Carnett: Hero stayed strong during perilous time

Seventy-one years ago this month Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch Christian lady who was arrested by the Nazis in 1944 for hiding Jews, was interned with her sister, Betsie, at the notorious Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany.

Fear can lead to paralysis, but Corrie never permitted fear to hinder her life’s calling.

She’s been a hero of mine for decades.

Miss ten Boom confided her fears to her father, Casper, as she grew up, and he taught her many lessons. She recalls in her 1971 best seller, “The Hiding Place,” a particular conversation:

“I burst into tears. ‘I need you!’ I sobbed. ‘You can’t die! You can’t!’”

“‘Corrie,’ he began gently. ‘When you and I go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?’

“‘Why, just before we get on the train.’

“‘Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need — just in time.’”

In our anxiety, many of us frantically outrun God. Corrie ten Boom learned to anticipate his faithfulness. She answered his call to combat Nazi barbarism.

She survived Ravensbruck, but Betsie didn’t. For the remainder of her life, Corrie would quote her sister’s favorite phrase: “There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.”

Corrie spent her last 30 years traveling the globe, telling her story. Her final years were lived in Orange County. She’s buried here, not far from the graves of my maternal grandparents.

Several months after we were wed in 1975, my wife, Hedy, and I attended the film version of “The Hiding Place.” It was my introduction to Corrie ten Boom’s story.

I took Hedy because I selfishly thought I’d score some Dutch culture points. She was born a Dutch citizen and didn’t become an American until she was 19.

During World War II, Corrie’s family became inextricably caught up in the Holocaust. Her father was an elderly watch repairman when the Nazis invaded Holland in 1940.

The devout family lived in a three-story house in Haarlem. The bottom floor served as the family’s watch repair shop. As a girl, Hedy lived in Haarlem.

A number of years after seeing the film, I read Corrie’s book. In 2003, Hedy and I stumbled upon the ten Boom house while visiting relatives in the Netherlands.

We stayed with Hedy’s cousin 20 kilometers away. One Saturday morning, the three of us drove to Haarlem to visit the city’s famous market square. Hedy and her cousin stopped at McDonald’s for coffee and conversation, and I went exploring.

I came across a street sign that read: “Ten Boom Huis (House), 1 Block.” I followed the sign and, sure enough, there it was — Corrie ten Boom’s Haarlem residence and the first-floor watch shop.

The only English-language tour of the museum that day (though Hedy and her cousin both speak fluent Dutch) would be underway in 20 minutes. We were just in time.

I raced back to the square and pulled Hedy and her cousin from their coffee klatch.

On the tour, we discovered where the ten Booms hid Jews behind a false wall in Corrie’s third-story bedroom. As Hedy and I stood beside the “hiding place” we could hear the haunting tolling of the bells at St. Bavo’s Cathedral two blocks away in market square.

I crawled into the space. The small, dark alcove could accommodate six people — standing. I reflected upon the many hundreds who found refuge behind that flimsy barrier.

The ten Boom family was betrayed to authorities in 1944. Corrie escaped death, but her sister, father and brother died. Corrie never expressed bitterness over her fate.

She died in Orange County at age 91. I’ve since had the experience of standing beneath a tree dedicated to the ten Boom family on Jerusalem’s Avenue of the Righteous Gentiles.

Corrie always avowed that the best is yet to be.

I believe her on that one.

JIM CARNETT, who lives in Costa Mesa, worked for Orange Coast College for 37 years.