The Hiding Place

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1971

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-11

Chapters 12-15

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Beje

The Beje provides the family’s space for their home and business. It almost functions as a character in its own right: “And nobody dreamed that in this darkness each of us would be called to play a role: […] even the funny old Beje with its unmatching floor levels and ancient angles” (15). At the beginning of the story, the Beje symbolizes the ten Booms, who are deeply rooted and have lived in Haarlem for generations. Like the family, who has a lively, happy rotation of extended family members, foster children, and long-term guests, the Beje is rambling and charming.

The Beje transforms from being a symbol of family life to one of refuge. By the middle of the story, the Beje symbolizes something even more profound: a physical representation of the biblical hiding place. It becomes a refuge, both for Jewish hideaways and for many members of the Dutch resistance. Although the Beje fades from view following Corrie’s arrest, it appears again in the final pages, refitted as a therapeutic home for ex-Nazi collaborators. In this way, the Beje represents Compassion.

Hiding Place

The idea of the “hiding place” first appears when Father reads from Psalm 119 (verses 105 and 114): “‘Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path…. Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word…’” (23). Young Corrie can’t tie the Psalm to her own, untroubled life: “What was there to hide from?” (23). In her adulthood, however, the words resonate. Father quotes from Psalm 119 again after his arrest. At this point, its meaningfulness is clear. A hiding place—the secret room where the ten Booms hid their Jewish guests—had recently been the central focus of their days. Their faith in God had also become a refuge from the dangers, fears, and worries of everyday existence.

The idea of God as a refuge lies at the heart of the book. The hiding place is more than physical; it’s spiritual. At the end of Corrie’s solitary confinement in Scheveningen prison, after the Beje has been snatched from them, Corrie reflects on the fact that she still has an oasis: “For I too had a hiding place when things were bad. Jesus was this place, the Rock cleft for me” (169).

Visions

Visions symbolize God’s guidance and occur at several different points throughout the story. Though they appear in the Bible, they are not a common occurrence for most 20th-century Christians in western Europe. The ten Booms experience them as exceptional, not as an everyday feature of their faith. Visions represent God’s guidance in the ten Booms’ lives and are portrayed as actual events. Though they are a literary symbol, just as the Beje is a symbol, they are also real.

Four main visions occur: an early one that Corrie experiences, and three later ones that Betsie has as she nears her death. The book portrays these as unexpected features of spiritual life, but not as wildly mystical events. In Corrie’s case, she has a vision which foretells the family’s fate: She, Father, Betsie, and other family members are loaded on a vehicle to be taken away from the only home they have ever known.

Betsie’s visions occur in Ravensbruck. First, she accurately predicts a release-date by the new year. Second, she foresees a therapeutic rehabilitation home in Holland after the war, even to the point of describing specific features of the mansion that later serves this purpose. And third, she describes another rehabilitation ministry, this one on the site of a concentration camp—a prediction which also later comes true.

The book presents these visions as a way in which God guides the ten Boom family, preparing them for the future. Throughout the narrative, God’s guidance helps the family persevere.