Apr 18, 2008 / 03:57 am
The Israeli Ambassador to the Netherlands Harry Kney-Tal on Wednesday presented to family members a certificate posthumously honoring two Dutch Christians who saved nearly 800 Jews during the Holocaust.
At a solemn ceremony in Harlem, Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, honored Casper ten Boom and his daughter Elisabeth with the title of “Righteous Among the Nations” for their life saving work. A third family member, Cornelia, also helped rescue those fleeing Nazi persecution.
Devout Christians, the ten Boom family participated in the resistance against the Nazis by sheltering both Jews and non-Jews who sought refuge. At the time of the family’s arrest in 1944, the Gestapo carefully searched the family’s house but did not discover the two Jewish men, the two Jewish women, and the two members of the Dutch underground hidden behind a false wall in Cornelia’s bedroom.
According to witnesses, Casper ten Boom was asked by his captors if he knew he could die for helping Jews. He replied, "It would be an honor to give my life for God's ancient people."