Start Corrie had heard that Adolf Hitler hated the Jews more than anybody else. There were lots of Jewish people in Haarlem and soon the German soldiers began to attack Jewish shops, smashing their windows and steeling the goods inside. Sometimes the owners disappeared. Then orders were given that all Jews in the city must wear a yellow star on their clothes.

1. The old house above the shop had lots of small rooms and soon a number of Jews were hidden away inside. Food was the main problem, but Corrie prayed and soon enough a number of ration cards were obtained with the help of another brave friend.

2. One day, a Jewish friend and neighbour of the family called Mr. Weil was thrown into the street by the Nazis whilst they ransacked his clothes shop. The Ten Booms agreed that they had to help this poor man, even though it was dangerous. Under the cover of darkness, they took Mr. Weil into their house and arranged for him to be smuggled out to Corries uncle’s house in the country, where he would be much safer.

3. The Ten Boom family was rounded up. A German officer slapped Corrie across the face. “Where are the Jews?” he shouted. “Where is the secret room?”. Despite more cruel blows, no one gave away the truth. The secret room was never found.

4. The plan worked and soon other homeless and frightened Jews began to come to Corrie for help. If the Nazis found out that Dutch people were assisting Jews they would almost certainly be put to death but, as a Christian, Corrie knew she could never turn a needy person away.

5. Everyone practised what to do if there was a police raid. An alarm system was set up and soon even more Jews were passed through the house before being smuggled out to safe places in the country or abroad.

6. The whole family was taken to prison and interrogated. Corrie’s father, who was now 84, could not stand the strain. He died after ten days. Corrie was separated from her sister Betsie and kept alone in a filthy cell for three months, with only the ants for company. When she was questioned again about the Jews she told the officer instead about how she helped girls in her Christian clubs. She told him about the love of Jesus that gave her strength. She soon got a letter with a coded message that the Jews in the house were safe.

7. Corries nephew, who was part of the Dutch underground movement— a secret organisation helping to fight the Germans—realised that the Ten Boom family was in great danger of being discovered by the Nazi police (called the Gestapo). He arranged for a Dutch architect to call round to the house.

8. Corrie watched the public humiliation and brutal treatment of these people with horror. She had always been brought up to love the Jews. “They are God’s chosen people,” said her father. “The bible was given to us by the Jews, and Jesus himself was a Jew.”

9. But then things got worse for Corrie: she was sent to a concentration camp in Germany and forced to do hard, dirty work. Along with 35,000 other women she was given tiny amounts of dreadful food to eat and made to sleep on a pile of straw infested with fleas.

10. Then disaster happened. Without warning, the Gestapo raided the house in February 1944. They had suspected the family for some time and now they pounced. Somehow, the Jewish people managed to scramble into the hiding place and close the secret entrance. The Germans searched the house, smashing cupboards as they went.

11. “What are going to do?” asked Corrie as the man went round knocking on walls. “You must learn not to ask questions,” said the man. But the purpose of his visit soon became clear— with the family’s help he built a tiny secret room—a hiding place—high up in the old house for the Jewish refugees to hide in. It had a false wall behind a bookcase and had a room for several people.

But still, Corrie prayed and helped others, and raised everyone’s spirits by telling them about her great faith. Tragically, Betsie died in the camp, but Corrie was released by mistake after a mix up with some papers. End