Genre: Nonfiction
Length: 272 pages
Audiobook Length: 9 hours and 22 minutes
First Published: 2021
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Rachael’s Review
What would you do if you noticed your neighbors suddenly disappearing? A quiet old maid living with her older sister and elderly father, Corrie ten Boom knew that she had to act. During World War II, her family joined the Dutch Underground and built a secret room to hide Jews within, for which they were to pay the ultimate price.
I could have listened to the audiobook narration of The Hiding Place all day, as entranced as I was by the gentle life of a clockmaker’s daughter even before the war comes into play. However, Corrie ten Boom’s account truly becomes heartrending when she describes how her faith sustained her during her year in prison.
One thing that fascinates me about Holocaust memoirs is how much our mindset shapes our experiences, with each account adding value in its own way. The Hiding Place takes a very Christian angle by focusing on finding God in our trials, which is similar to Viktor Frankl’s account of finding purpose in Man’s Search for Meaning. Both stand in stark contrast to the unapologetically candid account in Elie Wiesel’s Night.
Publisher’s Description
Corrie ten Boom was a woman admired the world over for her courage, her forgiveness, and her memorable faith. In World War II, she and her family risked their lives to help Jews escape the Nazis, and their reward was a trip to Hitler’s concentration camps. But she survived and was released-as a result of a clerical error-and now shares the story of how faith triumphs over evil. For thirty-five years Corrie’s dramatic life story, full of timeless virtues, has prepared readers to face their own futures with faith, relying on God’s love to overcome, heal, and restore. Now releasing in a thirty-fifth anniversary edition for a new generation of readers, The Hiding Place tells the riveting story of how a middle-aged Dutch watchmaker became a heroine of the Resistance, a survivor of Hitler’s death camps, and one of the most remarkable evangelists of the twentieth century.
Quotes from The Hiding Place
Love is larger than the walls which shut it in.
This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.
Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way . . . God can give us the perfect way.
When He tells us to love our enemies He gives, along with the command, the love itself.
About Corrie ten Boom
Corrie ten Boom was part of the Dutch Resistance in The Netherlands during World War II. She was arrested for helping Jews and spent a year in prison camps, including Ravensbruck. Her life story, The Hiding Place, was originally released in 1971. She died in 1983 on her 91st birthday.