Leader’s guide · 13 weeks
Leader’s guide: Corrie ten Boom (For Teens)
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This guide helps you lead thirteen weekly sessions on Corrie ten Boom (For Teens), the true story of a Dutch watchmaker’s daughter whose family hid Jewish people from the Nazis in their narrow house in Haarlem, who survived Ravensbrück concentration camp after her father and her sister Betsie died, and who spent the rest of her life telling the world that Jesus is Victor and that forgiveness is possible because God gives it. It is written for teens aged about 13 to 18, and works well for a youth group, a homeschool or a small group. The book is careful to separate what the records show from what grew in the retelling, which makes it a good place for teens to think about courage, conscience, suffering, thanksgiving and forgiveness.
Each session takes about 30 to 40 minutes. Open by saying the memory verse together (3 minutes). Read the chapter, either aloud together or at home beforehand (5–10 minutes). Talk through the chapter’s three questions, which come with answers to help you (10–15 minutes). Do the activity (about 10 minutes). Then close by praying the chapter’s prayer, or one of your own (2 minutes).
To prepare, read the chapter yourself beforehand and look over the activity; most weeks need only paper and pens. This is a Holocaust story, and from chapter 3 onward it includes persecution and murder of Jewish people, beatings, prison, humiliation and death in the camps, and the deaths of Corrie’s father and sister. The book tells it honestly without dwelling on horror, but some teens will feel it deeply, and some may carry their own grief or trauma, so give space, never ask anyone to share painful experiences in front of the group, and know who you would refer a young person to; the book itself points readers to a parent, pastor, teacher, doctor or crisis line. Speak of Jewish people with the respect the ten Booms showed them. When you reach the chapters on forgiveness, make clear that forgiving someone is not the same as excusing them, cancelling justice, or staying near someone who is still causing harm, and that no one should be pushed to forgive or contact a person who has hurt them.
Week 1 — A House of Clocks
The ten Boom family runs a watch shop in a narrow house in Haarlem called the Beje, built on a century of honest, trusted work. Family tradition says Corrie’s grandfather Willem began a weekly prayer for the Jewish people and the peace of Jerusalem in 1844, and her father Casper called the Jews “God’s ancient people.” Corrie is born in Amsterdam in 1892 and grows up in a crowded house where there is always room for one more at the table. The big idea: courage in a crisis grows out of what we practise when nothing is at stake.
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: They shall prosper that love thee.” — Psalm 122:6 (ASV)
Memory verse
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you!”
Psalm 122:6
Talk together
Where was Corrie ten Boom born, and why does it matter?
In Amsterdam, on 15 April 1892, not in Haarlem as many books say. It is a small correction, but it shows how a famous story can drift into a simpler shape, and why it is worth checking.
What prayer became part of the ten Boom family's identity?
By family tradition, from 1844 Willem ten Boom gathered a group every week to pray for the Jewish people and the peace of Jerusalem, after hearing a sermon on Psalm 122:6.
How does the Beje show that courage is built over time?
The family's later courage grew out of years of ordinary habits: a weekly prayer, an honest trade built on trust, and a house that always made room for one more.
Activity
Practice Before Pressure
You will need: Paper and pens
- Read the chapter’s line: “What you practise when nothing is at stake is what you will have when everything is.”
- List together the ten Booms’ ordinary habits: weekly prayer, honest work, an open table.
- In small groups, list three ordinary habits teens could build now that would prepare them to do the right thing under pressure.
- Ask each person to choose one group of people in danger or pushed aside and write their name somewhere they will see it each morning to pray for them this week.
Week 2 — Love with Nowhere to Go
Corrie’s mother, weakened by strokes, keeps loving through the little she can still do, and dies in 1921. Around then the young man Corrie hoped to marry chooses someone else, and her father tells her not to kill the love but to give it to God and let him send it elsewhere. Corrie never marries; she becomes a watchmaker, starts the Triangle clubs for girls, teaches the faith to people with intellectual disabilities and helps foster children. The big idea: when love has nowhere to go, God can redirect it, and faithfulness in small things prepares us for what we can’t yet see.
“God setteth the solitary in families: He bringeth out the prisoners into prosperity” — Psalm 68:6 (ASV)
Memory verse
God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
Psalm 68:6
Talk together
What advice did Corrie's father give her after Karel married someone else?
Not to kill her love or simply forget, but to give it to God and let him direct it somewhere else.
What did Corrie achieve as a watchmaker?
She trained in Switzerland and, according to the museum, became the first woman in the Netherlands to qualify as a watchmaker, in 1924, though other sources give 1921 or 1922.
How did her quiet work before the war prepare her for what came later?
Watchmaking taught patience and care with small things, the girls' clubs taught her to organise and gave her a network of young people who trusted her, and the foster children taught the family to make room for strangers.
Activity
Redirecting Love
You will need: Paper and pens
- Read aloud Casper’s advice about love that has nowhere to go.
- Ask everyone to write down privately one disappointment they are carrying, in one sentence, as a prayer to God.
- As a group, brainstorm people in your community whom few others notice, as Corrie noticed people with disabilities.
- Have each person choose one person from that list, or from their own life, and plan one kind thing to do for them this week.
Week 3 — A Child at Bedtime
In May 1940 Germany invades the Netherlands, and step by step Dutch Jews are registered, banned, made to wear the yellow star and deported; about three in four are murdered. The elderly Casper wants to wear the star beside his Jewish neighbours, and Corrie’s turning point comes when she hears a Jewish doctor tucking in his children and realises the secret police could take them any night. The chapter is honest that most Dutch Christians kept their heads down, and compares the family to Esther, placed where she was “for such a time as this.” The big idea: evil grows by small injustices we accept in silence, and we are responsible for where God has put us.
“For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish: and who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” — Esther 4:14 (ASV)
Memory verse
For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther 4:14
Talk together
What was Corrie's turning point, as she described it in 1945?
At a Jewish doctor's home, she heard his child ask to be tucked in and realised the secret police could take the family any night. She resolved then to help the Jews wherever she could.
What two things does Mordecai's message to Esther hold together?
That God's help can come “from another place”, so he does not depend on any one person, and that each person is still responsible for what they do where God has put them.
Why does the chapter say the ten Booms matter precisely because they were ordinary?
They had no power, money or weapons. What set them apart was a conviction that their Jewish neighbours' lives were their responsibility before God, and a willingness to act on it.
Activity
One Small Step at a Time
You will need: Paper and pens
- Read out the list of restrictions placed on Dutch Jews in the chapter, one at a time.
- After each one, ask the group how ordinary people might have explained to themselves why they said nothing.
- Discuss: why does evil rarely ask for something monstrous all at once?
- Ask everyone to think of one place, at school, online or at home, where someone is shut out or treated unfairly, and write down privately one small way to refuse to go along.
Week 4 — The Next Person at the Door
Helping begins one knock at a time, as Jews who have been warned arrive at the Beje and the family searches for safer hiding places. By 1943 the house is a hub for around eighty resistance workers, and Corrie passes on smuggled ration cards hidden in a secret step. The chapter raises the question of lying: Corrie’s sister Nollie refused to lie and was arrested, while Corrie practised deception, and the chapter shows how Scripture and Christians have differed on it. The big idea: God rarely shows the whole road; he shows us the next person at the door.
“Deliver them that are carried away unto death, And those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back.” — Proverbs 24:11 (ASV)
Memory verse
Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
Proverbs 24:11
Talk together
Why were ration cards so important to people in hiding?
Food was rationed and could only be bought with a card. People in hiding had no legal existence and so no card, so the underground had to get cards for them, and the Beje became a distribution point.
How did Nollie and Corrie disagree, according to The Hiding Place?
Nollie would not lie even to the police, while Corrie believed the rescue work required deception and practised it. The family respected each other but did not agree.
What was clear to the ten Booms, whatever they thought about lying?
That the laws against the Jews were unjust and no one had to help carry them out: “We must obey God rather than men.”
Activity
Nollie or Corrie?
You will need: Paper and pens
- Explain that Nollie refused to lie even to protect someone, while Corrie believed the work required deception.
- Divide the group into two sides, one for each sister’s view, and give them three minutes to find reasons from the chapter, including the midwives and Rahab.
- Let each side present, then discuss what both sisters agreed on: “We must obey God rather than men.”
- Finish by asking everyone to think of one person who needs help right now and one step they could take this week.
Week 5 — Seventy Seconds
A resistance architect known as Mr. Smit builds a hidden room behind a false wall in Corrie’s bedroom, and the family drills with buzzers and a stopwatch until everyone can hide in seventy seconds. Over the months more than eighty people pass through the house, including the cantor Eusie, Mary van Itallie and the student Hans Poley. Life in hiding is full of music, evening classes and laughter, yet the family never confuses the brick wall with God. The big idea: be practical about danger, but don’t let it have the last word, for God is our true hiding place.
“Thou art my hiding-place; thou wilt preserve me from trouble; Thou wilt compass me about with songs of deliverance.” — Psalm 32:7 (ASV)
Memory verse
You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
Psalm 32:7
Talk together
How was the hiding place at the Beje built?
An underground architect known only as Mr. Smit built a false brick wall in Corrie's top-floor bedroom, leaving a narrow space reached through a sliding panel under a linen cupboard shelf.
Why did the household hold drills, and what was their best time?
Because a raid could come without warning and the guests had to vanish in moments. Their best time, Corrie recorded, was seventy seconds.
What does the chapter say the Beje teaches about living under pressure?
To prepare wisely and practically while still living joyfully, and to remember that our final hiding place is God, not anything we build.
Activity
Prepared and Joyful
You will need: Paper and pens
- Talk about how the Beje both drilled for danger and kept music, classes and laughter going.
- Ask everyone to write down privately one thing they have been avoiding: a conversation, a deadline, a plan.
- Have them write three practical steps to prepare for it properly.
- As a group, plan one simply joyful thing you could do together, and thank God for it on purpose.
Week 6 — Jesus Is Victor
On 28 February 1944 the Beje is raided while six people hide behind the false wall. Corrie and Betsie are beaten, the family is arrested, and at the police station Willem reads Psalm 91 and Casper prays for the last time. The six in hiding are freed two days later by friendly police, but the chapter tells the truth that Mary van Itallie was later arrested and murdered at Auschwitz, while Eusie survived. The big idea: Psalm 91’s deepest promise is not that nothing bad will happen, but that God himself is our refuge in trouble.
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Jehovah, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in whom I trust.” — Psalm 91:1-2 (ASV)
Memory verse
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 91:1–2
Talk together
What happened to the six people in the hiding place during the raid?
They stood behind the false wall from Monday until Wednesday while the house was guarded, and on 1 March sympathetic policemen let them out.
Did all six survive the war?
No. Mary van Itallie was re-arrested within days and murdered at Auschwitz on 1 May 1944. Eusie survived. The sources disagree about some of the others.
What did Casper say when asked what the Bible says about the government?
He quoted Peter: “Fear God; honour the Queen”, explaining that the Bible says “the king” but in the Netherlands that meant the Queen.
Activity
Reading Psalm 91 Honestly
You will need: Bibles and pens
- Read Psalm 91 aloud together, slowly.
- Have everyone underline or note each promise that God will be with them, as opposed to promises that nothing will go wrong.
- Discuss: what did it mean for the ten Booms to read this psalm on the night its protection seemed to fail?
- Close by praying the psalm together for someone the group knows who is going through something hard.
Week 7 — Father Was Released
Corrie is taken to Scheveningen prison, where her father dies nine days after his arrest, still saying he would help the Jews again. Sick and in solitary confinement, she sings, feeds a line of ants and learns of his death from Nollie’s letter. Questioned by Lieutenant Rahms, she tells him God’s love reaches especially the weak and despised, and he confides his own darkness to her. The big idea: God didn’t take Corrie’s loneliness away; he came into it, and we don’t have to sit in darkness alone.
“When my father and my mother forsake me, Then Jehovah will take me up.” — Psalm 27:10 (ASV)
Memory verse
For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.
Psalm 27:10
Talk together
How did Corrie learn of her father's death, and how long did he live after his arrest?
Through a letter from Nollie in prison. Casper died on 9 March 1944, nine days after the raid, though his children were not told at the time.
What did Corrie tell the officer who called her work with disabled people a waste of time?
That God's love reaches especially the weak and despised, and that in God's eyes such a person might be worth more than either of them.
What did Corrie discover about God in solitary confinement?
That he was nearer than she had ever known. He did not remove her loneliness, but he came into it with her.
Activity
My People
You will need: Paper and pens
- Read the chapter’s lines on Corrie finding God close in her lonely cell.
- Discuss how loneliness and grief can play tricks on us, telling us nobody cares.
- Ask everyone to write down privately the name of one person they could talk to honestly if things got dark.
- Encourage them to let that person know this week that they are glad they are in their life, and remind the group who they can go to for help.
Week 8 — The Back of the Embroidery
Corrie and Betsie are reunited on a train and sent to Vught concentration camp, where a humiliating shower in front of soldiers is stopped before their turn, which Corrie counts as answered prayer. Betsie starts a society against grumbling, Corrie leads Sunday worship and a discussion group, and she admits honestly that she longed for home and held out only by God’s grace. After witnessing the execution of male prisoners, she learns to bring the world’s sorrows to God, and pictures life as the tangled back of a piece of embroidery. The big idea: God doesn’t promise we will avoid the waters and the fire, but that he will be with us in them.
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” — Isaiah 43:2 (ASV)
Memory verse
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
Isaiah 43:2
Talk together
What were the rules of Betsie's society at Vught?
To do your best not to grumble or complain, not to speak ill of anyone, and to speak encouragingly to others, with a small group praying daily for the atmosphere to change.
What is the embroidery picture Corrie found at Vught?
That life now looks like the back of a piece of embroidery, a tangle of threads, but one day we will see the right side and be amazed and thankful.
What did Corrie learn on the night of the executions about carrying grief?
That she could not and need not carry the sorrows of the whole world herself, but could bring them to God and leave them there.
Activity
Betsie’s Society
You will need: Paper and pens
- Read out Betsie’s three rules: don’t grumble, don’t speak ill of anyone, speak encouragingly to others.
- Ask the group to predict which rule they would find hardest and why.
- Have everyone make a simple tally chart for the week to note privately when they slip.
- Commit together to try Betsie’s society for seven days, and agree to talk next week about how it went, without sharing details.
Week 9 — Barracks 28
At Ravensbrück the sisters smuggle in a small Bible and hold Bible readings for crowds of women of many nations in the lice-ridden Barracks 28. The chapter compares the famous fleas story with Corrie’s earlier account and notes that Paul says to give thanks in everything, not for everything. Corrie shares drops from a vitamin bottle that by her account lasted far longer than it should have, and she warns of the selfishness she calls “the Ravensbrück that destroys.” The big idea: thanksgiving in every circumstance and giving to others first can survive even in the darkest place.
“in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ASV)
Memory verse
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Talk together
How did Corrie keep her Bible in Ravensbrück?
She hid it with their woollen underwear during the showers, put it on under her dress, and walked past guards who were searching every prisoner without being searched.
How does the fleas story in The Hiding Place compare with her 1945 account?
The 1945 book mentions lice and slack supervision but not thanking God for fleas. The famous version appears in 1971; it may be a true memory left out earlier or a story sharpened in retelling.
What did Corrie mean by “the Ravensbrück that destroys”?
The selfishness of looking after yourself alone, which she saw as more dangerous than cruelty because it can look like common sense.
Activity
In, Not For
You will need: Paper and pens
- Discuss the chapter’s difference between giving thanks in everything and giving thanks for everything.
- Ask everyone to write down privately three things they can honestly thank God for, including one from inside a hard part of their week.
- As a group, list ways the attitude of “every woman for herself” shows up in teen life.
- Challenge everyone to give away something they’d rather keep this week: time, attention or money.
Week 10 — Remember Now, Both of Us
Betsie, always the weaker in body, becomes the stronger in faith, pitying those who hurt her and sheltering Corrie from despair, while Corrie cares for her in practical ways. The sisters plan to open homes after the war and travel to tell what God has done. Betsie grows sick and dies on 16 December 1944, calling after Corrie, “Remember now, both of us,” and after desolation Corrie finds peace and gives Betsie’s place to a Russian woman nobody would take in. The big idea: there is no depth, not even death, where God is not already there.
“If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there.” — Psalm 139:8 (ASV)
Memory verse
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
Psalm 139:8
Talk together
Why does the chapter call Betsie the stronger sister in the camps?
Not because of her body, which was far weaker, but because her faith seemed to rest on something the camp's evil could not reach, while her compassion stayed fierce.
What words did Corrie hear when she felt rebellious about Betsie's suffering?
Three words in French, rempli de tendresse, “filled with tenderness”, which she believed were God speaking to her in love rather than rebuke.
Where does the saying “no pit so deep” come from?
From The Hiding Place, where Corrie attributes it to Betsie. Her 1945 book has a related saying in Corrie's own words: that for believers death is not a pit but a tunnel into the light.
Activity
Hiding Places for Each Other
You will need: Paper and pens
- Read the line from Corrie’s 1945 book that she was like Betsie’s hiding place, and talk about how the sisters sheltered each other.
- Ask everyone to think of the person who has most been a hiding place for them.
- Have them write a short note to that person naming one specific way they have sheltered them, to give or send this week.
- Remind the group gently who they can talk to if grief feels too heavy.
Week 11 — Eight Hours
After Betsie’s death, Corrie falls ill after a punishing roll-call and is then unexpectedly called for discharge, spending a terrible week in the hospital barracks where she helps the dying and leads a young woman named Oelie to faith. She believes God freed her eight hours before the bitter cold, and reaches home in January 1945 to find her piano and her father’s chair. The chapter checks the later story of a clerical error and finds no record of it, while affirming the danger was real. The big idea: like a bird escaped from a snare, we may not know how God rescued us, only that we are free.
“Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we are escaped.” — Psalm 124:7 (ASV)
Memory verse
We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!
Psalm 124:7
Talk together
Who was Oelie, and why did her story matter to Corrie?
A young girl with a learning disability, dying in the hospital barracks, who came to understand that Jesus loved her. Corrie saw it as the reason she had been kept that week, and the fruit of her old classes in Haarlem.
Was Corrie's release really a clerical error?
Nobody knows. No document shows a mistake, her 1945 book doesn't call it one, and the sisters expected a fixed sentence. She was told of an error years later and believed it. The danger she escaped was real either way.
What does the chapter correct about the gas chamber?
Ravensbrück's gas chamber began operating in late January 1945, about a month after her release, not a week after as the later story says, though the sick and old were already being killed in other ways.
Activity
Rescue Stories
You will need: Paper and pens
- Ask everyone to think of a time they were rescued from something, big or small, even if they don’t know how it happened.
- Have each person write a few lines about it for themselves.
- Invite a few volunteers who are comfortable to tell their story in a sentence or two.
- Discuss why the chapter bothers to check the clerical error story, and why telling the truth carefully matters.
Week 12 — A Letter in June
In freed Holland Corrie refuses to join crowds humiliating women accused of relationships with German soldiers. Her family has lost Casper, Betsie, Willem’s son Kik and later Willem himself, and the chapter is careful about what is and isn’t known of the informer. On 19 June 1945 she writes to the man she believed betrayed them, naming exactly what it cost and forgiving him, then opens homes for people recovering from the war, including former collaborators and refugees. The big idea: forgiveness is an act of the will that doesn’t wait for feelings, and it isn’t pretending or cancelling justice.
“but I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you” — Matthew 5:44 (ASV)
Memory verse
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:44
Talk together
What did Corrie do when crowds shaved the heads of women accused of collaboration?
She watched from the edge and didn't join in. She felt pity, recognising in one girl the young women she had known in the camp, and went home.
What did her letter of 19 June 1945 say to the man believed to have betrayed her family?
It named what his betrayal had cost, her father's and sister's deaths, and then told him she forgave him everything, was praying for him, and was sending him a New Testament.
What does the chapter say forgiveness is not?
It is not pretending no wrong was done, and it is not abolishing justice. It is giving up your own claim to repayment and handing the debt to God.
Activity
What Forgiveness Is and Isn’t
You will need: Paper and pens
- Draw two columns, “Forgiveness is” and “Forgiveness isn’t,” and fill them in together from the chapter.
- Make sure the “isn’t” column includes pretending nothing happened, cancelling justice and staying close to someone who is still causing harm.
- Ask everyone to think privately of one smaller hurt they need to forgive, and write for themselves what it cost and that they choose to forgive.
- Remind the group that they do not need to send anything, and that for serious hurts they should talk with a trusted adult first.
Week 13 — The Hand Held Out
Corrie tells of meeting a former Ravensbrück guard in Munich in 1947 who asks for her forgiveness; unable to feel it, she prays for Jesus’ love and holds out her hand, and feels warmth flow through her. The chapter notes this rests on her own memory, and that she found she had to keep forgiving, even friends in small things. She travels to more than sixty countries with the message “Jesus is Victor,” is honoured by Yad Vashem, and dies on her ninety-first birthday in 1983. The big idea: God’s love has been poured into our hearts, so we can hold out our hand before the feelings arrive.
“and hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us.” — Romans 5:5 (ASV)
Memory verse
Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:5
Talk together
What happened in Munich, according to Corrie?
In 1947 a former Ravensbrück guard asked for her forgiveness. She could not feel it, so she prayed for God's help and put out her hand in obedience, and felt God's love flow through her so she could forgive him.
Why does the chapter say the Munich story should be told carefully?
Because it rests only on her own later account. It was first printed in 1971 and isn't in her 1953 book, so it comes to us through many retellings, though it fits the rest of her life.
What was Corrie's message during her thirty years of travel?
That Jesus is victor, that God's love is stronger than the deepest darkness, and that forgiveness is possible because God gives it.
Activity
Two Hiding Places
You will need: Paper and pens
- Look back over the thirteen weeks and list together the ways the brick hiding place saved lives and the ways it couldn’t.
- Then list the ways Corrie found God to be her hiding place when the wall could no longer protect her.
- Read aloud the prayer from the chapter: “Jesus, I can’t forgive them on my own. Give me your love for them.”
- Give everyone a quiet minute to pray it privately about someone they find hard to forgive, and to write for themselves one small step of obedience.