Get your Corrie Ten Boom House tickets for spring- now!

Yeah, I have mine for June already (and my plane tickets, I don't know if that makes me quirky, but they were a great deal).

Pat, The Corrie ten Boom tour is a wonderful experience; and since their family values and their part in the resistance was a result of their strong religious convictions and faith, "religion creeping in" is an interesting comment. You will hear about their remarkable story, (after all it's their story) and their faith. All are welcome and nobody will try to convert you.

And yes, the sooner the better on getting tickets They go quickly as the groups are small and only a few tours are given per day.
Enjoy the tour and Haarlem. What a charming town!

Thanks for the heads up. I need to take care of that ASAP!

The reason the Ten Booms did what they did is entirely because of their faith. It will be mentioned. I had the privilege to hear Corrie Ten Boom speak while I was in college. She was an amazing example of someone who lived her faith.

While I have never been to the Ten Boom House (and it was the whole family- Casper (father) and Betsie (sister), as well as Corrie) I was brought up on their story (and not just what you see in the movie).

I totally agree that faith was an absolutely and utterly integral part of what they did, if you try to remove that you are just not understanding the historical perspective at all. When the sisters were at Ravensbruck they held daily clandestine worship services. Not through preaching but by good works they converted many to Christianity in prison. Her life's work afterwards was based on her faith.

So yes, religion will more than "creep in".

Casper actually died in their initial prison camp in the Netherlands at Scheveningen.

To get a wider perspective on resistance and collaboration in WW2, the Resistance Museum and new Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam may be interesting to visit as well. The resistance was a patchwork of groups with different backgrounds and reasons: faith (like the Ten Boom family), political (mainly socialists and communists) or nationalist (maybe not the right word but driven by kicking the Nazi’s out and restore the Netherlands’ freedom as it was prewar).

Especially, the socialist/communist and nationalist groups were active in Haarlem, spying on the Atlantik Wall, sabotaging and liquidating collaborators and German soldiers. You may want to read up on Hannie Schaft.

If you walk around in Haarlem, you may come across monuments remembering the public execution at that spot of people from the resistance as a deterrent and reprisal (e.g., on the Dreef or next to the Nieuwe Bavo).
You will also see stones marking where people were shot in the Kennemerduinen; some 422 people in total. Most are buried in a field of honor just west of Haarlem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erebegraafplaats_Bloemendaal?wprov=sfti1#List_of_graves).

You may also notice little brass plates in the pavement in German and Dutch cities, towns and villages in front of houses where Jewish victims lived with their names and where they were killed (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolperstein). Seeing these plaques brings this all closer.

Barney_NL, this is solid info from you. We visited the ten Boom family home for their reasons of faith; having heard her speak when I was a preteen. We also visited the very well done Dutch Resistance Museum which absolutely gives so many perspectives. It's also a must see. My husband could have stayed there all day. Really all such incredible places to visit.

I really recommend reading The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.

You can also watch The Hiding Place movie. Well done from the 70's I think but still well worth it and at the end Corrie Ten Boom narrates for a few minutes. I read the book and saw the movie and a remake from 2023 and visited the house. Fascinating.

@Barney_NL has great points.

We did the Anne Frank House, CTB House, and the Resistance Museum during one week in the Netherlands, and it was a well rounded perspective on that era surrounding WWII.

The CTB House tour definitely had "religious" or "faith" overtones - as expected as it was a key part of the history - but where we were actually disappointed & saddened was with the other folks in our group. When I hear, "I can't believe..." or "How could this happen..." or "What were people thinking..." sort of comments around the gradual (but not inevitable) move towards the atrocities of WWII and both the heroism of some and indifference of others, I want to ask folks what the heck they have learned from decades of life.

In the 21st century and with a modicum of introspection, empathy, and awareness of the world, struggling to imagine the dark situation of the 1930s and 40s seems either purposeful or completely alien - especially if visiting a place like the CBT House. And struggling to see the challenges and mistakes of that time as they relate to the modern era is equally confounding (to me). I hope folks come away with greater insight and resolve to do better after visiting these kinds of museums, but I worry too many are simply ticking a box or too out of touch or out of sync to see these places as more than just snapshots of the (now) distant past.