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Dutch Woman Hid Hundreds of Jews from the Nazis
(Times of Israel) Matt Lebovic - In The Watchmaker's Daughter, Larry Loftis offers the first comprehensive English-language biography of Corrie ten Boom, who used her family's home - and the watchmaking shop downstairs - to hide hundreds of Jews and Dutch resisters from the Nazis. Both she and her father (Casper ten Boom) were recognized Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. Most of the refugees stayed for a matter of days - or hours - but several people lived in the house for months alongside the family. In February 1944, a Dutch informant betrayed the hiding place, and Germans arrested the entire ten Boom family. Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany. Betsie died while incarcerated, while Corrie survived and died in 1983 at age 91. The Corrie ten Boom House was converted into a museum in 1988. It includes Corrie's bedroom, where a false wall was constructed to hide up to six people. Curator Jaap Nieuwstraten said, "Out of principle, we do not charge an admission fee. We do so, because we believe that everybody should be able to hear the message of forgiveness, toleration, and love for the Jewish people for free."