Return to the Hiding Place

by Hans Poley

The book The Hiding Place, and the movie by the same name, told the story of a Dutch family, the ten Booms, and their stand against Nazi oppression during World War II. The old watchmaker and his two daughters sheltered many Jews and Gentiles who were forced to hide, but they were finally arrested by the Gestapo in February, 1944. Only daughter Corrie survived. I was the first one to be sheltered by the ten Boom family. I lived with them and their other "guests" through eight months of tension, fear, and hope, and worked from their home for the resistance until my arrest on February 5, 1944. Hearing of my involvement with the family and of my life underground, many friends have asked me to write my personal story of those eventful months. This book is an attempt to evoke, as closely to reality as possible, what happened in "the hiding place" and why. - Preface.