#42. The Hiding Place

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"All watches are safe."

Author: Corrie ten Boom

Synopsis: Corrie ten Boom details her family's experience hiding Jews in Holland during Nazi occupation, and the subsequent time Corrie and her sister Betsie spent in a concentration camp.

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I love the tale Corrie told (in another book, Tramp for the Lord) about meeting, years after her release from the concentration camp, a former Nazi guard who had tormented her and her sister. He had become a Christian in the intervening years and begged her forgiveness, offering his hand in friendship. She had only seconds to overcome the hate Betsie had always protested against and shake the man's hand. By the grace of God, she succeeded.

The Hiding Place is a painful read, but a powerful one. Her recounting of her family's work helping Jews escape and the price they all paid for that work is thoroughly moving. It is a beautiful story of work against evil, of love and superhuman forgiveness. Most great stories involve something of those concepts. Hers is true.

RRR: The Diary of Anne Frank, of course. I always feel guilty reading that because I would never, ever want my own diaries published, but stories hardly get more human-interest than hers.