📍Barteljorisstraat 19, 2011 RA Haarlem, Netherlands
1892 – 1944“I grew up in the Beje — our family's name for the narrow, crooked house at 19 Barteljorisstraat in the centre of Haarlem — living with my father, my sisters, my brother and my aunts in rooms above my father Casper's watch shop, where the ticking of clocks never stopped. Papa was a deeply kind, devout man, and our door was always open to anyone in need. I trained as a watchmaker and became the first woman licensed as one in the Netherlands. When the Nazis occupied our country, we became part of the resistance, sheltering Jewish people and resistance workers. A builder constructed a secret room behind a false wall in my bedroom at the top of the house, a space no bigger than a wardrobe, with a crude vent for air, where up to six people could hide standing still. On 28 February 1944 we were betrayed and the Gestapo raided the house. My father and my sister Betsie did not survive what followed. But the six people hidden in the room were never found, and were rescued by the resistance two days later. The Beje is now the Corrie ten Boom House museum.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today