The Resume

(April 15, 1892-April 15, 1983)
Born in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Organized Dutch Reformed Church projects for the mentally disabled
During World War II, headed the 80-person Beje network that hid Jews and members of the Dutch resistance
Found safe houses for over 800 Jews
At any moment, usually had six or seven refugees hiding in the family home waiting for long-term accomodation
Had a 30-inch deep secret room built behind a false wall in her bedroom
Arrested in a Nazi raid (February 28, 1944)
Imprisoned in Ravensbruck concentration camp (March-December, 1944)
Wrote 'The Hiding Place' (1971) and 'Tramp for the Lord' (1974)
Lectured in over 60 countries as a public speaker
Named Righteous Among the Nations by Israel (1967)

Why she might be annoying:

Her last name is actually spelled 'ten Boom,' but lower-case letters screw up the AIA search engine.
She spoke in tongues.
She said of her release from Ravensbruck via clerical error one week before prisoners her age were executed, 'God does not have problems, only plans.' (So does that mean God's plan involved the killing of everyone else at the camp?)

Why she might not be annoying:

She was the first female watchmaker in the Netherlands.
She convinced a civil servant she knew through her charity work to give her a hundred ration cards that she then distributed to Jews.
The hiding place worked well enough that the Nazis failed to find the four Jews and two resistance workers who were in the house when it was raided.
Her father Caspar and sister Betsie died while in Nazi custody.
After the war, she set up a rehabilitation center for concentration camp survivors.
She wrote about her encounter with a Ravensbruck guard who asked for her forgiveness: 'For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Born on Tax Day [April 15th] (Ranked: 1892)
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 55]
• I Died in 1983 (Ranked: 91)
• I Died on April 15th [Death and Taxes] (Ranked: 1983)
• I Died on My Birthday (Ranked: 91)
• I Had a Stroke [Cerebral Vascular Accident]
• I'm Dutch
• Profiles 35751-36000 (Ranked: 35944)
• Righteous Among the Nations
• We Died on the Same Day (Ranked: 19830415)

Year In Review:

In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 17 Votes: 41.18% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 31 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 80 Votes: 45.00% Annoying