Reader's Group Guide
The Hiding Place (The Story of Corrie Ten Boom)

ISBN 0-553-25669-6 w Bantam Books w 241 pages w Autobiography

1. In the Preface on page viii (and on p.15) Corrie states that "[T]his is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see." The preparation that we receive for a particular calling is not always the preparation that we might have thought we needed. In other words, we might think someone else would be far more qualified for the job for far more obvious reasons. What preparation did Corrie and Betsie receive for the job that they would later be involved in?  How is it that God can use the most ordinary and most unlikely people to do His work? Cite examples from the Bible of when God called people to do jobs for which they did not feel qualified.

2. Situations like the concentration camps that were set up during WWII often cause Christians as well as those yet converted to ask the question that Lieutenant Rahms asked Corrie: "Why should Christians be allowed to suffer?" "What kind of God would have let that old man [Corrie's father] die here in Scheveningen?' (p. 163) What was Corrie's response to the Lieutenant who asked that question? How would you answer that question, especially in the face of such tremendous persecution?

3. Discuss the significance of the title The Hiding Place, both literally and figuratively. On page 23, when Corrie's father is reading from Psalms 119:105-114 ("Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in Thy word..."), Corrie wonders to herself, "What kind of hiding place? What was there to hide from?"  Later, both Betsie and Corrie say that "His [God's] Will is our hiding place" (p. 67 and 224). Explain what they meant.

4. What is Corrie's knowledge of the world, or the evil in the world, until the full-blown persecution of the Jews? How does her perspective change? Would your reaction to the evil of the Holocaust be more like Corrie's or more like Betsie's? Discuss the difference.

5. Throughout the story Corrie paints for us a picture of God. One image of God is revealed through Betsie's eyes after Corrie has her dream/vision (p. 62-63): " .  .  . if God has shown us bad times ahead, it's enough for me that He knows about them. That's why He sometimes shows us things, you know - to tell us that this too is in His hands." What are some of the ways in which God takes care of and provides for, as well as intervenes in the lives of Corrie and Betsie?

6. Like all Christians, Corrie has been raised with the belief that one should not lie.  "I had known from childhood that the earth opened up and the heavens rained fire upon liars..." (p. 66). However, she tells her first conscious lie in response to whether or not they owned a radio. From this point on lying becomes an issue, especially in terms of saving lives. See also pages 71, 79, 90-91, 110, and 115. Discuss the question, "Is it ever all right to lie?"

7. Corrie tells the story of Karel, the love of her youth, in Chapter 3 (p. 30-45). Karel was betrothed to another woman, and Corrie's father, knowing the hurt that Corrie felt, tells her that "God loves Karel - even more than you do - and if you ask Him, He will give you His love for this man, a love nothing can prevent, nothing can destroy. Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, God can give us the perfect way" (p. 44-45). Discuss what form  God's love took in Corrie's life. What form did God's love take in others' lives?   

8. Some of Betsie's final words to Corrie in the concentration camp before she dies is to tell people "what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still" (p. 217). Discuss some of the circumstances of the prison camp that became living proof to Corrie and Betsie that this statement was true.

9. As the Sherrills state in the Preface (p. vii), after hearing a man tell of his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp, and then hearing Corrie Ten Boom's story, the story was the same, but their responses were so different! How would you explain how Corrie could tell her story and still radiate love, peace, and joy? How might this story help you personally?

© 2001 Connie Wineland