The Watchmaker’s Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom

Historian Loftis (The Princess Spy) brings to life the first major biography about Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) while also illuminating the Nazi resistance movement in the Netherlands. Corrie, her father’s apprentice, became a gifted watchmaker, but her career was derailed when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Her family, characterized as having strong Christian values, began sheltering Jewish families and distributing ration cards. They lived in constant fear of raids and capture and were ultimately betrayed by a Dutch informant. Corrie and her sister, Betsie, were sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious concentration camp for women, where the SS inflicted monumental cruelty. Corrie and Betsie took solace in each other and in scriptures. Betsie died at Ravensbrück late in 1944. In her early 50s at the time, Corrie, through an error in paperwork, was released a week before all women over the age of 50 were sent to the gas chambers. Corrie devoted her life after her release to providing witness about the Holocaust, as well as extending a ministry that emphasized forgiveness. She was honored as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” by the Yad Vashem Authority in 1967.