Corrie Ten Boom's House

Yesterday, I went to Corrie Ten Booms house.  I'd read her book A Hiding Place and was looking forward to seeing her house, which is now a museum.  During 1943 and into 1944, there were usually 6-7 people illegally living in this home: 4 Jews and 2 or 3 members of the Dutch underground.   Through these activities, the Ten Boom family and their many friends saved the lives of an estimated 800 Jews, and protected many Dutch underground workers. 

   On February 28, 1944, this family was betrayed and the Gestapo raided their home. The Gestapo set a trap and waited throughout the day, seizing everyone who came to the house. By evening about 30 people had been taken into custody.   Casper, Corrie and Betsie were all arrested. Corrie’s brother Willem, sister Nollie, and nephew Peter were at the house that day, and were also taken to prison.

   Although the Gestapo systematically searched the house,

they could not find what they sought most. They suspected Jews were in the house, but the Jews were safely hidden behind a false wall in Corrie’s bedroom. In this "hiding place" were two Jewish men, two Jewish women and two members of the Dutch underground. Although the house remained under guard, the Resistance was able to liberate the refugees 47 hours later.  The six people had managed to stay quiet in their cramped, dark hiding place for all that time, even though they had no water and very little food. 

  The Ten Boom house is filled with tiny rooms and winding staircases.  Corrie's bedroom was the room where the hidden room was built.  A brick wall was added across the back wall of her room and a sliding door at the bottom of a linen cupboard that opened to allow people access to the tiny room behind the new wall.  

 The brick wall has been opened up so museum goers can see how small the space is.

This is the opening people crawled though to access the room. 

The room is about 3 feet deep.