Haarlem, The Netherlands
Saturday August 6, 2016
If your heart’s been touched by the life of the Ten Boom
family, especially through the writings of Corrie ten Boom, namely the Hiding
Place, then you’ll understand why visiting the Ten Boom home, now a museum, was
on my bucket list! Jeff and I set off early Saturday morning, as soon as the
ship announced clearance to exit the gangway, on our heart felt adventure. What
a glorious day! We navigated the local metro and the train station and an hour
and a half later, we were walking the quaint streets of Haarlem. We missed the
tulips (March – May) but throngs of flowers abound, as do bicycles. Bicycles
outnumber people here. Only 17 million people live in Holland, but they own 19
million bicycles. Everyone rides bikes!!
With our map in hand, we roamed the narrow brick roads,
mainly for pedestrians and bicycles and within 15 minutes we found our
treasure: The Ten Boom Museum, complete with the Ten Boom Jewelry Shop, which
was Casper ten Boom’s watch shop – the first floor of their home.
Current jewelry shop sells Ten Boom watches Narrow ally leading to entrance of home
The small door to the secret room in on the bottom of this
shelf
The life-saving secret room exposed
The Alpina clock used a secret code message telling Jews
they could safely enter the home
I really cannot express in words what my heart felt.
Throughout the tour I cried often, feeling the depth of love and faith
expressed by this precious family - a Christian family who safely harbored Jews
during WWII. Eventually, they added a secret room at the end of Corrie’s room
where the Jewish people vanished safely when danger arose. Standing in Corrie’s
tiny room, I felt the power of their sacrifice. I felt the fear of the people.
I felt gratitude to God. I felt love. This was truly a safe haven, at least for
a time to over 900 Jewish people. I was surprised by the size of Corrie’s
bedroom. It was merely 2 ½ by 2 meters. Behind one wall lay the long and narrow
secret room – ½ meter by 2 meters. Normally, they kept bread and water along
with a chamber pot and heater in this tiny space, but on the fateful day that
the German soldiers discovered the family’s anti-Semitic activities and raided
the Beje, four Jewish people vanished into the secret room without food or
water and stayed for 48 hours before being secretly rescued. The Ten Booms
along with others attending a prayer meeting at their home, however, were captured,
interrogated and taken to concentration camps, where Casper ten Boom died nine
days later. Corrie was the only family member to survive their arrest and
imprisonment, and after her “accidental” release, she began traveling and
speaking about her faith in God, her love for the Jewish people, and
forgiveness – the incredible power of forgiveness. Amen! Her words and life
still impact countless people today, and I’m blessed to be one of those people,
forever changed by Corrie’s life and her father’s faith, wisdom and love. I
wholeheartedly pray you will be, too!
With full, happy hearts, we wandered a few shops down the
road, stepped into a cheese shop and met a delightful young girl, Fredrica, who
filled our tummies with delicious cheese samples. When we asked about Gouda
cheese, she laughed and swept her arm around the shop as she enlightened us,
“All this cheese is Gouda, and as a matter of fact, any cheese produced in
Holland is called Gouda.” The most surprising insight we learned was that the
city of Gouda does not actually produce any cheese; instead, it’s the place
where all the cheese-makers used to gather to buy and sell cheeses, hence all
Holland cheese began being referred to as Gouda cheese. We thoroughly enjoyed
our picnic lunch of cheese and bread and stopped at the open-air market to add
some delicious fresh fruit as well.
Our next stop was St. Bavo Church, the Dutch Reformed Church
the Ten Boom family attended. The spires
of the church tower above the city center. The floor is completely covered in
gravestones, and we learned that wealthy citizens could purchase tombstones
here but only the wealthiest could actually be buried beneath their stones
under the floor of the church.
It’s home to a famous colossal organ played by both Mozart,
age 10, and Handel.
We decided to spend the rest of the day wandering the
streets of Haarlem. We crossed over a drawbridge, saw a windmill, walked
through the only remaining city gate - with twelve-inch stone walls, and learned
that the church (St. Bavo) would ring its bells each night at 9:30 to warn the
citizens of Haarlem that the city gates were closing in thirty minutes. Canals weave through this delightful city and
we stopped often to simply peer across the water and watch ships journeying
along. Hopefully, we’ll return to Haarlem, but regardless, it’s marked off my
bucket-list, and when I teach Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place this year to
my middle school students, I’ll teach with heightened passion and share new
insights for sure!
