Discovering a hiding place

a hiding place revealed

In the Second World War, a Dutch watchmaker helped hundreds of Jews to escape from the Nazis by hiding them in her home. Founder of Searchlight Theatre Company DAVID ROBINSON explains why he wanted to put the story of Corrie ten Boom on stage

Interview by Claire Brine David Robinson

ACTOR David Robinson describes Corrie ten Boom as a ‘remarkable woman of

faith’. During the Second World War, she and her family, who lived in Haarlem in the Netherlands, opened their home to Jews facing Nazi persecution. It was a dangerous move. Protecting Jews from German soldiers was a criminal offence. But Corrie and her family did it anyway – and their story is brought to life in Return to the Hiding Place, a 90-minute play performed by Searchlight Theatre Company at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

‘Corrie was a middle-aged woman who lived with her sister and father in their watchmaker’s shop,’ says David, who plays a German lieutenant in the production staged at Palmerston Place Church. ‘During the war, as Nazi soldiers were invading Holland, Corrie’s father said that he couldn’t watch his Jewish brothers and sisters being kicked about in the streets. He wanted to help them somehow. So he told his son, Willem, who was part of the Dutch resistance, to bring them to the house. ‘At the back of her bedroom, Corrie had a cupboard that was adapted to look like an airing cupboard. Behind that cupboard was a little room, and that space became the Jews’ hiding place. It could hold up to eight people at a time.’ In 1944, after helping hundreds of Jews to flee Nazi oppression, the family were betrayed, and Corrie and her sister were sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. The story of what happened next can be found in Corrie’s autobiography, The Hiding Place. ‘Anyone who knows that book will recognise

certain scenes that we have dramatised in our play,’ says David of the script that he wrote with actress Judy Moore, who plays Corrie. ‘But we are also using our imagination as well, to look at the story from a different angle. We are asking what does the war do to Corrie, to her family, to her Christian faith and to her view of the Jews and the Nazis. We also explore those questions from the perspective of a German soldier who later became a Christian.’ While the play explores the power of family love, reconciliation and forgiveness, David feels that faith is at the heart of Corrie’s story. ‘Corrie’s belief in God was deep and unswerving,’ he says. ‘She questioned things, for sure, but when she was in solitary confinement, she prayed continuously and missed Corrie’s belief her Bible. Her faith was within her all the time.’ in God was It would also inspire her to forgive the Nazis. deep ‘After the war, a guard in Ravensbrück who had since become a Christian asked Corrie for forgiveness. Corrie prayed to Jesus for help, then shook the man’s hand. It was in that moment that she said she felt released.’ Though Corrie died in 1983, David feels that her story carries an important message for people today. He hopes that Return to the Hiding Place will challenge them to think about other dangerous situations in the world and how they can help. ‘We may not see danger on our doorstep quite like Corrie did, but she reminds us that we are part of a bigger family,’ he says. ‘We need to look out for one another.’