The Hiding Place

The Hiding Place Character List

Corrie

Corrie ten Boom is the protagonist of "The Hiding Place." Corrie is a joyful middle-aged woman, unmarried and unfashionable, who dedicates her life to serving others and sharing the Bible. She is Holland's first licensed female watchmaker.

Betsie

Betsie is seven years older than Corrie. She is frail because of anemia but enjoys making every place she goes more homely and warm. Her chestnut hair and elegant figure make her very graceful, but her kindness towards others is her defining characteristic.

Father

In addition to being an expert watchmaker, Casper ten Boom is the patriarch of the family and beloved by the town of Haarlem.

Willem

Willem is the oldest ten Boom child, who works as a minister and runs a nursing home for elderly Jewish people.

Nollie

Nollie is Corrie's older sister who trained to be a teacher and then married a colleague named Flip van Woerden. She is extremely cheerful and tells the truth at any cost.

Peter

Peter is Willem's son, who has extraordinary musical ability. He is Corrie's favorite nephew.

Mama

Mama (Cornelia ten Boom) spends most of her life indoors, but this does not prevent her from caring for Haarlem in the form of clothing and food.

Tante Jans

She is an aunt who comes to live at the Beje. An austere woman, she writes Christian pamphlets and raises funds for social causes. She also has diabetes.

Tante Anna

She is another aunt living at the Beje.

Tante Bep

She was a governess her whole life and now resides at the Beje. She has tuberculosis and is never happy with anything or anyone.

Eusie

The ten Boom sisters nickname Meyer Mossel, Eusie, when he comes to live at the Beje. He was the cantor of a synagogue, but has to go into hiding because he is Jewish. Eusie is humorous, intelligent and well-mannered.

Pickwick

His real name is Herman Sluring, but his friends think he resembles the illustrations from the Dickens work. Pickwick is terribly ugly, but a great friend who works in the underground movement in Holland.

Karel

He is Corrie's one-time love, who must marry someone rich and prestigious.

Lieutenant Rahms

Lieutenant Rahms holds Corrie's hearing while she is in Scheveningen. He likes flowers and his family, who he worries about daily. He hates his work at the prison and feels a lot of darkness in his life.

Otto Altschuler

He is a young German watchmaker who believes in Nationalist ideology and disrespects the elderly. After being fired from the watch shop for mistreating Christoffels, He joins the army.

Toos

She is the accountant at the watch shop.

Christoffels

A quiet and reserved man, Christoffels He was a traveling watch repairman who came to work at the ten Boom shop where he grows fiercely devoted to the family.

Rolf van Vliet

Rolf is a red-haired policeman who aids Corrie in her underground work.

Fred Koornstra

Fred works at the Food office and provides ration cards for Corrie's operation.

Tine

Tine is a nurse who marries Willem, who have four children together.

Flip van Woerden

Flip marries Nollie. They live with their six children in Haarlem where Flip works as a principal.

Kik van Woerden

Kik is Nollie's son who does work for the resistance and is arrested for helping a parachutist get to safety.

Harry de Vries

Corries calls him "The Bulldog" because he looks like his beloved pets. He is a Jewish man who has converted to Christianity.

Cato de Vries

She is Harry's Christian wife.

Mr. Smit

He is a famous European architect who builds the secret hiding place in the Beje.

Mr. Moorman

He is the prisoner-foreman at the Phillips factory who is kind and patient with his workers.

Mr. Kan

A Jewish man who runs a competing watch shop in Haarlem.

Mrs. Kan

Mr. Kan's wife who later resides at Bloemendaal.

Mrs. Floor

She is a young pregnant woman in Vught; a Communist.

Mietje

Mietje cleans the Haarlem prison, and she and Corrie help each other throughout the story.

Katrien

She is an elderly Austrian Jewish woman who stays with Nollie, posing as a family servant.

Mary Itallie

Mary, an elderly, asthmatic Jewish lady, hides at the Beje until the Raid.

Annaliese

She is a young beautiful Jewish woman who hides at Nollies, disguised as a family friend.

Jan Vogels

Jan betrays several of his fellow Dutchmen to the Gestapo, including the ten Booms.

Mrs. Bierens de Haan

She is an aristocratic woman who donates her home, Bloemendaal, as a recovery center for Holocaust victims.

"The General"

The General is the matron at Scheveningen and later Vught, who commands with an icy silence.

"The Snake"

She is a guard in Ravensbruck, whose shiny dress looks snakelike. Eventually she softens a little and lets Betsie go to the sickbay.

Jop

He is the watch shop apprentice during the war years who also helps with underground work.

Cocky van Woerden

Cocky is Nollie's daughter who tells the truth no matter what.

Bob ten Boom

Bob is another of Willem's sons.

Mrs. De Boer

She owns the house where Harry and Cato stay with eighteen other young Jews.

Meta Montsano

Meta is an Italian Jewish woman hiding at the Beje.

Henk

Henk is a young Jewish lawyer hiding at the Beje.

Thea Dacosta

A Jewish woman hiding at the Beje during the raid, who is an accomplished pianist.

Leendert

Leendert is a young Jewish schoolteacher, who installs the electric warning system in the Beje.

Herr Gutlieber

He is a Jewish man who arrives at the Beje during the 100th birthday party. He escaped Munich after teenagers harassed him.