They were aided in this endeavor by the cooperation of conquered governments, local far-right parties, and ordinary people who profited by appropriating the goods and property of their deported neighbors. Conquering or occupying almost all of Europe in the war’s first years, German forces persecuted Jews and other marginalized groups and deported millions to concentration and death camps built to execute large numbers of people at maximum speed. The Nazis promised to restore Germany’s lost greatness and the privileges which Germans deserved as members of a “superior” race to accomplish this, they argued, Germans must eliminate “inferior” people like homosexuals, Romani people, Communists, the mentally disabled, and above all Jews. In the midst of crippling economic depression and political discontent following the World War I, the Nazi party – led by Adolf Hitler – rose to power in Germany. In the last years of her life, ten Boom retired to California, where she died on her 91st birthday. Ten Boom was honored as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, an honor given by Israel to non-Jews who put themselves at risk to save Jewish lives during the war. Corrie wrote many books about her life and her relationship to Christian teachings, among which The Hiding Place is the most famous. She emerged not just as a religious thinker but a social critic, protesting modern issues like the Vietnam War. She soon became well-known and traveled the world as an evangelical motivational speaker, speaking alongside famous preachers like Billy Graham. To raise money for these projects, ten Boom began speaking about her experiences to church audiences. After sheltering Jewish fugitives throughout World War II and surviving internment in the Vught and Ravensbruck concentration camps, ten Boom returned to Holland and opened rehabilitation centers both for Holocaust survivors and former Dutch Nazi collaborators. As her memoir describes in detail, Corrie ten Boom was born into a large and religious Dutch family at the turn of the 20th century.

The blue sweater book