Appendix C: Chronology of the Life and Times of Corrie ten Boom

“So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom.”

— Psalm 90:12, ASV

The dates below are meant as orientation. Dates confirmed by independent records are given plainly. Where the sources disagree, the disagreement is noted. Events that rest only on Corrie’s own later account are marked as such.

1837 - The Shop

Willem ten Boom, Corrie’s grandfather, opens a watch shop at Barteljorisstraat 19, Haarlem.

1844 - A Prayer for Jerusalem

By family tradition, Willem begins a weekly prayer for the Jewish people and the peace of Jerusalem.

1859 - Casper

Casper ten Boom, Corrie’s father, is born in Haarlem on 18 May.

1884 - Marriage

Casper marries Cornelia (Cor) Luitingh, a teacher. They live in Amsterdam, where Casper keeps his own watch shop.

1885-1890 - Brothers and Sisters

Betsie is born on 19 August 1885, Willem on 21 November 1886, and Nollie on 25 September 1890. A son, Hendrik Jan, born 1888, dies in infancy.

1892 - Corrie

Cornelia Arnolda Johanna ten Boom is born in Amsterdam on 15 April, a Good Friday. The family moves to Haarlem to take over the Beje after the death of Casper’s father.

1921 - Her Mother’s Death

Cor ten Boom dies on 17 October after a series of strokes. Around this time Corrie begins teaching the faith to people with intellectual disabilities.

1920s - Watchmaker

Corrie trains as a watchmaker, including an apprenticeship in Switzerland. The museum and the Dutch women’s lexicon date her qualification as the first woman watchmaker in the Netherlands to 1924. Other sources give 1921 or 1922. She founds the Triangle girls’ clubs.

1928 - Willem’s Doctorate

Willem earns a doctorate at Leipzig on the origins of modern racial antisemitism.

1937 - A Hundred Years

The shop celebrates its centenary.

1940 - Invasion

Germany invades the Netherlands on 10 May. The Dutch army surrenders on 15 May.

1941-1942 - The Beginnings

Corrie and Betsie begin helping Jews find hiding places. Corrie joins the organised resistance in early 1942. In May 1942 Jews are ordered to wear the yellow star, and Casper wishes to wear one in solidarity. Deportations begin in July.

1943 - The Hiding Place

People begin living in hiding in the Beje. The first permanent guest, Hans Poley, arrives in May. The hiding place is built in the spring or early summer. Nollie is arrested for hiding a Jewish woman, and later released.

1944 - The Raid

On 28 February the Beje is raided, and two to three dozen people are arrested. Six people in the hiding place are not found. They are freed on 1 March. Casper dies in The Hague on 9 March. Mary van Itallie, one of the six, is re-arrested within days, and dies at Auschwitz on 1 May.

1944 - Scheveningen and Vught

Corrie is held in solitary confinement at Scheveningen, and learns of her father’s death. On 6 June Corrie and Betsie are moved to the camp at Vught. In early September they are transported to Ravensbrück, arriving around 8 September. Kik ten Boom is arrested in August.

1944 - Ravensbrück

The sisters live in Barracks 28. Corrie’s prisoner number is 66730. Betsie dies on 16 December, aged fifty-nine. Corrie is released, according to Dutch sources, on 28 December.

1945 - Home and Liberation

Corrie returns to Haarlem in January, during the Hunger Winter. The Netherlands is liberated on 5 May. Kik dies at Bergen-Belsen in the spring. Corrie’s first book is published in June. On 19 June she writes to the man believed to have betrayed the family, forgiving him. She opens a home for people recovering from the war in Bloemendaal.

1946 - America

Corrie spends about ten months in the United States and Canada, beginning thirty years of travel. Willem dies on 13 December.

1947 - Munich

According to Corrie’s later account, she meets a former Ravensbrück guard in a church in Munich and forgives him.

1949-1960 - Darmstadt

Corrie opens a home in a former camp at Darmstadt, Germany, for refugees and displaced people.

1953 - Amazing Love

Corrie publishes Amazing Love, including her account of preaching to former women guards. Nollie dies on 22 October.

1962 - Knighted

Queen Juliana makes Corrie a knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

1967-1968 - Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem recognises Corrie as Righteous Among the Nations on 12 December 1967. A tree is planted in Jerusalem on 28 February 1968, the anniversary of the raid.

1971 - The Hiding Place

The Hiding Place, written with John and Elizabeth Sherrill, is published.

1974 - Tramp for the Lord

Tramp for the Lord is published.

1975 - The Film

World Wide Pictures releases the film of The Hiding Place. Corrie’s prison letters are published.

1977 - California

Corrie settles in Placentia, California.

1978-1980 - Strokes

A stroke on 23 August 1978 takes most of her speech. After a severe stroke in October 1980 she is bedridden.

1983 - Death

Corrie ten Boom dies at home in Placentia on 15 April, her ninety-first birthday. She is buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park, Santa Ana.

1988 - The Museum

The Beje opens as the Corrie ten Boom House museum on 15 April.

2007 - Casper and Betsie

Yad Vashem recognises Casper and Betsie ten Boom as Righteous Among the Nations on 22 July.