Corrie ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom was a watchmaker by profession, the first female licensed watchmaker in the Netherlands. It was the family business. She had followed in the footsteps of her father, who was so passionate about the work that he would at times forget to charge customers, and his father, who started the business in 1837.

In personality, Corrie was pleasant, gentle and kind, a joy to be around. She was known for helping people, housing foster children, and working with the developmentally disabled. She was a devout Calvinist Christian who believed in peace and that all people are equal. So when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, took power there, brought laws forcing Jewish people to wear the yellow star, shop only in Jewish shops, forbade Jewish pople from walking in public parks, as they brought genocide there, she and her family joined the resistance. They used their business as a cover for their work, used their home to hide Jews and resistance workers, gathered ration cards so that Jewish people could eat. They did whatever was necessary to save lives.

For years the ten Boom family worked within the resistance. Then in 1944, an informant shared information about the work the family was doing. The Nazis raided the home, arresting everyone. At the time, six people were hiding there. None were discovered, and shortly after the raid, the resistance sent Corrie a letter in prison, and using the words of her profession said, “All the watches in your cabinet are safe.”

Corrie survived prison and then a concentration camp. After the war, she helped set up a rehabilitation center in Bloemendaal.

The ten Boom family saved about 800 Jewish people.

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Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrie_ten_Boom

2. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/.../article/corrie-ten-boom

3. Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CorrieTenBoom.jpg