First of all, I must say that I normally steer as FAR away as possible from any movies or books that deal with anything remotely involving the topic of the Holocaust. It is just one of those events that haunts me and stays with me for days when I’m exposed to it, and I can never handle watching, hearing, or reading about other humans being tortured or mistreated. It just makes me way too upset and uncomfortable, and I mostly prefer living in the ignorance of a happy idealistic world where something like that would NEVER happen.
Well, as you all know, I started a book club in February, with the goal of becoming a more well-rounded reader and being exposed to genres, etc. that I normally wouldn’t gravitate to or find on my own. So my dear friend Erin is our host and “book chooser” for the month of March, and she chose to have us read her favorite book of all time: The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom. An autobiography of a jewish woman who survived the holocaust.
This book was incredible. I think everyone should read it. It is a powerful story of a woman who learned to replace hate with love and retaliation with kindness in the midst of such unthinkable darkness. Corrie inspires me. I wish so much that I could sit and have lunch with her and soak her in. I feel like I know her, and I wish I did. Hearing her story made me want to be a better person and it put so much into perspective for me about what it truly means to love and forgive and to serve with no thought of self-gain.
I don’t want to spoil too much of her story here in my blog, but here are a few quotes that I especially loved and that made it into my journal:
about her father: ”…that was father’s secret: not that he overlooked the differences in people; but that he didn’t even know they were there.”
about her brother, Willem: ”…(he) didn’t try to change people; just serve them.”
her mother’s advice to her: ”Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings. It is something we make inside ourselves.”
what she learned in the camp: ”Love is larger than the walls which shut it in.”
when they found out the Gestapo was on their way to arrest them: ”This was evil’s hour; we could not run from it. Perhaps only when human effort had done its’ best and failed, would God’s power alone be free to work”
Corrie in prison in Amsterdam, looking for comfort from other inmates: ”How foolish for me to have called on human help when You (God) are here.”
At the concentration camp when all the women were cramped into a flea-infested barrack, they were each quoting scripture and singing hymns from all their different religious backgrounds. (I guess I never realized that there were Roman Catholics and Lutherans in these camps as well as Jews). Corrie said that these times were “little previews of heaven”. She continued, “Then I think of Haarlem, and each substantial church set behind its wrought-iron fence and its barrier of doctrine. and I would know again that in darkness, God’s truth shines most clear.”
What a leiutenant said to Corrie during her first hearing at the prison: ”Miss ten Boom, it is possible that I appear to you a pwerful person. I wear a uniform, I have certain authority over those under me. But I am in prison, dear lady from Haarlem, a prison stronger than this one.”
That quote is a perfect segway into my next recommendation: the movie, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”. Now, again without wanting to ruin the movie for those who will see it, I will say that it would probably be hard for mothers to watch. This movie deals with the perspective of the holocaust from the other side, through the blue, blue eyes of a little German boy whose father is a prominent soldier in the nazi army. The producers, actors, and writers of this movie did an amazing job at capturing and portraying in such a believable way the thoughts and feelings of the story’s characters. You get so emotionally involved, and as my friend Anna said at the very end, the movie was “perfect”. Haunting. Powerful. Sobering. The kind of movie that stays with you for a few days.
So, needless to say, I’ve been thrown into a topic I’ve been avoiding for years, and as I’ve faced it timidly, it has drawn me in with its powerful stories of the triumph of the human spirit over evil when we surrender ourselves to the Greater Power. It has also made me angry, as it should. To walk away from these stories of actual historical happenings, and not be disturbed and irate would be in-human. But mostly, I’m challenged. Amazed by the way Christ’s love could compel a woman like Corrie to look into the eyes of the man who betrayed her and her family to the Nazis and take his hand in hers years after and offer forgiveness. I will end with Corrie’s words:
“And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, he gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
It was a beautiful thing to see people show up from all over…
