The Hiding Place Summary

One sunny day in January 1937 in Haarlem, Holland, the ten Boom celebrates the onehundredth year of their in-home watch shop together with most of the town. The three family
members who live in the tiny house, father ten Boom and his daughters Betsie and Corrie,
prepare for the busy day after sharing breakfast and devotions with their three employees, Hans
the apprentice, Toos the bookkeeper and Christoffels the repairman. This family shares a deep
love for each other, devotion to their Christian faith and warm, generous hearts for the whole
community. The party mood dampens as people discuss the threat of Hitler his campaign of
German expansion and Hollands role amidst the larger powers of Europe. Finally, Corries
brother Willem joins the gathering with a young Jewish man, Herr Gutlieber, who escaped from
Munich after some teenagers waylaid him and set fire to his beard. The family rallies round the
shocked man and attempt to restore normalcy by resuming the festivities. In the evening, Corrie
reminisces about her childhood and returns to the present time, reflecting that God uses all
experiences in human life for a good purpose.
As the Beje network continues to expand, Corrie fears that they will be caught. Other instances
occur to make Corrie worry, like the seizure a Jewish woman staying in Nollies home. Nollie,
however, believes that her honest admission of Annalieses Jewish heritage will protect both of
them. Although Nollie goes to prison, Annaliese miraculously escapes. After Corrie persuades
the German doctor of Nollies Amsterdam prison, he grants Nollie release on medical grounds.
After several scares, the Beje residents begin training Corrie to answer Gestapo questions
correctly. They also train to reach the hiding place in as little time as possible. Shortly after
Willem

begins

holding

prayer

meetings

at

the

Beje,

the

family

receives Otto

Altschulerunexpectedly. He comes to gloat over the German occupation of Holland. However,

Ottos visit frightens the ten Booms who realize that they must continue their work despite the
danger.
In order to introduce certain lessons that carried Corrie through the war, she relates several
childhood anecdotes. In 1898, Corrie resists going to school for the first time because she is
afraid. Nollie has a dilemma, too, regarding the latest fashions. The formidable and
morbid Tante Jansbuys the girls clothing and refuses to buy anything she considers modern or
indecent. Fortunately, the family distracts Tante Jans from Nollies fashionable fur cap
untilFather reads scripture for that day, Psalm 119:114, Thou art my shielf and my hiding

place. Corrie wonders about these words until her family forces her to go to school. Upon
entering the larger world, Corrie has several questions about growing up. For example, on the
train back from Amsterdam, Corrie asks her father what sex is. He uses a train case to show his
daughter that he must carry that knowledge for her until she grows older and stronger. A few
years later, Corrie faces questions of mortality and fear, when a neighbors baby dies. Her father
tells Corrie that when he is ready to die, God will prepare her for the loss.
In the third chapter, Corrie describes her first and only love, a man named Karel who is school
friends with Willem. Corrie first meets Karel at a family occasion and they meet again while
Corrie visits Willem at the university in Leiden. In the intervening years, Corrie leaves school to
help run the Beje and care for her aging aunts. Tante Bep dies from tuberculosis after leading a
bitter and unhappy life as a family governess. Shortly after, Tante Jans is diagnosed with
diabetes, a fatal disease in those days. Before Jans dies, she tells her family that she is thankful
to die empty-handed in spite of all her charitable work. After these losses, the family is happy to
celebrate with the marriage of Tine and Willem. Meanwhile, Corrie and Karel rekindle their
relationship, which grows especially when they are in Brabant to attend Willems first sermon.
Corrie feels crushed, therefore, when Karel arrives at the Beje a few months later with his fianc.
He must marry for money and station rather than love. Through Corries heartbreak, she decides
to give her love for Karel to God instead.
In 1918, Mama suffers a severe stroke, which leaves her comatose for two months. Corrie takes
over the household work, while helping her mother continue her ministry of comfort and
encouragement. Soon after Nollie marries a young teacher named Flip van Woerden, Mama
dies. Eventually, Betsie and Corrie discover that Betsie should be in charge of the house and
Corrie should work in the watch shop. In 1924, Corrie becomes the first licensed female
watchmaker in Holland. In the passing years, Willem and Tine have had four children and
Nollie and Flip have had six. After Father contracts a dangerous case of hepatitis, the people of
Haarlem pool their resources to buy him a radio for his seventieth birthday. The rumblings of
war disrupt the peaceful life of the Beje residents. The family feels the threat of Nazism
especially when they must fire a young German watchmaker, named Otto Altschuler, for
mistreating Christoffels.
Shortly after firing Otto, the ten Booms face the beginning of war with the German invasion of
Holland in May 1940. After an air raid that could have killed Corrie, she has an ominous vision

of her family being taken away in a wagon. Betsie tells her that God shows people the future to
show his control over it. Indeed, Corrie and the rest of Holland need that comfort during the
German occupation. Nazi rule brings new laws, including curfews, identity papers, ration books,
seizure of radios and discrimination and yellow stars for Jewish people. Corrie begins
befriending Jewish people who are suffering, like Harry de Vries, and sees the danger they face
daily. This realization leads Corrie to take part in the Underground more actively.
In May 1942, as the occupation grows harsher, Peter is arrested for playing the national anthem
in church. Meanwhile, Corrie learns the methods of the Underground movement. The ten
Booms begin housing Jews until they can find them safe homes in the country. Corrie solves the
greatest problem for relocation, the lack of ration cards, by approaching Fred Koornstra, a Food
Office worker. Corrie continues to develop a network of sources, learning tips from Pickwick and
other Underground workers. In order to make the Beje safe during Gestapo raids, the
anonymous Mr. Smit builds a secret room in Corries bedroom.
As war rages, the ten Booms struggle to reconcile the precepts of Christianity with illegal
Underground activities, including lying, stealing and sabotage. Lying is sometimes necessary for
survival, however. After Peters release from prison, he faces seizure for munitions work in
Germany. The ten Booms strive to protect their young men from this terrible fate by hiding
them and deceiving the Gestapo. Other tragedies strike the Beje residents, including the death of
Christoffels and Gestapo seizure of Harry de Vries. Corrie, Betsie and Father continue to refine
the Beje system, which now includes six other permanent residents. The most memorable of the
six is Meyer Mossel, called Eusie as a disguise. The others, like Eusie, are Jews who cannot be
placed in other homes. The Beje group grows closer during these difficult times with cultured
entertainment and reverent worship.
On February 28th, 1944, the Gestapo raids the Beje with the help of Dutchman Jan Vogels.
Corrie, who is battling influenza, and thirty-four others are taken first to the prison in Haarlem
and then to Gestapo headquarters in the Hague. Six people remain safely hidden in the hiding
place, although the Gestapo threatens to starve them out. The Beje group is sent to
Scheveningen Prison, although everyone but Corrie, Betsie and Father are later released. After
ten days at Scheveningen, Father is taken to a hospital where he dies. Corrie knows none of this,
however, because she is in solitary confinement. She struggles with prison boredom, but the four
gospels, which a nurse in the doctors office had given her, help her survive. Gradually, Corrie

regains her strength enough to sit through her hearings with Lieutenant Rahms. Corrie shares
the gospel with Rahms and tells him that there is a way out of the darkness he is in. After four
months in prison, Corrie sees her family at the reading of her fathers will. Although Willem is
weak and jaundiced, he makes Corrie feel safe for a little while.
Soon after, the prisoners are transported to a concentration camp called Vught, where they
spend two weeks in quarantine. Eventually, they reach the main camp, where Betsie and Corrie
share the gospel with their fellow prisoners. Corrie works in Phillips Factory and exhibits her
mechanical skills, while Betsie sews uniforms. The sisters have slightly better conditions at
Vught, although the constant executions at the neighboring men's camp make life difficult.
As Germany begins to lose the war, they start transporting prisoners to extermination camps.
Betsie and Corrie are taken to Ravensbruck, where they receive deplorable treatment. The
sisters endure grueling physical labor, unhygienic conditions and cruelty. Corrie asks God to
carry the burden of seeing such cruelty for her. Meanwhile, the sisters learn the pitfalls of
holding a ministry in a prison camp. Corrie overcomes the temptation to be selfish, while Betsie
grows kinder every day. When Betsie's strength fails, she goes to hospital where she dies. Corrie
is heartbroken, although she realizes that Betsie is free from cruelty now. Corrie's own release
comes shortly after because of a clerical error. On January 1st 1945, Corrie leaves Ravensbruck.
After recuperating at a hospital in Groningen, Corrie visits with an ailing Willem in Hilversum.
Two weeks after, Corrie returns to Haarlem, Nollie and the Beje, despite the travel ban in
Holland. Corrie feels that her life is empty in the Beje. After a failed attempt to return to
Underground work, Corrie opens the Beje to mentally handicapped people. Soon after, Corrie
meets a woman who donates her house, Bloemendaal, as a rehabilitation center for Holocaust
victims. Corrie begins to realize her sister, Betsie's vision, when she opens the Beje to former
NSB members who are homeless and unemployed. In the meantime, Corrie begins to share her
message of joy and peace with a war torn world. The last piece of Betsie's vision manifests itself
when Corrie organizes a center for displaced Germans in a former concentration camp. Corrie
asks that the barracks be painted green in order to promote healing and forgiveness after the
atrocities of the war.