For most the name Corrie ten Boom means nothing aside from its peculiar nature. For others she was a household name. In fact, books about her story are still being written today. The following is from the CoDoH forum:
A little background info: The ten Boom’s were a Dutch family living in Haarlem. They were devout Christians and during the war they helped hide Jews hide from the Nazis. They also hoarded ration cards in order to feed their stowaways. Hopefully not too many law abiding citizens went hungry because of that. In 1944 they were all arrested.
Corrie was and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp outside Berlin. This was an all female prison camp. Of interest to me is a passage from, Tramp for the Lord, where Corrie is having a flashback about the camp and mentions the gas chamber.
The old Holocaust survivor trope of ‘I only found out later’ is on full display from this passage in her book, Life Lessons from the Hiding Place. In this anecdote there is another reference to the gas chamber. You will see later on what really happened to the women left behind at the camp.
Corrie ten Boom was released in prison in December of 1944. I would really be interested in seeing this clerical records that were mentioned in the previous image. As I am doubtful that it was a clerical error and I’m certain that the records said nothing about the other women being gassed.
Orthodox Holocaust historians claim that a gas chamber was built in Ravensbrückbut- but not until early 1945, when the Germans were clearly losing the war. The following is from the Holocaust Encyclopedia:
Wait a second. Corrie was already back in Holland when the alleged homicidal gas chamber was built! What’s going on here? Let’s explore the situtation.
Pages 180-197 of Inside the Gas Chambers—The Extermination of Mainstream Holocaust Historiography, by Carlo Mattogno, critically examines the claims for this alleged gas chamber in Ravensbruck. Which I encourage you to read in its entirety if you would like to see the full story and not just take my word for it. The book is freely available online.
The only evidence of a homicidal gas chamber in Ravensbruck is testimonial. There are no German documents referring to it, there is no physical evidence as they claim it was destroyed before the camp was liberated.
Himmler allegedly ordered the creation of the alleged gas chamber which is absurd given other circumstances:
Orthodox Holocaust historians also claim that Himmler ordered the dismantling of the gas chambers in Auschwitz/Birkenau in order to destroy evidence over a year prior to his supposed order to build a gas chamber in Ravensbruck (see image below). The alleged homicidal gas chamber in Ravensbruck would have only been operational for three week, plus it was supposedly built at a time when the Germans were fighting a two front war and resources were scarce. None of this makes any sense.
This scarcity of resources actually helps to explain why rumors and accusations of a gas chamber started in the first place and what happened to the women that died after Corrie was released:
One must remember that Dachau, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Majdanek and Oranienburg are not classified as death camps today.
Aside from the improbability of Himmler ordering the construction there is the inconsistencies in the witness testimony to consider. For instance, SS-Obersturmführer Johann Schwarzhuber testified that 2,300 and 2,400 persons were gassed at Ravensbruck while Commandant Suhren claimed it was some 1,500 women that were gassed. And if you’ll recall from earlier, the Holocaust Encyclopedia claimed the gassing victims to be between 5,000 and 6,000. When all you have is witness testimony, and that testimony is contradictory, your story falls flat.
A homicidal gas chamber at Ravensbruck only makes sense as propaganda and rumors. Speaking of rumors and propaganda, here we have this image that is presented as a photograph from Ravensbruck.
Problem is that this is a still from a movie called The Last Stage. It’s just amazing how easily false information about the Holocaust can go around. But you’d better not question it!
Back to Corrie ten Boom. Why would a pious woman like Corrie, who wasn’t even Jewish, lie about a gas chamber? Well, maybe she wasn’t. Perhaps she was just repeating rumors and propaganda. Perhaps she was lying because she wanted her story to have a gas chamber. We can never know for sure. It is important to keep this information in mind and add the proverbial grain of salt when reading her writing.
I had to read this book in 8th grade at my Christian high school. I specifically remember it having a big impact.
It’d be interesting to point out to the teachers assigning this book that Corrie ten Boom wrote about alleged gas chambers that hadn’t even been built yet.