Monday, September 28, 2009

Reflection

I think that Corrie ten Boom was a woman with a lot of courage. She was the leader of an illegal operation. She knew that Jews were being taken to prisons and they had limited freedom, so she took them in to her house and gave them freedom. This was an illegal act at the time. Anyone that looks at a law or a government and breaks this law because they beleive in a greater good has courage. Once she got caught in doing this I think some of her courage was taken away. I think that she gained it only when she was in prison and looked at everything surrounding her. She had kept a bible in the concentration camp. This wasn't aloud either. If Corrie was caught she would of stayed in more camps for a longer time. This, I think, shows a lot of courage. She would take her bible and teach the prisoners about the good news of God. People might not like what she was telling them, or maybe they wouldn't believe her, but she was courageous enough to continue. I think Corrie ten Boom was an amazing woman with a lot of drive and courage.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Ravensbruck-Freedom

Ravensbruck was the worst of all of the camps.We had to take role call every morning around 4 or 5 in the morning. This was the worst in the winter mornings. We had to march in place to keep the blood flowing through our veins. Betsie was so kind and couragous. Oh, she would have a reading to all of the woman and help them learn about our Lord, Jesus Christ. Betsie was always thankful for everything that she had. She felt sorry for the Nazis instead of the people they were hurting. It was just amazing how much Betsie cared so much. She told me to give thanks for everything...even the flees and lice that we had in our bunkers. Four to five woman had to sleep together in one small bunk...all sharing there lice and flees. The work was harder at Ravensbruck. We had to do physical labor. This was hard for Betsie because she was a weak woman and couldn't do much. Oh how I hate the head Nazi at our camp. We called her the snake.



We were fortunate enough to have a little bottle of vitamins. This was to keep Betsie and I healthy. Betsie had become very sick and she needed all of the vitamins possible. But, of course, Betsie wanted to share with the other women and keep them healthy also. Everyday I would give each of them vitamins thinking that that would be the end of them, but everyday there was just enough for all that needed them.

Betie got so sick that she had to go to the hospital. I visited her once but then the second time she wasn't there. I looked for her around the camp. I finally saw her. She was in the stack of dead bodies. My best friend in the world was dead. Betsie had once said that her and I would be free before the new year and she was free. I was freed on December 28th. I went to fulfill what Betsie would have wanted me to do.

I later found out that Willem and Father had died. I was finally free and it was because of a clinical error. They thought I had a disease in my ankles... but I didn't. A week after I was released all of the people in my barraks had died. They were burned alive.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Vught

June

"Get your things togehter! get ready to evacuate! Collect all possesions in pillowcases!" The guards shouted up and down the long corridors. We are leaving prison! The counter-invasion must have begun! Surely the invasion of Holland had begun. Where would we be taken? Not Germany! Oh Jesus, not Germany.
At last the gates opened and there was a train waiting for us. There were so many woman! There was no way we could all fit in there. I found Betsie...I finally saw her after 4 months. I was so happy to see my dear sister. We boarded the train and were squished together. There were so many woman that we had to sit on the floor and go up from there on top of eachother. With so many woman we had to take turns breathing because it was so crowded and the air was very limited. We were headed to Germany.

We later learned that we were in Vught, a concentration camp named after a near by town in Germany. Here we had to do jobs. I was luckily sent to making radios. It was similar to making watches but not the same. At first I was making the radios on how they were supposed to be made, but then the head manager at my station encouraged me to mess up the radios so the Germans would somehow fail to communicate through the radios. It was a good idea and that is what I kept doing throughout my stay at Vught

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

March 16

I was put into solitary confinement! I did not have permission to talk, or even see another human being! The only living thing I see is my friend... AN ANT! Oh but I am gratefull for this ant because it is living and breathing. This ant has the freedom to leave Scheveningen whenever it wanted. It was not confined to one place like I was. It was free.While in this cell, I was left to think. Thinking was the enemy! I thought about my family and about the prison bag that I had. Oh that prison bag! It had a fresh blouse, Asprin, toothpaste... Oh I cannot think of it! I kept a calander on the prison wall: February 28 ARREST, February 29 TRANSPORT TO SCHEVENINGEN, March 16 BEGINNING OF SOLITARY. I will soon add a new date... my birthday in prison (April 15) :(

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Scheveningen


February 29, 1944

When we got to the place that we were taken, the Gestapo asked everyone for their information. The people were seperated by gender...Father was left with Willem, and I went with Betsie and Nollie. I was placed in a cell with three other women. One of these women had spent three whole years at Scheveningen. I had left all of my prison stuff at home so I was left with nothing.
I am very thankful, though, that one lady gave me a bible and soap. I was physically clean and spiritually clean :) I heard the news that, after over 47 hours, all six in the hiding place were rescued at about 4:30 PM and were taken to new safe houses.
Father died at age 84 on March 9th.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Sick

February 28,1944
I woke up this morning with a terrible fever and I didn't want to get out of my bed. But, of course, I had to go downstairs and do my job. I came down for a couple of minutes but Betsie told me that everything was being taken care of and that I could go back to bed. As I went back upstairs I noticed that Father was reading in the church group which normally consists of Willem, Nollie, and the rest of the family. I would not be able to attend today.

I had a terrible dream while I was asleep. It was a buzzer rining and feet were running and voices whispering, "Hurry! Hurry".
It wasn't a dream I sat up and people were running past my bed. I turned just in time to see Thea's heels disappear through the low door with Meta and Henk behind her. I hadn't planned a drill for today! Maybe it wasn't a drill...

I heard Mary's raspy breathing and prayed that it would stop in time for the men to come up and look for them. She had to be silent! I threw a bag in front of the cabinet to cover it up more. This was the bag that I had prepared for incase I ever went to prisin. It contained my bible, soap, sewing equipment and regular toiletries.The Nazis came in just as I did this and I hoped that I looked sleepy to them...not afraid.
Instead he asked me for my name and then told the others that there were more people. We were being arrested. Pickwick (A friend that had helped us be a part of the underground) had also been arrested . Everyone that I loved was now being taken to the prison! Even Father!
One of the Nazis asked why they had taken an old man (Father). He told father that he would be able to stay and die in his own bed if he would not cause any more trouble. Father said this, "If I go home today, tomorrow I will open my door again to any man in need who knocks".

Monday, August 31, 2009

The Hiding Place


1942.
Betsie and I took many risks in hiding all of our friends. We had many procedures also. Our resources said that our house wasn't safe enough, so then we made renovations at the beje. I moved to Tante Jans room and that is where we built our secret room. We made a hole in the wall and put accomadations in there. We covered it up with a cabinet and brick wall. We also had a safety drill where we would press a button and a buzzard would sound. We ran this drill over and over so that all of the Jews could improve their time to get up to the secret room. It was very important that they all got up as quickly as possible because it wouldn't be long until the soldiers would search for the room or the people (if they came, that is).

Friday, August 28, 2009

Willem

Willem hid Jews and had them sent to safer places in the country. People showed up at the Beje more often now to see if they could stay with us. I would always tell them that it was too dangerous because we were only three blocks away from the police headquarters, but I had no other place to suggest. It got crowded very fast, so I had to pay my brother Willem another visit.
Willem wanted me to give the Jews ration cards! Jews don't get ration cards! I couldn't beleive my ears! Willem was asking me to forge them...or at least steal some! Oh Willem. I was told that I had to find my own sources because he was a watched man and he would get caught. That was the last thing I wanted- another family member in prison. So I had to find my sources..but who?! Then the name Fred Koornstra came to my mind. He was the man who used to read the electric meter at the Beje; he also had a retarded daughter who attended the "church" that I had been conducting for the feeble-minded for a while now. Fred had a new job working in the Food Office-where the ration books were issued.
Oh my friends, I must go now to my friend Fred Koornstra! I will be back with another post sometime soon!

Secret Room


It was around 8:00 in the evening (the new curfew). There was a woman at the door that wore a fur coat, gloves, and a heavy veil. Her name was Kleerkmaker and she was a Jew. Betsie was making tea and asked Mrs. Kleermaker to join us. At this time the tea wasnt really tea...it was just old leaves that had been crushed and reused so many times that the only thing it really did was color the water a little bit.
Mrs. Kleermaker told us the story of how her husband had been arrested some months before and her son had gone into hiding. Yesterday the S.D. (political police who worked under the Gestapo) had told her to close her family's clothing store. She was afraid to go back to the apartment because it was directly above the shop.
Father told her that anyone who needed a place in his house could have it as long as they had room...We had four empty beds upstairs and she chose. I will have to stop writing for now because I am in shock that Betsie asked Mrs. Kleermaker to help her with the tea...Betsie never needs help...

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Peter


The date is May 10th 1942, exactly 2 years after the German Invasion. The occupation started slowly. It gradually got worse and worse. It started off easily, however, there were certain bedtimes. First it was 1o:00pm and everyone had to be cleared from the streets of Haarlem. This wasn't a problem with Father and I... we had our daily walk in the afternoon and we were already finished with our nightly prayers by 9:00.

That very day we went to the Dutch reformed church in Velsen (not far from Haarlem) where Peter (my nephew) had won the post of organist in competition against forty older and more experienced musicians. Peter had a gift... he loved music and was very talented in playing the piano and organ. He can tell you when someone pressed the wrong key in a very intracate piece of music on the piano. It was now illegal to play Holland's national anthem, "Wilhelmus". After the closing prayers were said, Peter played, at full volume, "Wilhelmus"! People slowly started singing. This was a grave mistake on Peter's part. Wednesday morning Peter's little sister Cocky burst into the shop saying, "Opa! (Father) Tante Corrie! They came for Peter! They took him away!"
We asked who, where, and why but she didnt know... it was three days before the family learned that he had been taken to the prison in Amsterdam.
He was in prison for more than 2 weeks.

Invasion


The German invaded Holland on May 10th 1940.We all sat around our radio and listened to the prime Minister's voice, sonorous and soothing. He said that there would be no war and that he had assurances from high sources on both sides about it. Holland's neutrality would be respected. It would be the Great War all over again. He kept going on about how we would be safe but then his voice stopped. He then said that it was wrong to give people hope when there wasn't any. The news came then...there would be war and the Germans will attack, and Holland will fall.

One night I saw brilliant flashes, and then I heard explosions that shook the bed! I went to the window to peek out and the patch of sky above the chimney tops glowed orange-red. I ran to Betsie's room and we said the same thing as we looked at eachother, "War".

Friday, August 21, 2009

FLASHBACK

I never really had any worry of what clothes I wore, but I always had Betsie and Nollie to worry for me. Tante Jans liked to buy us gifts. She buys us hats very often. Tante Jans believed that our wefare in the hearafter depended on how much we could accomplish here on earth. Death she often said, was waiting to snatch her from her work and so she kept her hours of repose as brief and businesslike as possible. Mondays, Father took the train to Amsterdam to get the time from the Naval Observatory so that his watches would always have the same time. I could only go with him in the summer, now, because I have to attend school. Mama used to take baskets of food to the poor.

100th Birthday Party

Hello, I am Corrie ten Boom. I live in Haarlem, Holand. The year is 1938 and today my family is celebrating the 100th anniversary of our family watch shop (run by my father). I am worried about Willem, my brother. He is a preacher and thinks that the Germans are deliberating a large scale move against Jews. Willem didn't try to change people, just to serve them so you can imagine that this news upset him a lot. He actually had built a home for elderly Jews in Hilversum-- for the elderly of all faiths because Willem was against any kind of segregation. Nollie arrived late to the party but she made it. Nollie is my older sister that is married and has a family.We went into a deep conversation about if Germany goes to war. A war could put most of us out of business (in the watch business that is).

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Karel

Karel and I met at one of my mother's parties. I can't remember now if the party was a birthday, anniversary, or a new baby. I was only 14 years of age while Karel was the were already among the university men, sprouting scruffy beards and smoking out cigar smoke with their conversation. Nollie was always the one that got all the boys' attention but she didn't seem to notice.

After that day I waited two years to see him again. It was in the winter of 1908 when Nollie and I went to visit Willem at his university. Of course, I knew, Karel was going to be with him. Willem introduced Nollie and me around in his groups of friends. When he got to Karel, Karel interrupted and said, "We know each other already. Do you remember? We met at a party at your home". Later that day he showed great interest in me, which truly suprised me because I was not as pretty as Nollie nor had I ever spoken to him before (exept at the party).

One day Karel showed up at my door and said, " It's a lovely day in the country, Corrie! Come walking!" From then on it seemed taken for granted that Karel and I would go walking every day. I kept hoping that this relationship with Karel would be serious, but I asked Willem about it and he said that Karel's family has known what they have wanted for a long time, and that that it wasn't me.