A Visit to the Ten Boom Home

You might remember in the last post that I mentioned that when leaving DR Congo the flight attendants had sprayed what looked like air freshener throughout the plane. Well, thanks to someone who knew more than I did I found out that, more than likely, this was a scented insect killer to kill any mosquitoes that might be on the plane. They’ll do this to prevent mosquitoes getting transported to other countries that do not have malaria. Interesting tidbit that I thought you might like to know.

While we had been in DR Congo, Serenity and her cousin were staying in the Netherlands with some friends. I’ll share a few pictures of them enjoying their days in Holland while we were in the Congo.

These girls fell in LOVE with Holland’s cappuccinos, their breakfasts, the cheese, the bread, the quiet town of Dokkum… in general everything they saw while there and never wanted to leave.

A palace garden.

The girls rode a train to the Amsterdam airport the day we flew in from the Congo. We caught a shuttle to our hotel and were quite surprised to learn what a European hotel with 2 double beds meant. It is actually only 2 twin beds pushed together. Thinking there was some mistake, we requested another room that had 2 double beds and got the same thing. So there we were, all 4 of us laying in one big bed – although it didn’t feel so big when there were 4 of us! Thankfully each bed was set up with its own sheets and blanket and we also had a few extra blankets so everyone was able to have a little separation!

But be forewarned if you should ever go to Europe and need a room for 4 people!

Oh yes! We booked the room off of Priceline for a really good price and were very pleased with it.

The breakfast (which was a separate charge) the next morning was tremendous. I was loving it the setup! The spread and the wide variety of choices and how it was all set up was very nicely done.

Typical Holland fare for breakfast – a selection of cheeses and meats.  

Beautiful loaves of bread.

This was the American section. 🙂

But wait a minute – do you ever remember having baked beans for breakfast?

Let me just say I think it tastes much nicer with hamburgers.

Granola choices.

Fruit & veggies – Cucumbers & tomatoes are also common breakfast fare.

They served orange juice from frozen concentrate but for those who wanted fresh-squeezed they also

offered this set-up where you squeezed your own.

After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and rode the shuttle back to the airport where we stored our luggage in luggage lockers. Very handy when you want to tour for the day but don’t want to haul your suitcases around.

As you can see that there were some slight difficulties that had to be overcome…

Isn’t this a beautiful stand? Right at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

A friend of ours from Holland met us at the airport and showed us around for the day.

One of our “really wanted to see” places was the Ten Boom home. Corrie ten Boom and her family were not Jewish but they spared many Jew’s lives when they hid them in what’s called “The Hiding Place.” Corrie wrote a book by the same name, The Hiding Place and there is also a film called The Hiding Place, which is very good and even has an appearance by Corrie herself at the end of the film. When you see her and hear her voice, you can’t help but love her.

The Ten Booms had a watch/clock store on the street level (they lived on the upper levels).

The shop still operates today.

 The upper floors of the Ten Boom house is open to the public for tours.

The entrance to their small home is though a narrow door on the side of the building.

The girls sitting in the front room of the Ten Boom house overlooking the street.

Casper Ten Boom’s father, Willem, started a weekly prayer meeting at this house in 1844 to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for God’s chosen people. Casper continued this tradition until Nazi soldiers raided his house in 1944. A weekly prayer meeting was reinstituted again at some point and it is still continued to this day.

A photograph of Casper Ten Boom, the father of Betsie, Nollie, Willem and Corrie.

Standing in front of the hiding place.

There was a false wall built right in Corrie Ten Boom’s bedroom. The Jews would crawl through the closet on the left to enter a long but very narrow space where they would hide while the police searched the house.

In the closet to the left do you see the opening at the bottom? This is what the Jews crawled through to get to the hiding place. After going in they would drop a board down and it would look as if it was meant to be there.

In another room (this house was not large) there were mattresses laid on the floor for the Jews to sleep on when there was no need to be in the hiding place.

I wondered how this would have looked to the police searching the house and the lady said that the Ten Booms had kept many foster children over the years and that having mattresses in your home such as they did would not have been unusual. When doing safety drills the Jews were taught to flip their mattress over so there would be no warm spots where they had been lying.

In the end, they were betrayed and the police raided their home and arrested Casper, Corrie and her sister Betsy as well as Casper’s married children Willem and Nollie and a grandson named Peter who were visiting. The Jews (2 men, 2 women), as well as 2 that worked for the Dutch Underground,  that were staying at the Ten Boom home ran to their hiding place and for 2 days the police searched looking for where the Jews could be hiding. They never found it. But because of 3 Dutch policeman that were sympathetic to the underground, they escaped. These officers were supposed to be watching the house in case there were some in hiding who might attempt to escape. One of the officers knew one of those in hiding by his childhood name, so he went through the house calling that name and at that point those inside thought it safe to come out. Three of the Jews survived the war.

This is a picture they have hanging in the Ten Boom home of the police officers who allowed those in hiding to escape. In the top picture the man in the middle is the one interviewing them; he was not one of the police officers.

The faces of men with integrity and courage.

I found it quite interesting to hear that the Ten Boom home is not near as popular as the Anne Frank home. Many Europeans are not even familiar with the Ten Boom story. Maybe we Americans are more familiar with their story because Corrie spoke so much in America.

When Casper Ten Boom was arrested and questioned by the Gestapo, they told him they would release him because of his age so that he could “die in his own bed”. He replied: “If I go home today, tomorrow I will open my door to anyone who knocks for help”.^[4] When asked if he knew he could die for helping Jews, he replied, “It would be an honor to give my life for God’s chosen people.” Wikipedia

Of the Ten Boom family that were arrested, Casper died in prison 10 days after his arrest, Betsy died at Auschwitz, Willem died shortly after the war ended due to contracting TB while in prison, Nollie died in 1953 and Christiaan age 24 died at Bergen Belsen concentration camp for his  part in the resistance. But were Christiaan and Peter the same person? It gets confusing, If you know the answer to that, please comment.

It’s a fascinating story. Very sad but at the same time, quite moving and inspiring.