Corrie Ten Boom's Risky Business
This is an electronic version of our Glimpses for Kids children's worship bulletin inserts.
These are designed to present Christian biographies for Children's church, educational or worship ministries.  Corrie
ten Boom and her sister Betsie, as depicted in the film "The Hiding Place."
What would you do if your friends were being
killed because of their faith in God or the color of their skin? Would
you take a stand to help them? What if you didn't even know the people
being killed? Would you be willing to risk your own life to save theirs?
That is exactly what Corrie ten Boom's family did in Holland in 1943.
Germany had invaded their country as the Nazis took control of most of
Europe. Corrie and her family could have helped the Nazis and been rewarded,
but they didn't. Instead, they took a huge risk to help the Jewish people
and paid dearly for it. Here is Corrie's story based on her own writings,
speeches and interviews.
Not Now, Dear Lord
I had been sick for several days with a bad case of the flu. The high
fever made me sleepy, so I stayed in bed hoping to feel better in the
morning. But I was awakened by screams and the sound of feet rushing toward
my room. At first I thought it was one of the many drills we had practiced
to hide the Jews who now lived with my family. But this time it was not
a drill. German soldiers were raiding our home, looking for the Jewish
people that they had heard we were hiding.
Instantly, I leaped from my bed to help our guests hurry into the secret
space that had been built inside a wall in my room. Once they were inside,
I quickly closed the hidden door to the safe place and slipped back into
bed. I pretended to be fast asleep. As soon as my eyes were closed, the
soldiers rushed into my room; they forced me to get out of bed and get
dressed. They wanted to know where the Jews were. But neither my sister
nor I would tell them. We were slapped and hit by the soldiers. Blood
trickled down our swollen faces, but we were willing to die rather than
tell where they were. The Nazi soldiers punched holes in the walls looking
for the hiding place, but they couldnêt find it. My family, including
my 84-year-old father, was handcuffed and forced to march into the dark
night to the police station.
 Our
Peaceful Life Is Shattered
How different from when I was growing up in Haarlem, Holland. Life was
so peaceful then. I helped out in my father's clock repair shop on the
bottom floor of our home. Our family was well-liked in our neighborhood.
I even taught a Bible class and started several girls' clubs that became
popular in Holland. But the problems we heard about in other parts of
Europe would soon affect our family and all of Holland.
The Nazis Make Life Miserable for Everyone
In Germany, Adolf Hitler and his followers (Nazis) began treating German
Jews badly. They took away their jobs, their homes and most of their rights.
They forced them to go to prisons known as concentration camps. The Nazis
also invaded other countries. They made Jewish people, and others they
did not like, work like slaves in forced labor camps.
 Most
Dutch people thought our country would never be invaded, but they were
wrong. The same night our president announced that our country was safe,
bombs exploded over our cities. Within five days the country was under
German control.
Life began to change for the Jewish people in Holland first. Every week
there was something new they couldn't do. They lost their jobs, or their
businesses were taken away; they were banned from many public places;
and they were denied food. Jewish men were sent away. Many were never
heard from again. Some Dutch people became unkind to their Jewish neighbors.
The Germans gave them special privileges for telling on Jewish people.
But our family, and many others, knew we had to help those being targeted.
We had a safe room built in the wall of our house. Even though the Nazis
searched hard, they never found it, so they never found the Jews who were
hidden there. They did find enough written material to send us to prison,
though.
Corrie Ten Boom gets a tattoo she doesn't want
in part 2 of this "Glimpses for Kids" children's worship bulletin
insert.
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