Talk:Corrie ten Boom

Should Have Been Made Saints
Despite the fact that the Ten Boom Family were not Catholic, their tremendous work and sacrifice because of their Christian beliefs certainly puts them into "sainthood" category. Casper Ten Boom, Corrie Ten Boom, Betsie Ten Boom, Willem, Nollie and Corrie's nephew Christiaan who died at Bergen-Belsen all acted on their faith and worked for the betterment of humanity during and after the war. Four members of the immediate family died and two survived. Their tremendous compassion during those hellish years should never be forgotten. There have been people who have been sainted for much less. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.190.82.162 (talk) 05:06, 21 October 2009 (UTC)


 * This isn't a message board. "Talk pages are for discussing the article, not for general conversation about the article's subject." 12.150.126.253 (talk) 21:24, 18 April 2024 (UTC)

Revision at 13 March 2008
Removed the link from "Her mother died of a stroke at the age of 63.", as the year 63 does not pertain to this article. Also took out "These coupons were also known as "False shoes" Without any coupons there is no food!" as there is no evidence to support the first sentence, and the second one is assumed. -Shrinkwrap7 (talk) 21:20, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Revision at 26 June 2006
I have revised the article in the following ways: (1) Referred to the subject of the article by her surname, not her first name, as is respectful. I have also spelled the surname as Ten Boom when without the first name, and ten Boom when preceded by the first name, as is standard in Holland. (2) Removed various POV indicators, such as references to her as being beloved and being a lightbearer. I have removed the reference to her being a spiritual pioneer as I could find no basis for this on Google, though she may have been respected greatly within her own religious community. (3) I have re-shuffled the information under subject headings. (4) I have removed the 'See Also' section. Facts can be referenced, and terms hyper-text linked (as with Daniel Lapin). A general 'see also' to Oskar Schindler for example is not really relevant to Ten Boom, but to Righteous Amongst Nations and the Holocaust. The link will be found there. I could see no reason to 'see also' Pope Pius XII, but if there is one please feel free to weave it back into the article and hyper-text him. (5) I have mentioned the fact that she is a Righteous Amongst the Nations up-front in the intro as this, and the facts leading to this declaration, are the most obviously significant facts about her. (6) I have left the reference to the 'pre-tribulation rapture doctrine' in though it has no reference, in the hope that someone will supply one. (I forgot to sign in before doing the changes, and for this I do apologise) --Adam Brink 16:29, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Oldest?
First it is stated that she was born the oldest of eleven children and then that she had an older sister, Betsie. That doesn't make sense! Could someone with knowledge please correct it? KMA &quot;HF&quot; N 16:41, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Betsie ten Boom is the oldest of the four children. Then there is Willem, Nollie and Corrie. Written by Leah Dottney starring in M.A.R.S! Look it up on YouTube or go to www.marsthewebshow.webs.com

Youngest and a teacher
Just to clarify...Betsie is the oldest, Willem, Hendrik (he died at 6 months), Nollie, and Corrie. She is the youngest of four children. Hope that helps. That statement has been changed. Also, Corrie was strongly against female preachers, and she considered herself an " availible tool for God to use. The world is my classroom". She was a teacher, not a preacher or prophetess. OnFire4Jesus 8:30, 1 January 2008 (EST)

It hardly matters, OnFire4Jesus, whether after the war she was a teacher, preacher or prophetess. What matters is her compassion, honesty and grit DURING the war when the church showed NONE of those strengths. Throughout the Holocaust MOST men and women who called themselves "Christians" denied Jesus.....a fourth time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.190.156.126 (talk) 08:23, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Willem ten Boom's docotral thesis was written in 1927, 10 years before the Hundredth Birthday Party in 1937. I've corrected it from "1930."

Myopic View
"Rabbi Daniel Lapin has commented with regret on how little Corrie ten Boom is known among American Jews, and also how she has been ignored in the U.S. by the Holocaust Memorial Museum."

I appplaud Rabbi Lapin's courage in highlighting what seems to be a general lack of awareness that Jews were not the only ones who suffered during the Second World War. As horrific as the concentration camps were, over 55 million people (the vast majority non-Jews) died during the war. Further, as bad as Hitler was, Stalin was far worse, particularly in connection with the Holodomor in Ukraine.

John Paul Parks (talk) 21:23, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Myopic view indeed. Which period is worse? Which dictator is worse? How can you quantify "worse"? Comparing the two seems an attempt to minimize the suffering and severity of the situation for those who lived through either hellish experience. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.176.168.4 (talk) 23:17, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Non-Sequiters
"In May of 1942, a well-dressed woman came to the Ten Boom door with a suitcase in hand. Nervously, she told Ten Boom ... before, and her son had gone into hiding at Corrie ten Boom's home. ... . After hearing about how they had helped the Weils, she asked if she might stay with them, and Corrie ten Boom's father readily agreed. ...

Thus began "the hiding place", ..."

The woman states her son had hidden in the Ten Boom home. Then talks about how the Ten Booms had helped 'the Weils' - never previously referenced in this text, yet spoken of here as if the facts regarding them are known to the reader already (as memory serves, the Weils were Jewish neighbors, who owned a shop across the street from that of Corrie's father). Then, we see the follow-up suggesting the woman's arrival (subsequent to that of her son), as beginning the hiding place. I've not messed with it, as yet, in hopes that someone more knowledgeable of the subject might be able to make it into a useful, logical presentment. Irish Melkite (talk) 12:34, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Odds and Ends
"(Ten Boom would later discover his name to be Jan Vogel[2])." - A variety of sources describe a suspicious man who entered the Ten Boom shop shortly before the raid and who is suspected to have been the family's betrayer. None attribute a name to him except the cited source here, a text that is noted - or, better put, notorious - for being a vitriolic anti-Catholic text of questionable provenance (in that the identity of its author as a purported 'ex-nun' is considered spurious). Collins' book would hardly be deemed a viable/reliable reference source for anything other than as an example of hate literature. As the parenthetical phrase is hardly crucial to the bio here, I'd be inclined to delete it as lacking support (and, with it, the link to Collins' text).

The Rabbi's comment is a throw-away. While an interesting figure in his own right, his observation on whether and to what extent Corrie is known in the US has no particular relevance other than being the only sentence of the three in "Legacy" that has any relevance to legacy. That she was knighted and that she was honored by inclusion among "The Righteous Among the Nations" are not legacies - they are recognition of her work and life. The invitation to plant a tree, btw, is not significant or an honor in and of itself - it was/is a by-product of/incidental to her inclusion among those cited at Yad Vashem; anyone so honored - or their family if they predeceased the honor - is so invited.

Describing her traveling life as "itinerant teaching", while undoubtedly unintended, trivializes it. She actually engaged in a decades-long work of public speaking.Irish Melkite (talk) 13:14, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Another throw-away is the comment describing her story as "giving context" to that of Anne Frank. What that means is beyond me. The tales are similar, Anne Frank's is the better known, each validates the other - one supposes - for anyone who might consider such ideas as "hidden rooms" to be fantastical fairytales in the modern world, but "gives context"??? It smacks of being filler in an article that needs fleshing out and for which enough valid material exists to do so - without adding lines to meet a character count.

> As no one has commented in the month since I made the above post, I deleted the purported name of the informant, the Rabbi's comment, and that on giving "context" to Anne Frank's Diary. Also retitled "Legacy" as "Honors" and rewrote the sentence about her being named to the Righteous Among the Nations. I also deleted this sentence "She was said to have been happy about dying on her birthday because she could "celebrate it with the Lord".", given that the immediately preceding sentence described her as having been deprived of her powers of speech and communication since some 5 years prior to her death. While I am a religious person (and Corrie was such, much more than I) and believe that any religious believer might well express such a thought - given the opportunity - unless someone is prepared to suggest that she had a premonition in 1978 - or was inclined to talk about the joyful prospect of dying on one's natal day - the sentence seemed significantly more fanciful than factual. Irish Melkite (talk) 09:59, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Not sure what you get in such a huff about, Irish Melkite. Just the make the changes and quit acting like someone has personally insulted you. What relevance are the constant commetns about "God's chosen people" and " as he read the old testament". It reads like a religious propaganda leaflet. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.72.149.3 (talk) 08:49, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, Casper Ten Boom and the rest of the family did consider the Jews to be God's Chosen People. Just read the book The Hiding Place. In it Casper Ten Boom remarked on the Nazi's huge mistake as he saw Jews being rounded up b/c Jews as he put it, were the "apple of God's Eye."

An electronic buzzer in the 1940s? I couldn't find any mention that the buzzer was electronic outside Wikipedia. --88.73.34.114 (talk) 20:53, 27 August 2011 (UTC)


 * According to the wikipedia article doorbell the electric doorbell was invented in 1831, nearly 90 years before WWII began. Source: . I'll change electronic into electric. Electronic implies a digital signal, usually IC based. They weren't available until after the war. But the simple electrical doorbell (which is still in use today) was. SpeakFree (talk) 21:16, 27 August 2011 (UTC)

Needs more sources
Agree that the action seems to come out of nowhere; also agree that there needs to be more context for the doctrine of the rapture. The article by the US Holocaust Museum provides more context for the Ten Boom family's work - better than what is here, apparently from The Hiding Place. The article needs to be strengthened with content and cites from a variety of reliable sources; not arguing with her own account, but it is general Wikipedia policy to use more than one source.Parkwells (talk) 15:08, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Died of anemia? Are you sure?
It says in the beginning paragraph that Betsie Ten Boom died of anemia in Ravensbruck. Betsie had pernicious anemia before entering the camp. However this is not the only thing that killed her, if it's what killed her at all. Along with everyone else she was starved, beaten, exposed to the elements (snow, rain and freezing temperatures)wearing inadequate clothing and worked to exhaustion. She was infested with body lice (as all the women were); these insects can and do transmit epidemic typhus. To simply assert she "died of anemia" completely ignores the terrible conditions under which she and thousands of other women lived in that place, and which contributed to millions of deaths in every concentration camp. Instead the sentence needs to be changed and should read, "she died in Ravensbruck." To say of what she died is completely disingenuous, misinformed and CANNOT BE VERIFIED. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.23.105.146 (talk) 08:48, 8 February 2013 (UTC)


 * I would agree that the change should be made to "she died in Ravensbruck" as anything else cannot be verified at this time. Appears to me that a simple assumption was made - nothing more. Ckruschke (talk) 20:02, 8 February 2013 (UTC)Ckruschke

Quotes
"Is prayer your steering wheel, or your spare tyre?" - A profound thought? From a daily thought booklet, attributed to Corrie ten Boom. Terry nyorks (talk) 18:06, 15 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Is this a suggested edit or a comment? Talk is not a forum for general comments. Ckruschke (talk) 18:10, 16 January 2014 (UTC)Ckruschke

Pre-Trib view?
I've been looking around for cited sources since it says "citation needed" and have only found one, which may or may not be a rumor. The letter supposedly from 1974 appears on no notable websites, and one book from 2008 by an author alleging she believed in his teachings. See here and here.

I would be curious in seeing if anyone could locate the actual source of the letter to see whether or not it is just hear'say that Corrie ten Boom believes this. Gaming4JC (talk) 04:03, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Christian Faith Reference?
It is a shame that there is no mention of her Christian faith on the page. Her books about her life and faith have made her very well known in the Christian community, and some acknowledgement of this should be included. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.254.201.36 (talk) 08:33, 11 August 2017 (UTC)
 * 46.254.201.36 - Feel free to add content that you feel would add to the article. Ckruschke (talk) 19:32, 11 August 2017 (UTC)Ckruschke

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Corrie ten Boom. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090625101837/http://www.readthespirit.com/interfaith_heroes/2009/01/2nd-annual-interfaith-heroes-month-no-24-corrie-ten-boom.html to http://www.readthespirit.com/interfaith_heroes/2009/01/2nd-annual-interfaith-heroes-month-no-24-corrie-ten-boom.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 04:29, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Corrie ten Boom. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060324/http://www.passionplayers.org/ to http://www.passionplayers.org/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 08:59, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Reason for emigration?
Can the article explain why she emigrated at such a late age? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:4C8:1419:2316:1:2:6590:9C29 (talk) 21:39, 15 March 2019 (UTC)

== Adding Some Extra Content ==

As part of the Wiki Educational project at ABTech and Western NC's 3rd Annual Holocaust preservation Edit-A-Thon (https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/campaigns/westernncs3rdannualholocaustpreservationeditathon/overview), I am adding some additional content to this page. Any improvements, revisions or suggestions are welcome! I just added a sentence or so about the hidden room! KTM079 (talk) 17:19, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

Photo can't be "c. 1900"
We know her date of birth to be 1892 and that's not an 8-year-old girl. And other routes to the photo say it's c. 1921, not 1900.2603:7000:9906:A91C:1C64:8308:33BC:E2D6 (talk) 04:06, 10 March 2021 (UTC)Chrostpher L. Simpson
 * Thanks, I have changed the date to 1921. JimRenge (talk) 07:20, 10 March 2021 (UTC)