message was simple but profound.

When Corrie was asked about her years before the Nazi occupation, she said they were a period of preparation during which God used everyday happenings to prepare her for the suffering and victories that lay ahead.

James Parker, a pastor in Virginia, wrote:

      Corrie’s message to the Body of Christ is, “No pit is so deep that God’s love is not deeper still” and “in every situation, no matter what the circumstances, Jesus is Victor.”  This is a wonderful message because it is a message of hope based on the eternal faithfulness of God, rather than on changing circumstances.”

Her remarkable ministry became known to millions through both the book and movie version of The Hiding Place.  She never looked at fame as being the culmination of personal triumph.  To Corrie it was simply a result of God’s plans.  Her way of handling adulation was to take each compliment as a flower, and then gather them all in a bouquet and give them back to Jesus by saying, “Here Lord, they belong to You.”

Corrie never allowed herself to dwell on the past.  She would say, “This is no time to look back.  What a challenge we have today!”  In her book Tramp for the Lord, she said when her parents were married, they claimed Psalm 32:8 as their “life verse,” the promise which they felt was God’s assurance for them:

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

Corrie said this promise also became the special directive for her life.  And she never forgot what her father often said:

When Jesus takes your hand, He keeps you tight. 

When Jesus keeps you tight, He leads you through life. 

When Jesus leads you through life, He brings you safely home.

Corrie’s book Each New Day contains 365 short devotions that give new hope and encouragement to the reader. The following are excerpts from this book:

      Before the war, I was a watchmaker.  When my hand was not steady and I had to do a very exact piece of work on a watch, I would pray, “Lord Jesus, will you lay your hand on my hand?”  He always did, and our joined hands worked firmly and securely.  Jesus never fails us for a moment.

I am 85 years old and I am so thankful that I am able to continue the work I love.  God has a plan for every life.  All of us are called to be the light of the world wherever He places us.  We are in his perfect guidance when we trust and obey Him.  A tool does not decide where to work.  It is the Master who decides where it is to be used.

Another way in which God makes us know His will is by closing the doors if our decision is not the right one, or by allowing us to make a mistake, in order that we may see for ourselves that we took the wrong turn when we did not listen to him.  His word tells us that we can hear His voice: “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it….’ ” (Isaiah 30:21 RSV).

In 1978 Corrie suffered a stroke. She had “tramped for the Lord” as long as it was humanly possible.  She was hospitalized, and after physical therapy she regained a little mobility for a time—until the next stroke hit.  She never regained her speech.  But her ministry continued as she communicated through her eyes, and through intercessory prayer for the people God brought to mind.  Those last five years of her life were mute testimony to Corrie’s spiritual depth—to her on-going trust in her heavenly Father and to the truth she always professed, i.e., that no matter what the circumstances, Jesus is always Victor.

Corrie died on her 91^st birthday—April 15, 1983. What can be learned from the life of this “legend?”  Among many things, we can learn that the requisites for effectiveness as a Christian are not dependent upon gifts or talents; rather they depend upon our availability to God’s guidance.  Because Corrie was surrendered to His will, God could use her unique background and blend of compassion and determination to deliver His message of love and forgiveness to millions.

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