CHILD, I DIDN’T HAVE A CHOICE!

Corrie Remembers  www.corrieremembers.com is a powerful dramatization, scripted and performed by Susan Sandager.http://www.corrieremembers.com SandagerPresentation.org  The play tells the true story of a Righteous Gentile” Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983). The project has gone from a simple but inspired historical presentation into a compelling theatrical performance. Sandager’s portrayal of Corrie exemplifies what art has the power to do: to reach deep into the viewer’s heart, and perhaps change that heart. Motivated to action because of their faith, the devout Christian ten Boom family helped hundred of Dutch Jews escaped the Nazi death machine. “Corrie ten Boom has long been honored by evangelical Christians as an exemplar of Christian faith in action. Arrested by the Nazis along with the rest of her family for hiding Jews in their Haarlem home during the Holocaust, she was imprisoned and eventually sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp along with her beloved sister, Betsie, who perished there just days before Corrie’s own release on December 31, 1944. Inspired by Betsie’s example of selfless love and forgiveness amid extreme cruelty and persecution, Corrie established a post-war home for other camp survivors trying to recover from the horrors they had escaped. She went on to travel widely as a missionary, preaching God’s forgiveness and the need for reconciliation. Corrie’s devout moral principles were tested when, by chance, she came face to face with one of her former tormentors in 1947. The following description of that experience is excerpted from her 1971 autobiography, The Hiding Place, written with the help of John and Elizabeth Sherrill. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/voices/boom.html). Over 100,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis in Holland. When asked why she did it she answered, “Child, I didn’t have a choice! I feared GOD more than the Nazis”.