The Hiding Place by Nicole

The Hiding Place by Nicole - July 2013 Scholarship Essay

You need to stay cramped in the crawl space under the floor.  You cannot make a sound for fear that “they” might hear you.  You have lied, stole, and used bribery to get to this point, but it looks like it might have all been for nothing. Then the crawl space opens.  The soldiers drag you out! You have been caught!
The Hiding Place by John and Elizabeth Sherill is my favorite book that I have read for school.  This book is a biography about Corrie Ten Boom.  This was my favorite book during school because it made me feel as though I was experiencing what they experienced, I was able to learn more about the Holocaust, and the Ten Boom’s willingness to sacrifice themselves inspired me to help others. 
When I read The Hiding Place, I truly felt as though I was there experiencing the persecution that the Jews experienced.  Even though Corrie and her family were not Jews, they still experienced the persecution due to their helping of the Jews.  The writer of this book did an excellent job portraying in words what was going on so that you could sympathize with them.
Through reading The Hiding Place, it taught me about the persecution the Jews experienced.  I learned about the prison camps that the Jews and their “sympathizers” went to.  I became so interested in this book and this subject that it encouraged me to do more research on the time of the Holocaust.  Without this book, I would not have had the desire to do nearly as much research as I have on this time in history.
Finally,  the kind self-sacrificing actions of the Ten Booms taught me to put others before myself.  They were not Jews themselves, so if they had not been hiding and helping the Jews, they would not have been an object of persecution.  However, they were willing to give up their comfort and lives to help their fellow mankind.  Through this self-sacrificing motion, it taught me to put others before my own comforts.
This book was very good at bringing me to the situation, at teaching me more about history, and making me more concerned about my fellow mankind.  I learned a lot through this book that will now be a part of me for the rest of my life.  The Holocaust was a long time ago, but the lessons you learn through it can still be applied today.