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The Corrie ten Boom Story

Animated / Biography / Drama
2013 / 34 minutes
Rating: 7/10

What’s an appropriate age to expose our children to the truth about Nazis, concentration camps and dead numbered in the millions? Those are horrible truths, but ones that can’t be avoided if we are to have the next generation remember the self-sacrificial love, bravery, and faithfulness of the many millions who rose up to fight this evil.

The Corrie ten Boom Story might be a good way to begin. The film’s producers suggest that it is appropriate for children as young as 8, but I read one review from a mother who watched it with her three-and-a-half year old (she pointed out to her little boy that the Ten Booms were Christ-imitators, offering up their lives to save the Jews). I don’t know if I would go quite that young – I haven’t shown this to my four-year-old yet – but the filmmakers have done a remarkable job of presenting a muted, yet still accurate account of the horrors of World War II.

The Ten Boom family ran a watchmaking business in the Netherlands, and when the Germans invaded and started rounding up Jews, the Ten Booms began hiding Jews. It was a courageous yet simple decision for them – they knew this was what God wanted them to do. They helped many but were eventually betrayed and sent to concentration camps. Here the same love for God that had them hiding Jews helped Corrie endure the loss of her father and sister – she trusted that God knew what was best.

After the war, she traveled extensively telling the story of God’s faithfulness in all her trials. At one speech she met a former captor, a man who had viciously beaten her. He was asking Corrie to forgive him. What would have been too much to ask of anyone, Corrie was able to do with God’s enabling strength – she gave the man the forgiveness he was seeking.

Cautions

The only caution I can add (other than to be cautious about age-appropriateness) is that other episodes of this series often feature animations of Jesus, which may violate the Second Commandment, and one of these depictions is shown in a promotional clip that automatically plays just after the film ends.

Conclusion

Corrie ten Boom will be a familiar name to many. Her biography, The Hiding Place, is quite famous, as is a 1975 film by the same name, and I believe there is also a play that many Christian schools have performed.

What sets this animated account apart is that it makes her story understandable and accessible to a much younger age group. I would highly recommend it for any school-age children, but it must be watched with adult supervision, so mom or dad can talk with any child who gets confused or worried.

Now you can watch it online for free, below.

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Book excerpts, Book Reviews, Theology

A passage from "The Hiding Place" I can't manage to read out loud...

Corrie Ten Boom's autobiographical The Hiding Place is best known for its account of her war time experiences. But one of the many powerful sections in the book is about something that happened decades before, in the year 1919. Corrie's describes her Tante Jans as a Christian social activist, who helped the poor, and also wrote tracts and pamphlets decrying such evils as mutton sleeves and bicycle skirts. In other words, a busy, well-meaning, but generally humorless lady, who was trying to earn her way to heaven. When the doctor diagnoses her with diabetes it is quite a shock as there was no real treatment at that time. It meant that Tante Jans had very little time left, maybe a few years. Her response? "And from then on she threw herself more forcefully than ever into writing, speaking forming clubs and launching projects." But then one day her weekly blood test came back black. Black meant she not longer had years or months, but merely days, three weeks at most. The family learns this before Tante Jan, and as they consider how to tell her Corrie's father hopes that: "Perhaps she will take heart from all she has accomplished. She puts great store on accomplishment, Jans does, and who knows but she is right!" So upstairs to her room they all go. "Come in," she called to Father's knock, and added as she always did, "and close the door before I catch my death of drafts." She was sitting at her round mahogany table, working on yet another appeal... As she saw the number of people entering the room, she laid down her pen. She looked from one face to another, until she came to mine and gave a little gasp of comprehension. This was Friday morning, and I had not yet come up with the results of the test. “My dear sister-in-law,” Father began gently, “there is a joyous journey which each of God’s children sooner or later sets out on. And, Jans, some must go to their Father empty- handed, but you will run to Him with hands full!” “All your clubs…,” Tante Anna ventured. “Your writings…,” Mama added. “The funds you’ve raised…,” said Betsie. “Your talks…,” I began. But our well-meant words were useless. In front of us the proud face crumpled; Tante Jans put her hands over her eyes and began to cry. “Empty, empty!” she choked at last through her tears. “How can we bring anything to God? What does He care for our little tricks and trinkets?” And then as we listened in disbelief, she lowered her hands and with tears still coursing down her face whispered, “Dear Jesus, I thank You that we must come with empty hands. I thank You that You have done all – all – on the Cross, and that all we need in life or death is to be sure of this.”...


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