– Customer review on 02/12/2010

I recently re-read this amazing story. I read it in my teens at least twice, so this would prehaps be my third or fourth reading. I wanted to revisit it after all this time, as I have never forgotten the impact it had on me. When I read it as a teenager, it was probably my first exposure to material dealing with the devastation of Nazism in Europe and the extent of horror that occurred in concentration camps in Germany.

This is the story of a Dutch woman who with her family helped to hide Jews in their home during WWII. They were eventually arrested and sent to prison. Her father died after only 9 days, but Corrie survived two federal prisons in occupied Holland and was eventually transported in train cattle compartments to the infamous Ravensbruk extermination camp in Germany. Her sister died there along with approximately 96000 other women during the war, but amazingly Corrie survived and lived to tell their story.

This is not just a survival story but one of faith and forgivenss. Corrie and Betsie’s love for God and their faith in Him sustained them through almost hell itself, and they found ways to share love and kindness with fellow prisoners in spite of the horrific conditions they lived in. After the war Corrie set up centres to rehabilitate victims and eventually opened a centre in a former camp in Germany for the help and healing of German officers and guards themselves.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. It’s detailed but not too explicit in it’s description of cruelty to preclude it from young readers. And old book, but a good one. Highly recommended.