"Corrie Remembers"
A Yad B'Yad Presentation

Susan Sandager, president of Yad B’Yad, whose "Corrie Remembers" productions have stirred the hearts of Jews and Christians to promote Jewish-Christian relations and have encouraged Christians to support the international Jewish community. Yad B'Yad 8801 Spain NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111, Phone 505-823-1439.

". . . for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the L-rd do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me." (Ruth 1:16-17)

Many Christians have heard the story of Corrie ten Boom through her book, The Hiding Place, and the motion picture released by the same name. It is the story of a Dutch Christian family that help-ed hundreds of Jews escape the Nazi extermination camps. Like faithful Ruth, the ten Booms took their allegiance to the Jews seriously.

In 1844 Grandfather ten Boom started a prayer fellowship for Jews in his home. That was a hundred years before his son, four grandchildren, and one great grandchild would all be arrested for the crime of protecting Jews. That Gestapo raid was a devastating blow to the ten Boom family, a disaster that changed their lives forever. Corrie’s elderly father died ten days after his arrest, confused and alone in a dark prison hospital corridor. Her sister Betsy crawled to her death in Ravensbruck concentration camp. Her only brother emerged from his imprisonment so disease-ridden that he died very soon afterward.

When Corrie was miraculously released from Ravensbruck, she began telling her story to anyone who would listen. She traveled the globe twice, speaking in 64 countries. Her honesty in her books and in her talks drew people to her. They saw, from the example of this stooped, silverhaired elderly woman, that God could be trusted. His words were true. The world would be hard pressed to find a more genuine Christian than Corrie ten Boom.

While the world Jewish Community did honor Corrie as it did many other "Righteous Gentiles," relatively few Jews have heard the specifics of this middle-aged Dutch rescuer and her family who paid such a high price

for their compassion. It was to a predominantly Gentile audience that Corrie spoke in the years after World War II.

All that could change through an organization called Yad B-Yad (Hebrew for "Hand in Hand"). Particularly troubled that few of her middle-aged Jewish friends (much less her own children’s Christian peers) knew the story of this remarkable family, one Yad B’Yad member set out to retell the story of the ten Boom family. Because Miss ten Boom left so much of herself and her thoughts and her love through her writings and her speeches, Susan Sandager spent over a year putting together a "Corrie Remembers" presentation suitable for Christian and Jewish audiences alike. Most of it is from Miss ten Boom’s own words.

Dressed as Corrie in the eighth decade of her life, she tells the story of the ten Boom family. In spite of no formal training or acting experience Susan Sandager has been able to catch the essence of Corrie ten Boom, melting hearts, both Christian and Jewish. It is definitely not an "evangelical message" to which Jewish audiences respond. Mrs. Sandager’s "Corrie" does not preach to Jews. They respond to Corrie’s undisputed love for the Chosen People.

Mrs. Sandager made the debut of her "Corrie Remembers" to a group of both Christians and Jews at a monthly Yad B’Yad meeting in Albuquerque this past November. And she has been taking "her" on the road ever since. Mrs. Sandager does not charge for the "Corrie" presentations, but accepts travel expenses and donations to Yad B’Yad from Christian audiences. With the generosity of Christians, Yad B’Yad shares "Corrie" expense-free to Jewish audiences.

The Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Albuquerque was so taken by his introduction to Corrie ten Boom, that he arranged for "Corrie" to be included in this year’s Yom ha Shoah Commemoration service.

Restoration Foundation commends Yad B’Yad’s efforts to promote Jewish-Christian relations and dialogue and to help educate the church concerning the history of Judaeophobia, anti-Judaism, and anti-Semitism. If you would like to bring the "Corrie Remembers" production or the powerful seminar, "The History of anti-Semitism in the Church," into your community please contact: Yad B’Yad, 8801 Spain NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111 Phone: 505-823-1439.

Guestbook | Table of Contents | Restore! Magazine | Restoration Foundation Home