In
The Hiding Place, Corrie
ten Boom describes a few of the last things her sister Betsie tells her before
she dies in the hospital at the Ravensbruck concentration camp. One is that
there will be a place with tall windows, for people to come and heal from the
spiritual and psychological wounds of the war. And it’s clear that Betsie is
not only talking about the people who suffered at the hands of the Nazis, but
the Nazis themselves.
Another
is that they will be free by the New Year – January of 1945. In a place like
Ravensbruck, that likely would have seemed laughable to Corrie. The only way
out from Ravensbruck seemed to be sent further east – to the death camps in
Poland, although the prisoners had little firsthand knowledge of those.
Sometime
after Betsie’s death, Corrie hears her voice shouted by a guard at the door of
the barracks. She hurries after her as fast as she can, hobbling with swollen
feet. She sites on a bench by a camp official with a few other women. One by
one they’re called to the official, who looks at papers and says the word they
likely thought they’d never hear.
Entlassen!
Corrie
understood the German word for “released.” They were inexplicably being
released. In Corrie’s case, the official looks at her feet and sends her first
to the hospital; sick prisoners cannot be released. After a few days, he feet
less swollen, she’s given a skirt and blouse and the articles taken from her
when she arrived, including her mother’s ring (amazing, given the penchant the
Nazis had for looting and stealing art and jewelry).
One
thing she leaves behind – the small copy of the Scriptures in Dutch she and
Betsie had used to read to the women and for worship services. She gives the treasured
Bible to a young woman from Holland.
The
train takes her first to Berlin, which has been heavily bombed. She finally
gets a train for the Dutch border, but the journey takes days – so many delays
because of torn up tracks and the movements of troop and supply trains. The
last part of her journey to Haarlem is by truck – the train track is destroyed.
She
finds family; and she returns to her home above the watch shop. She is a very
different Corrie than the one who was arrested some 10 months before. She has
seen death and destruction. She has seen people killed. She has seen brutality
and what humans are indeed capable of. She has experienced the death of her beloved
sister and father. Yes, it is a very different Corrie who returns to Haarlem,
one who faith has been refined by fire.
Led
by Sarah Salter and Jason Stasyszen, we’ve been discussing The Hiding Place. To
see more posts on this chapter, “The Three Visions,” please visit Sarah at Living Between the Lines.
This is the last chapter in the book; there is an epilogue. I’ll have a few
final thoughts next week.
1 comment:
And though I cannot be happy in the least for what she and her family suffered, the testimony she carried and faith she imparts makes me ecstatic. This was a challenging book. Easy to read, but digesting it took some deeper meditation. So thankful for your thoughts and insights on these discussions, Glynn! Thank you.
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