Corrie ten Boom's Prison Letters (continued)
ences in the shop. She is just as much interested. Mien is brave and very good to us. During lunchtime she and I are always together, we work in different barracks but both for Phillips. She is healthy but skinny and most of the time she is brave. It is a hard life also for her, but it is much better than in the cell. There, she often had sick people to take care of. Here she is helping the nurse in the First Aid in the evenings and helps with dispensing medicines. She does all this voluntarily. She often knows a way to obtain something when others don't know how to go about it. Has business fallen off much because of the robberies? Or was it not too bad? Did we lose many customers or can you keep it going? Is ten Hove helping well? Do you get enough supplies? Where do you put the watches during the night? Are there still some supplies upstairs or is everything gone? Nice that you had a vacation. Did you still visit your family, Ineke? Oh, how I hope to see you soon. God bless you!
Nollie, you omitted the number. Bep is 01130 and I am 01131. Write every week even if Willem writes. It may pass through and you don't know how we enjoy it. The worst may be that the letter would not get through, then we would have bad luck. But still, then it's only the postage and the trouble of writing, that's wasted. And, if we are lucky we get it and the letter will be spelled out from A to Z, 10 times over. I am not sorry at all, Stien, that you returned to Haarlem again.
Bob, congratulations on your preliminary success, and Elske now to high school. Aty, where did you stay in Holten? Did you have a nice time? Oh, Cocky, how nice about that conference. Nollie, how wonderful that you also are going to a conference. I am more worried about you than
VUGHT
about ourselves, but that's not right. The Lord will give you strength, but oh, darling, what will it be when I can put my arms around you again!
I think now also that it will be September, then it will be 6 months. Because of the parcel blockade, we did not receive the fruit and shoes. We pray that the shoes and the sweaters may still get through. God does work miracles.
Enclosed is a diary by Bep and an embroidered cloth made by me in prison. We cannot take it along if we would be called from here. Oh, yes, also the letters to us are treasures. YOUR CORRIE
Mrs. Hendriks.
In the washroom of Barrack 42 lies a bag with sandwiches.
Mrs. Hendriks prepared them this morning to give to her husband who works in the same barrack as she does. She is a delicate woman with an unusual, fine, intellectual face. She also carries a baby under her heart, her first one. Last night Mr. Hendriks was shot to death.
Betsie's Diary:
Saturday, July 28 Wednesday was an inspection of the braiding detail for going to 's Hertogenbosch. I got a scare! Thursday, another inspection and a group let out Friday. During the morning, about 35 were called out to go to the Phillips factory but not me. In the late afternoon they called for volunteers for the dressing room. I applied for that. This morning I had to stand and wait in the cold for a long time and was then sent to the barrack to wait. When I got "home" to the barrack, all the beds were stripped and Barrack 24B was empty. We had to move to Barrack 23B. Here we sleep with 160 women in one room. The noise and the activity don't bother me at all. The dining room is also very crowded. There are many acquaintances and friends here. On Wednesday, Corrie was caught talking to a laborer and a note was made on her record. Let's hope this will not cause trouble!
This evening Corrie had to report to the office. Got a warning, nothing else. Everybody had said she would be put in the "bunker" [the worst building for punishment]. We had prayed until our fears left us and now we have been rescued from those fears.
In 23B, we have two nice beds on top with a beautiful view. We are continually protected by the most extraordinary Providence so that we can hold out in spite of the hard life. Last Sunday, a good conversation with Lenie. We have received no letters or parcels yet this week. The news we get continues to be good.
Wednesday, August 3 Sunday everybody was frightened. Friday a letter from Nollie. Everything is going well. Peter is sleeping in the house. Fred will probably be called to a pastorate in Oosterwietwert. On Monday and Tuesday the prisoners' boxes were inspected and much was taken from us.
Last night, after 4 weeks, a parcel arrived. Corrie brought Phillips-mash, too. There was nice porridge and an abundance of buttered sandwiches from the parcel. I am writing from the waiting room of the hospital now, waiting for a lauferin or guard [one whose duty is to escort prisoners]. I have seen lots of people . . . the optician Zijlstra, Jo who works in the kitchen, etc.
Friday they asked for volunteers to do sewing in the storage room where possessions of prisoners are kept. There is such a kind, considerate atmosphere there. We are treated like elderly women. We sit in a small room and sew on beautiful pedal machines. Each of us has a hundred shirts and undershirts for mending and I greatly prefer this to cutting paper. There is also a cozy kitchenette and we have 2 breaks for coffee, tea, and sandwiches. We climb in and out of a window to go to the bathroom, for the door is kept locked.
I should like to stay in the property room. Corrie and I always enjoy the wonderful air and clouds. The weather is excellent . . . fortunately, not too warm. Mostly cloudy skies and cool, especially cool at roll calls. We have only 2 blankets. Still, we don't catch colds.
It is August now and it smells so wonderful here. In the evenings, we have only a little while to enjoy ourselves. First, we eat together. Then there is the closing of the day with devotions, and finally, we wash and get quickly into bed. In the evenings, when we go to bed, it is still light and in the mornings when we get up it is still pitch-dark outside. We have a terrible lack of sleep and are tired but not overly tired.
Saturday I wandered around, first standing outside, then back to the barracks, and to the sewing room. In the sewing room Sunday morning, too. Wonderful morning! On the whole, a real Sunday!
. a time of bliss."
August 9, 1944 Dear Beppie,
Thanks very much for your letter which gives us at last the opportunity to write to you. One card, which we sent you previously, was returned to me undelivered. Nice that the communication has been reestablished and also, that the parcels are getting through again. This week, Nollie was going to send a parcel. Next week, we hope to take care of it. I know what that means. Also what the world outside and the fresh air means. The lack of these last things is, in my opinion, harder to take than the lack of sufficient food.
How wonderful that you bring your problems to Christ and how invaluably wonderful it is to be in contact with Him! What a blessing when you may witness about Him by word and deed in surroundings where sorrow and privation open hearts so easily. As far as that is concerned, I can be jealous of you both when I think of the deeper comradeship which a camp like Vught produces. It seems as if His grace is working more instantly there, and as if God wants to fulfill His work there at an accelerated pace. Of course, we think daily of you. Tine and I always walk together in the forest from 7 to 8 every morning. We enjoy nature and this is a wonderful opportunity to bring our daily happenings to the Lord. We experience the result of this all during the day.
Last night (it was the evening before Casper's birthday, which we celebrated today) many young people in our home gathered together in our salon, most of them from non-Christian backgrounds, and all kinds of questions were asked. One of them, a medical student, reflected his final impression after the closing prayer, in the following purified language: "The pastor was darn good tonight."
As far as your prolonged stay is concerned, probably God still wants to teach you something. He wants to give you a new basis for work, in which you can utilize all the old knowledge again, and in which the same Christ is manifest but now in a quieter and broader way. Christ molds and models our work after the work of His Kingdom, which He is going to carry out on earth, and which none of us can yet sufficiently grasp.
When I was in prison in Scheveningen I composed a youth hymn, which I wanted to be completely free of politics. The third verse went like this: Young people, we were born for a future, In which again, we can spread our wings. For Satan long ago the battle was lost When he went bankrupt at the Cross.
Quietly our King's business continues to win
He wants us to take part and today to begin!
A terrible time? No, a time of bliss Since Christ for His young ones the Victor is!
Regards, dear Beppie. Love to Corrie.
WILLEM
Dear Betsie,
How happy we are with your letters. We will take care of the parcels. We are grateful that you both are so well. Today we celebrate C's birthday and the day ended with an evening prayer, for you both of course. We are very busy but are enjoying God's rich consolation. How wonderful it will be when we all can be together again. But . . . we know so very little.
I hope that you will soon gain a few kilos and your blood count will increase, for that is necessary. It is fortunate that Corrie's lungs are healthy. Good-bye for now. From day-to-day we are with you in our thoughts. Kindest greetings,
YOUR TINE
A Day's Work.
In the Phillips factory most of us sit bent forward with heads on our arms. Outside the air is vibrating over the hot earth. I wear nothing but my overalls and the legs of those are rolled high. The door is flung open. Jan is trying to catch Janneke. They are holding large mugs of water in their hands which they throw across the work benches onto each other. Our tools and parts are totally disregarded. It becomes a wild romp! Janneke is a big, dark, Belgian girl with laughing eyes and Jan is our foreman and a communist. The floor is soaking wet. Amidst much cheering, Jan and Janneke are both carried into the washroom by several of the others. Janneke is thrown into the sink and the faucets are turned on.
"Thick air!" [Danger!] someone shouts. Immediately everyone resumes working quietly and, seemingly, diligently. The smiles are hidden. Janneke hurries to the bathroom and the cleaning girl mops the floor. Muller, the German officer, enters. Everything is so in order that he can find no reason for shouting or giving warnings. Muller's eyes are more piercing than ever.
"Send sweaters or something/'
August 13, 1944 Dear Everybody,
Parcel and letter ban, but keep on writing. It may be lifted August 15 or September 1. Try immediately to send a parcel then. If you do receive this letter, write, "I received a letter from Kees."
Do you know how long our sentence will be? When we signed our statements, we saw that we had only been accused of helping Jews. They give you half a year for that.
Does that start from March 1 or June 18?
We are fine, in good health, and like our work. I am working at the Phillips factory and Bep does sewing. We experience so many longings! When you find out how long
[our sentence is] please write "I saw a little child of . . . months," and start counting from March 1. Does it look like the war will be over soon? When it's cold we don't have enough clothing. Send sweaters or something. We are only allowed to wear it under our overalls and most importantly send new shoes. Mine are completely worn out.
Jap and Stien take turns writing each week to Bep and me. We are able to witness here and there, but not nearly as much as we had expected. There is so much bitterness and communism, cynicism, and deep sorrow. The worst for us is not that which we suffer ourselves, but the suffering which we see around us. We also are learning to put the worst in the hands of the Saviour. We are very tranquil, in rather good spirits, but not cheerful. Our health is fine. I gained 10 kilos. My hair has turned gray. Life is hard.
It's as if I've been drafted into the army but in the harsh German way. But don't worry too much about that. In many aspects it's not too bad. Nollie, write much. Your letters help so much. More letters can get through now. Thank all those nice people. Don't ever make the parcels too heavy. Is Hans having financial problems? Congratulate her for me. God bless them. Send a picture of Father as a postcard. On the whole, I can accept quite well being here, but I have too many thoughts of home. I think often of Father. Yes, Jap, how wonderful that he is in Heaven.
Nollie, how difficult things must often be for you, but you will receive amazing grace for this time. I pray for that continually.
In the morning we walk outside and pray aloud together. Everybody thinks that we are just talking, but then, we are just talking—talking with the Saviour, and that is such a joy. Bye darlings.
Keep courage! Cocky and Nol, my special regards.
CORRIE
The Prostitutes.
Pretty but nondescript faces, loud voices, saucy mannerisms. One always knows when the prostitutes are around. They never seem afraid. When everyone is standing in utter silence, listening to the threats and raging of our superiors, they call out daring replies. They know they are safe if the guards are men. They are the last to report for roll call. Some of them are always near the barbedwire fence which separates us from the men's section. They sometimes climb up on the windowsills and we are warned at roll call to report anyone we see there. "Not all of you can be whores!" the guard yells. Late in the evening the little bell that hangs on the barbed wire tinkles innocently. A girl is climbing over the fence. "Mother," a fat woman and the eldest in the block, who is here for an abortion and is now in charge of 140 women, goes with the girl.
"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."
In the sewing room Bep sees that a lady is sewing a large round red piece of material on to a white square and this in turn is sewn on the back of a blue overall. It is for Mrs. Boosmans, who tried to escape and was caught with 2 others. As long as she will be wearing her overall, she will wear the red round cloth, the token of honor. She climbed over a few roofs, ran far away, was then caught and brought back; had to stand for hours and was not allowed to go to bed at night. She looks very tired, but seems not to worry. How brave she is! She just heard that her husband, Dr. Boosmans, was wounded in the train by shell splinters. He will have to lose a few fingers, but for the rest he is well. I have to say
I am proud of our Dutch women.
Bep's birthday
August 19, 1944 Dear Everybody,
You must be asking what we did to deserve the parcel ban. It's a collective punishment. In our barrack the beds were not made neatly enough and much was hidden under the mattresses. Besides, some of the prostitutes had been talking with the guards through the window across the barbed-wired fence. Punishments are taken collectively. This will last till September 5. If by then we still are not home, send on that date a few parcels and before that time every week a good-sized parcel to Mien. She is sleeping in another barrack and therefore does not have the punishment. Keep on writing to us, and now and then also to her.
Sometimes letters will slip through. On September 5, especially send heavy sweaters. When the mornings are getting colder we are not dressed warm enough. We have to be at roll call before sunrise. Oh, how beautiful the skies are then, but sometimes we are shivering with cold, irthe weather is like autumn, chilly and foggy. At the moment we have a heat wave here. How I long for cool sheets and for much more. Will the end of the war be near? The world outside is at the moment not so attractive either. But even if it would be 10 times worse, we still long to go home.
Jap, will you maybe from my previous letters type the parts which are important for everybody? Pencil writing fades so easily. We are fine. It's Bep's birthday and what a much better day it is than mine was. Then [April 15] I was lying alone and was on cold food, no warm food and for the rest—no airing, no books. Everybody snarled and I felt so sick and miserable. A doctor gave me a shot and I told him that it was my birthday and then he gave me a firm handshake. He himself was a prisoner. Never did I appreciate a handshake so much as this one! The next day a corridor-girl came in front of my door and gave me congratulations from Aukje. Then, from her, I heard for the first time where Bep was. That was my first contact with Bep. We sleep together now, Bep and I, and last night we woke up from the terrible flying over Vught. It sounded like thousands of airplanes. In the afternoon, I sleep for nearly an hour in the sunshine. One can admire here the most beautiful skies, heavenly beauty. We have enough to eat, are healthy, do like our work, many friends and acquaintances, and are healthy. I am very tanned and even Bep's face has a tan. She looks much better than some time ago and looks 10 years younger. My hand, in which I suffer from neuritis, is nearly better. I gained much weight. Just got a wasp sting on my leg, but I got a walking permit to go to the first aid a few barracks away. There I received a piece of cottonwool with some eau de cologne, but the nicest was the walk. Without a walking permit you are never allowed to leave your barrack.
Don't worry about us, that we would not have enough. Every time the Lord cares for us in a miraculous way, so that if we don't have anything, somebody gives us something. For instance, I went to the hospital for vitamin B and the cleaning girl gave me half a cake.
Did you know that Lenie den Engelsen is a cleaning girl in Barrack 42? Her husband is in 43. She works, mops, and is taking it beautifully. She is a heroine. How is it with Pickwick and Hans, Cocky and Henk, Jan, Ineke, and all the others? I pray much for all of them. Also for Bob Weener. There is "summary justice" here. If anybody passes on news or a notice, he gets the bullet. Do you know if our prison time ends September 1 or December 9? Everybody here says that 6 months at Vught is too short. If they also include the time at Scheveningen, then it would be September 1. God knows the way. We are at peace with everything.
Write for sender, on the parcel to Mien, the name and address of Jap or Fie.
Now that I read my letter again, it looks a little too optimistic. It is very difficult for us but God's grace is endless. Bep is often hungry, and is at the moment not gaining any weight. Therefore, please send parcels soon with the sweaters and shoes.
YOUR CORRIE
At Twilight.
It is evening. About 30 of God's children are standing or sitting between the barracks. Two very old little women with wooden shoes on their feet are sitting against a tree. Bep is reading Psalm
91, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." The light of the setting sun is shining on her. She looks so pretty and even healthy [though very chronically ill from pernicious anemia]. She is standing there, bent over her little Bible. It's such a quiet evening. In a laundry room, two beautiful voices are singing a duet from Mendelssohn. "Denn in Seiner Hand ist, was die Erde bringt." ["For it is in His Hand, what happens on earth."] The barracks are so ugly and the barbed wire so horribly visible everywhere, but wagtails and skylarks are sitting in the birch trees and over all this is spread God's beautiful firmament with its magnificent colors which proclaim His handiwork.
"How long still?"
August 22, 1944 Dear Nollie,
I have written some sketches. Keep them for me. Will you send these letters on quickly? We hear some hopeful rumors. Could liberty be near? Oh, if it should be near, I hope we will be here [Vught] till the end, but also if they call me Monday the 28 or Thursday, I'll be tremendously happy, too. Oh, we are longing so much. Do you know yet when our time will be done? We have much peace about it. We miss our parcels very much and are hoping that you can send Mien van Dantzig our parcel. I once wrote you, "Don't send bread." But that was not good advice. If you don't slice it, then it stays delicious. Also, rolls are good. The crust prevents spoilage. Send Haagsche Hopjes
[special Dutch candies] and write little notes on the thin paper inside the wrappers, but only in the ones in the bottom of the bag, for the guards steal them right in our presence. If we still have not been liberated by September 5, then please see to it that we receive a parcel with the shoes and a sweater in a separate package.
Many among us have stomach trouble, Bep is also suffering a little from it. Mien van Dantzig has had fever with it. Last night everything became just too much for her. She is usually so courageous. But this eventually gets to all of us.
I have found a dear friend in Mimi Lans, the daughter of Professor Lans.
Sunday we had about 60 people for our sermon. It's like there is an awakening. God's Spirit is working. Oh, if there could be a revival here! There is so much unspeakable anguish in this place.
Give my regards to Ellie and Kees Hage. Are they safe? There must be so much danger where you are, too! It is so wonderful that we can pray for you all the time. Oh, and Flip, is he in school as usual? And all the boys? When I come home I won't be able to stop asking questions!
Where is Bep's ID card? Give my regards to Annie, Stien, Jap, Fie and all the others. Oh, Elske, how wonderful it will be to see you again. But Nollie, I long most of all for you. I do so hope that we may still enjoy being with each other for a long time to come. A half year is a long time, isn't it? But I believe that I have learned a lot.
I am no longer so tired in body and soul. Forgetting what lies behind I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. It's the Saviour who has a task for us. He will lead us. Therefore how wonderful our life will be whatever the future may bring.
Piet, Aty, Leendert, Cocky—everybody—I so hope that we will be able to do some positive work together again in the future. I am longing for rest and for action at the same time. And on Sundays we will be singing again in the Liberty room [at home]. Here in the evenings we sing all the well-known songs so nicely when we close the day, and so often I think of Father—also of the Sunday afternoons at home.
How long still? Club girls, be brave and work and help wherever you can. Bea, did you still get a chance to take an exam this year? Oh, how much I long to be in our clubhouse. But I am here and here is where I have to be and it is well. We have a lot of sun here, much more than at home. I am writing at my workbench and in a little while Bep will be waiting for me and she'll get half of my Phillips-mash.
They say there'll be bag inspection, so first of all, everything has to be hidden well. Annie van Bavel, a communist, is walking around the workroom with a Jehovah's Witness to the beat of the whining music from the radio. Then all of a sudden a concert by Handel sounds through the workroom. How did the record get hidden in between that clamoring music? It was nearly too much for me! I did like Dr. Brouwer did when she was here and pressed my ear against the loudspeaker post to hear better. You may telf her this when you see her. See you.
YOUR KEES
Sharing.
The latrine is the most important room in the barracks, a space with 10 toilets, 3 or more of which are usually out of order and are covered with a large piece of cardboard, such as is used to cover the windows at night so no light can shine out for planes to see. In the camp, the latrine is the place where we have our most interesting political discussions. In the latrine, you comb yourself with a fine comb, you give secret messages or rest for a moment. You hide there when "the air is thick." [This phrase was used to warn that a guard was near.] Of course, when the danger is one of the female guards, this is no solution, for she follows you into the latrine, too.
You meet acquaintances in the latrine. You pass on dangerous news to others and you also do gymnastics. The latrine has 4 large open windows. There is one faucet over a little hole in the floor and that hole is always closed. Sitting next to each other in the latrine are communists, criminals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Reformed, liberals, prostitutes. The bravest heroines who have made the greatest sacrifices are sitting there side-by-side with the degenerates of society.
Just a short wnile ago, right at lunch time, there was an air battle directly overhead. We lay in the sand watching. First, hundreds of airplanes flew over us like silver birds. They shone like diamonds in the sun's reflection. Then, suddenly, a crackling noise and shell fragments were flying all around us . . . bullets, too! We could not identify the planes. I ran and stretched out on the ground up against the barracks for shelter. I was not afraid and only later realized the seriousness of the moment. Five of us were wounded and have been hospitalized. Yesterday, somebody who had just arrived here from Barrack 4 said that everywhere over there in 4 you find underwear with our name, ten Boom, on them. [We always embroidered our underwear and shared it with other prisoners.] I pray that our words of consolation may al&o be shared. God's Word will not return empty.
"I am longing for all of you."
Bibi Kijzer, Bachplein 4. Amsterdam Z.
August 25, 1944 Dear Nollie,
Will you send the enclosed letters to the above address? A little note has been found—not on me—but we will have to be more careful.
During the last few weeks we have not heard anything from you. However, I hope and pray that you received our
notes. Also, Mien has not received a parcel. Mien is com
pletely well again. Bep looks a bit pale. Oh, may the Lord grant that we may come home soon. That would be more wonderful than I can imagine. This morning Number 1 was called. She had been here the longest of us all. Even the guard, who brought the list from headquarters and apparently had not yet seen the numbers, exclaimed with some distress, "Ach liebe, Numero Eins." The prisoner came forward from the group where we were standing in rows of 5 awaiting work commands. She swayed while she was standing in front of the office. We called to her, "Sit down, quick!" She dropped down on the uncomfortable bench made of birch trees, her arm on the back, her head on her arm. She was still sitting there when we marched away, "eins, zwei, drei, vier."
The sun colored the clouds in the east so brilliantly that they illuminate us.
Leendert, will you copy the poems which are enclosed and send them on to Amsterdam? How is Dientje ten Boom? Give her my regards and, also Henri.
Oh, Bob, I long so much for you. Are you still studying German? I am longing for all of you, but we will be able to hold out.
"Daybreak in the east." It's such a blessing that this is such a beautiful month of August. Health by the spoonful!
Jap, will you type the portions of my letters which are important? Pencil writing fades so easily. You can decipher my scribbles. Is Rie Luitingh getting married soon? Give them my best wishes. His brother is fine. Also regards to Bob W.
My Bible verse for today is, "That I may see the good .... Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us."
We cannot make the people here see the good in all this, but we can pray — Lift up Thy Light — Psalms 4:6.
YOUR CORRIE
This was my last letter from Vught. Shortly after I wrote it, many male prisoners were shot and killed.
All women prisoners were transported to Ravensbruck concentration camp in the heart of Germany.
Bep and I were shipped to Ravensbruck on a train. As we passed out of Holland we managed to slip a scrap of paper through a crack in our boxcar. The paper said: Corrie and Betsie ten Boom. Being transported to Ravensbruck concentration camp.
I asked the finder to please send the note to Nollie in Haarlem.
During my confinement in Ravensbruck, where mail was nonexistent, I felt a great emptiness. This was compounded when Betsie became one of 97,000 women to die there. When Betsie died in camp in the winter of 1944, she left this world with a smile on her face, the smile of one who knows the Saviour. She was gone, but I knew she experienced the happiness of Eternity.
The horrors of Ravensbruck, especially Betsie's death, caused me to wake up to reality. When I did, I was able to see that when all the securities of the world are falling away, then you realize, like never before, what it means to have your security in Jesus.
It was not until December 28, 1944, when, through a miracle, I was set free, just one week before all women my age and older were put to death. I was free and knew then as I know now it was my chance to take to the world God's message of the victory of Jesus Christ in the midst of the deepest evil of man.
After being released from prison, I felt the need to write one final letter ... to the person who had originally revealed our family's work to the Germans.
Haarlem, June 19, 1945 Dear Sir,
Today I heard that most probably you are the one who betrayed me. I went through 10 months of concentration camp. My father died after 9 days of imprisonment. My sister died in prison, too.
The harm you planned was turned into good for me by God. I came nearer to Him. A severe punishment is awaiting you. I have prayed for you, that the Lord may accept you if you will repent. Think that the Lord Jesus on the Cross also took your sins upon Himself. If you accept this and want to be His child, you are saved for Eternity.
I have forgiven you everything. God will also forgive you everything, if you ask Him. He loves you and He Himself sent His Son to earth to reconcile your sins, which meant to suffer the punishment for you and me. You, on your part have to give an answer to this. If He says: "Come unto Me, give Me your heart," then your answer must be: 'Yes, Lord, I come, make me Your child." If it is difficult for you to pray, then ask if God will give you His Spirit, who works the faith in your heart.
Never doubt the Lord Jesus' love. He is standing with His arms spread out to receive you.
I hope that the path which you will now take may work for your eternal salvation.
CORRIE TEN BOOM
Here are some of our "watches" (code name for Jewish guests) in the Beje with underground workers.
Left: My beloved father, who said, "I am too old for prison life, but if that should happen, then it would be, for me, an honor to give my life for God's ancient people, the Jews." He died after nine days in prison.
Willem, my only brother, who wrote to Betsie, "What a blessing when you may witness about Him by word and deed in surroundings where sorrow and privation open hearts so easily."
My oldest sister, Nollie, who sent wonderful letters and packages to us in prison. It was Nollie who saved our notes—every scrap of paper—and gave them to me after the war.
My nephew Kik, Willem's son, who worked with the underground.
Our beautiful Betsie who died at Ravensbruck. She wrote to Nollie, "The Lord leads me every minute and second. That gives me courage now that I have to wait and wait. I am longing so much for you, for freedom, and for work."
Afterword
The letters and notes in this book do not, of course, tell the whole story of what happened. I met many wonderful people while in prison, but because of the circumstances I do not have records of them to pass on. One person, however, does stand out in my mind. He is Hans Rahms, mentioned only briefly in 2 letters.
Hans Rahms was an official in Scheveningen prison during Betsie's and my interrogations. He was instrumental in helping my brother Willem be freed from Scheveningen after only a short stay. Willem was originally arrested with us at the Beje for teaching a Bible study.
But it was while we were in prison that the Lord touched Mr. Rahms's heart so that Betsie and I were both able to tell him about Jesus and His love. Later, in camp at Vught, Betsie told me that she had been able to say, "Mr. Rahms, it is important to talk about Jesus but it is more important to talk with Him. Would you mind if I prayed with you?" Five times she was ordered to report to this man for interrogation and five times she prayed with him . . . she, the prisoner and he, her judge. Through this, Hans Rahms became a friend instead of an enemy and we were recipients of his help several times during our imprisonment.
One morning, just before a hearing, he showed some papers to me. When I saw them, I knew that many lives were in great danger, for the papers contained detailed information about my underground activities. I could see on them the names of friends, Jews, and underground workers. When he asked me to explain the papers, I could not. The silence that followed was one of the most agonizing moments of my life. Then, suddenly, that moment was transformed into joy, for the judge took all the papers, opened the stove door, and threw them into the fire! Before my eyes, I saw the flames destroying every name and, at that instant, I understood the verse, Colossians 2:14, "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross."
That is what Christ did for us, and for me. After the war, I had the privilege of meeting Hans Rahms several times and he once said, "Corrie, I shall never forget your sister's prayers." There were many things for which I needed to thank Mr. Rahms, for it was he who helped free my friends and some of my family from prison. Because he did many good deeds for people, it was difficult for him to see that he needed a Saviour, but, during one of our later meetings, he saw that he was a sinner and that he needed Jesus. Together we had experienced many dark moments and, occasionally, a light one, but the moment he accepted the Lord Jesus was one of life's richest experiences for me, for on that day I glimpsed a little of God's side of the pattern of my life.
God has only plans, no problems, in the life of a child of God.
I have experienced God's love.
Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope: it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.
1 Corinthians 13:7, 8 PHILLIPS
v. Alkemadelaan 850 I
Corrie ten Boom's
LETTERS
6 , Ilea.