The reason why The Hiding Place is one of my favorite books is because the Ten Boom family shows courage even when faced with challenges. They don’t hesitate to take a stand against the Nazi cruelty they witness. Even though they were constantly in danger because of their Jewish friends they remained brave and loyal. It was because of this courage that they were able to make a difference. They always stayed true to their beliefs and continued to help people throughout the book, even when they didn’t have much to offer.

In the beginning of the book the Ten Boom family lives at the Beje. They often feed people who are hungry, this shows that they are caring and like helping others. Corrie Ten Boom often describes her mother as a kind person. Even after she dies Corrie mentions her throughout the book as very thoughtful. This shows me that Corrie looks up to her mother and wants to follow in her footsteps and help people as well.

The Ten Boom Watch shop is an important element throughout the book. The family is close to their employees and encourages them to listen to the morning Bible reading. When one of the employees disagrees with their religious views and is disrespectful to another one of the workers he is fired. This is definitely an interesting event because the Ten Booms pride themselves in not turning people away from a job, but it shows that when it comes to their religion and their workers they will take a stand.

When the war starts and the Jews are in danger the Ten Booms also take a stand by taking people in. They eventually set up a network of people who will provide a “hiding place” for the Jews that knock on the Ten Boom’s door. Although they rely on other people to care for the Jews they also build a hiding place in their home. A fake wall was built so that when Nazis came the Jews would not be seen. The Ten Booms also made an alarm so that the Jews could hide in time. This alarm proved to be very helpful when Nazis came to try and stop the operation. During dangerous situations when the Ten Booms’ secret business was almost discovered they stayed brave. Once when a Nazi officer was beating both Corrie and her sister Betsie they both kept the secret. They both showed courage and didn’t say where the Jews were hiding.

Eventually the Nazis knew enough about the undercover business and brought the Ten Booms to prison. It was hard for Corrie to be away from her Father and Betsie. She was very close to her family and the separation from them was hard for her. Being in a group cell with other women provided her with interaction with people, but after a while she was moved to solitary confinement and this was tough for her to deal with. In her single cell Corrie even tried to talk to the guards that came and slid her meals and the doctors who looked her over. But no one would talk to her.

On Hitler’s birthday the prisoners were not under a watchful eye. This gave Corrie the opportunity to ask the other prisoners if her family and friends were still there. It took awhile for the answers to filter back to her part of the prison but she soon found out her sister Nollie and her Father had been released. Her sister Betsie was still in prison. After 4 months in prison Corrie eventually boards a train to go to a concentration camp. It is on this train ride that she sees Betsie, they sit next to each other on the train and hold hands the whole way. They were happy to be together again.