The Hiding Place

The Hiding Place

By: Corrie Ten Boom

The title of the book I read for my book report is called "The Hiding Place". The genre of this book is non-fiction. It is also an auto-biography. The book took place in Haarlem, Holland. It also takes place in a few prisons and concentration camps. There were two prisons owned by the Dutch and one concentration camp located in the eastern part of Germany that were involved in the story. This story took place between 1937 and 1983. Between these years, Corrie and her family saved many lives and suffered in prisons and at a concentration camp. The prison names were Scheveningen and Vught. The concentration camp was called Ravensbruck. This story also took place during World War Two.

The main character is Corrie Ten Boom. She lived to be ninety-one. In fact, she died on her 91st birthday in Orange County, California. Corrie really cared for others and was really giving and opened her home to any Jews in need. She was also Dutch and a very strong Christian. Corrie had really good relationships with people in her home and outside of it. She was very close to her family members and with the Jews that stayed in her home. Corrie was captured by the Nazi soldiers when her house was raided because a man named Jan Vogel had spied on them and then reported them to the Germans. Even when she was in prisons and concentration camps she still spread the world of God's never ending love.

Some other characters were Corrie's older sister Bestie, her younger sister Nollie, her dad named Casper, their brother named Willem, and Karel. Betsie, Nollie, Casper, and Willem were all apart of Corrie's family. Corrie's mother had died from a stroke. They were all close to Corrie because they were family. They were all devoted Christians and loved spreading the word of God to everyone. Karel was a man that Corrie had fallen in love with and they were very close friends. Karel eventually married another woman. This made Corrie very upset. She was so upset that it made her not want to marry at all. All the people above had great relationships with everyone and everyone was very close to Corrie.

The book "The Hiding Place" starts out when the Ten Booms are celebrating the one-hundredth anniversary of the watch shop. Corrie felt like everyone in the town had come to the party. The Ten Boom family was a very strong Christian family. They met every morning at 8:30 for scripture reading and devotions. Even their employees showed up for this every morning. Corrie told many stories about her childhood. She remembered many things about her family and friends. The Ten Boom home was open to any Jews that needed protection. They became part of what was known as the resistance movement. This was when a group of people or an individual basically stood up for what they thought was right and helped the people that were in need of help or protection. The Jews were in need because the Nazi invasion was going on in Holland at the time. The Ten Booms had a room that was hidden so the Jews could hide in there if the Nazis ever invaded. They constantly prayed for the invasion to never happen. They also practice a drill of getting into the hiding place as fast as they could. They installed an alarm system in the house just in case an invasion occurred. Sadly, the invasion happened. The Jews were never found but Corrie, her father, and Betsie were put into custody. They were taken to a federal prison owned by the Dutch called Scheveningen. Unfortunately, Corrie and Betsie's father died ten days after they were arrested. Corrie at the time was ill when they were arrested. Therefore, she was kept in a cell all by herself for a month or so. She had no idea where Betsie was. After a while, she