In late May, Corrie was taken to her first hearing. A row of small huts lined one wall of the courtyard of the prison, and Corrie was led into one of them. She called on the help of Jesus who she noted had been to a hearing of his own. The one to which she was led had a row of tulips around it and that seemed to her a sign of hope. The Lieutenant who spoke to her had come to her cell before to ask her if she knew the names of people on a list he carried. Now he stoked up the fire to help her get warm. They talked for a moment about such cold weather for late spring and the tulips he had planted, but eventually he told Corrie, If I am to help you, you must tell me everything. He questioned her for an hour and used every psychological trick he could think of to get her to talk. She had been drilled by the network to expect these techniques and was able to avoid giving away any information. She even talked about the church services she had held for the mentally retarded people in Haarlem, and the Lieutenant exploded in anger that surely one normal person was worth all the half-wits in the world. Corrie recognized this as true National Socialist philosophy, but began to tell the man about God's intentions. She told him that no one could know whether God valued a half-wit more than a watchmaker or even a lieutenant. As she was led back to her cell, Corrie wondered if she had ruined it with all her comments, and whether he would choose to never take an interest in her case now.
However, the next day, he came again to her cell and insisted she was too pale and needed sun. He led her outside and talked to her about the things she had said about God. He revealed that he couldn't bear the work he did at the prison, and he feared for the lives of his family. Corrie told him that Jesus was the light that could shine in the darkness in which the Lieutenant walked. He only asked as he led her back to her cell, What can you know of a darkness like mine? At the hearings that he held for her after that, he never questioned her about the underground activities of which she had been a part, but instead talked to her about her family and her ordinary life at the Beje. He was angry to learn that Father had died in that prison, and he told her she was in solitary confinement, because they believed she was contagious. She begged him to help her see Betsie, because now she was no longer ill. But he told her he didn't have the authority she thought he did and that he was in a stronger prison than hers. However, after her hearings were completed and she was returned to her cell, he quietly whispered to her to walk slowly in Corridor F. She slowly walked by Betsie's cell and was not surprised to see that it was actually charming: Betsie had decorated it as best she could and arranged everything neatly for all her cellmates. Corrie was extremely grateful to see her even though it was only from the back.
Later that day, a new head matron arrived at the prison and came around searching every cell. She had a trusty reach under Corrie's straw mattress, but somehow the four gospels were not discovered. However, Corrie felt that a chill wind was blowing through Scheveningen that was cleaning, ordering, killing.
In the second half of June, the Lieutenant once again called her to his office,
this time for the reading of Father's will. There she was reunited with
Willem, Nollie, and Betsie. Betsie was very thin and pale from her time
in prison, but even Willem, who had been released, looked ill from what
seemed to be jaundice. Her brother didn't even mention his own illness,
but instead told her that his son, Kik, had been captured the month before
helping an American parachutist reach the North Sea. He thought Kik was
probably on one of the prison trains into Germany. Willem also told her
that Father had become ill in prison and was taken to a hospital where
there were no beds. He died in the corridor, and because he was separated
from his records, he had been buried in a pauper's cemetery. The family
believed they had found the right one. Nollie brought her the entire Bible
and a pouch with a string to carry it hidden around her neck. Other news
she learned concerned the Jews they had been hiding: all were well except
Mary Itallie. She had been arrested one day when she was wandering the
streets. No one knew why she had exposed herself that way. The will was
then read, they said prayers together, and Corrie was returned to her
cell.
Corrie's purpose in life, the one she sought after Karel married another woman, is now beginning to reveal itself very slowly. Just as she feels she is always going to be alone, God gives her the opportunity to reveal His love. She has her hearing with a lieutenant who also feels alone in the darkness of his own prison, having to do work he despises and believes is evil. Corrie brings him the word of Jesus as the Light of the World and helps him to see that there is always hope. He then gives her the opportunity to see Betsie and be uplifted by how Betsie keeps hope alive in a decorated cell. The new head matron searches her cell, but God is with her, and her Gospels are not discovered. Finally, for some strange reason, the Germans insist that Father's will be read to his children, and so she gets the opportunity to see Willem, Betsie, and Nollie. Nollie then secretively hands her the entire Bible and a way to hide it. Through all her despair, God always shows her that hope is not lost.
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Cite this page:
Clapsaddle, Diane. "TheBestNotes on The Hiding Place".
TheBestNotes.com.
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