Cornelia "Corrie" ten Boom was a Dutch Christian. Along with her father and other family members, Corrie helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II and wrote her most famous book The Hiding Place about the ordeal.
Corrie grew up in Haarlem, the Netherlands and was the youngest of four children, born to her parents, Casper ten Boom, and Cornelia.
She had two other sisters, Betsie, who is mentioned frequently as a main character and Nollie. Willem Ten Boom, her only brother, was born in 1887 and died in 1947 of spinal tuberculosis and was also a main character in "The Hiding Place" as well.
Corrie ten Boom's three aunts, Tante Bep who died in the early 1920s of tuberculosis, Tante Jans, who died in the mid-1920s of diabetes and Tante Anna who took care of all three of her sisters was the last to die in the early 1930s. All were timeless characters in Corrie's life as well. Living with her family for most of her life, many a time they were mentioned in various chapters of the book
Her family was arrested due to an informant in 1944, and her father died 10 days later at Scheveningen prison. A sister, brother and nephew were released, but Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, where Betsie died.
