Chapter 5 · 2 min read · 2 min listen
The Angels’ Crib
“You are my hiding place. You keep me safe from trouble, and you surround me with songs.” — from Psalm 32
By 1943 there were people living in hiding in the Beje all the time. The first to stay was a student named Hans. Others included a Jewish cantor, a man who sang in the synagogue, whom everyone called Eusie, and a lady called Mary. Over the months, more than eighty people stayed for a short or long time.
Everyone in hiding needed food, and in wartime food could only be bought with special ration cards. Corrie found ways to get cards for people hiding all over town. She kept them in a secret cupboard inside the top step of the stairs!
The family also needed somewhere to hide their guests if the police came. An architect who worked with the secret resistance came to help. We know him only by a made-up name, Mr. Smit. In Corrie’s bedroom, at the very top of the house, he built a second brick wall, made to look old, with a narrow space behind it. You crawled in through a little sliding door under the bottom shelf of a cupboard. The family called it the Angels’ Crib.
Then they practised. Corrie would sound the buzzer without warning, often at night, and time everyone with a stopwatch as they raced upstairs and crawled through the little door. Their fastest time was seventy seconds. Afterwards there were cream puffs for everyone!
The Beje was not a gloomy house. There was music, and Eusie sang so loudly that Corrie had to warn him the whole street would hear. In the evenings Mary taught Italian, Eusie taught Hebrew and Hans taught about the stars, and old Papa came to learn too. The family cat even had a very long name from the Bible: Maher-shalal-hash-baz!
The secret room was a good hiding place. But the ten Booms knew that their real hiding place was God himself. Because God was looking after them, they could laugh and sing, even in dangerous times. God can be your hiding place, too.
Dear God, thank you that you are my hiding place. When I am afraid, help me to remember that you are looking after me. Amen.
Talk about it together
Ask the questions first — then tap one for a note for grown-ups.
Where was the secret room, and how did you get in?
Behind a false brick wall in Corrie’s bedroom at the top of the house. You crawled in through a little sliding door under the bottom shelf of a cupboard.
What happened after the hiding practice?
Corrie gave everyone cream puffs. Their fastest time was seventy seconds.
What helps you feel safe when you are afraid?
Any honest answer is good here. The chapter’s point is that God himself is our safest hiding place, so we can trust him even in scary times.
Chapter 5 complete
The Angels’ Crib