This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading.
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What was the role of the ten Boom watch shop in Haarlem? How did the community feel about the ten Boom watch shop?
Learn more about the ten Boom watch shop, Haarlem businesses, and the impact of Nazi occupation.
The Ten Boom Watch Shop, Haarlem, and Corrie’s Childhood
Corrie’s childhood was a happy one. Looking back, she fondly recalled watching her father work in his watch shop (located on the ground floor of the Beje, below the family’s living quarters) and accompanying him on the train to business trips in Amsterdam.
Celebrations and Unrest
One afternoon in 1937, the ten Booms held a party to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their family watch shop, started by Corrie’s grandfather, Willem, in 1837. The entire Haarlem community showed up to toast the ten Boom family, including fellow congregants at their church, St. Bavo’s, as well as business associates, suppliers, customers, and even competitors. For the ten Boom watch shop, Haarlem friends and neighbors were so important.
Although the day was joyous and carefree, there was whispered, frightened talk of the menacing political situation brewing in neighboring Germany. Willem had traveled and studied extensively in Germany. As a student in the 1920s, years before the rise of Hitler, Willem had written an academic paper about the growing specter of racial ideology in the country, and, in particular, the widespread acceptance and open expressions of antisemitism. With such a background, Willem was knowledgeable about developments in Germany and, at the party, spoke to guests about his fears of another European general war, this one brought on by the murderous Nazi ideology of racial superiority and territorial expansion.
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best summary of Corrie ten Boom's "The Hiding Place" at Shortform .
Here's what you'll find in our full The Hiding Place summary :
- Why devout Christian Corrie ten Boom decided to stand up to the Nazi occupation
- How ten Boom and the Jewish neighbors she was hiding were caught
- How ten Boom survived the concentration camp and left with even stronger faith
