Corrie ten Boom
There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still.
Biography
About Corrie ten Boom
Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) was a Dutch Christian watchmaker and author who, with her family, helped hide Jewish refugees during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands — actions that led to her arrest in 1944. Imprisoned at the Scheveningen prison, Vught transit camp, and finally the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany, she survived an experience that killed her sister Betsie. After the war, she channeled her suffering into a worldwide ministry on forgiveness, reconciliation, and God's redemptive love.
Her autobiography, The Hiding Place (1971), has sold millions of copies. She traveled to more than 60 countries and received the Israeli Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations honor.
Key Themes
Quick Facts
- Born
- 1892
- Died
- 1983
- Lifespan
- 91 yrs
- Quotes
- 2 collected
Wisdom
Corrie ten Boom's Famous Quotes
“There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still.”
— The Hiding Place (1971), co-written with John and Elizabeth Sherrill
Her sister Betsie spoke these words inside the barracks of Ravensbrück concentration camp, surrounded by disease, brutality, and despair. Rather than collapse under the weight of suffering, she reframed it as evidence that God's love has no bottom. Corrie carried this sentence for the remaining 42 years of her life and made it the theological center of her worldwide ministry on forgiveness.
“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred.”
— Tramp for the Lord (1974)
Ten Boom tested this principle in one of history's most remarkable moments: after a speaking engagement in Munich in 1947, a former SS guard from Ravensbrück — one of her jailers — approached her, hand outstretched, asking for her forgiveness. She wrote that the act of shaking his hand released a warmth in her heart she had been incapable of producing on her own. Forgiveness, she concluded, is not an emotion you wait for — it is a decision God then honors with feeling.
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Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) was a Dutch Christian watchmaker and author who, with her family, helped hide Jewish refugees during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands — actions that led to her arrest in 1944. Imprisoned at the Scheveningen prison, Vught transit camp, and finally the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany, she survived an experience that killed her sister Betsie. After the war, she channeled her suffering into a worldwide ministry on forgiveness, reconciliation, and God's redemptive love. Her autobiography, The Hiding Place (1971), has sold millions of copies. She traveled to more than 60 countries and received the Israeli Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations honor. Corrie ten Boom lived 1892 – 1983.
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