Haarlem - Amsterdam Bruges and Brussels - page 208

Histor y Museum Haarlem — his small museum, across the street
from the Frans Hals Museum, offers a glimpse of old Haarlem.
Request the English version of the 10-minute video, low-key
Haarlem's version of a sound-and-light show. Study the large-
scale model of Haarlem in 1822 (when its fortifications were still
intact), and wander the two rooms without English descriptions
(overpriced at €4, Tue-Sat 12:00-17:00, Sun 13:00-17:00, closed
Mon, Groot Heiligland 47, tel. [phone], www.historisch
museumhaarlem.nl). The adjacent architecture center (free) may be
of interest to architects.
s Corrie ten Boom House — Haarlem was home to Corrie ten
Boom, popularized by her inspirational book (and the movie that
followed), he Hiding Place. Both tell about the Ten Boom fam-
ily's experience protecting Jews from the Nazis. Corrie ten Boom
gives the other half of the Anne Frank story—the point of view of
those who risked their lives to hide Dutch Jews during the Nazi
occupation (1940-1945).
The clock shop was the Ten Boom family business. The elderly
father and his two daughters—Corrie and Betsy, both in their
50s—lived above the store and in the brick building attached in
back (along Schoutensteeg alley). Corrie's bedroom was on the top
floor at the back. This room was tiny to start with, but then the
family built a second, secret room (less than a yard deep) at the
very back—“the hiding place,” where they could hide six Jews at a
time. Devoutly religious, the family had a long tradition of toler-
ance, having hosted prayer meetings here in their home for both
Jews and Christians for generations.
The Gestapo, tipped off that the family was harboring Jews,
burst into the Ten Boom house. Finding a suspicious number of
ration coupons, the Nazis arrested the family, but failed to find the
six Jews (who later escaped) in the hiding place. Corrie's father and
sister died while in prison, but Corrie survived the Ravensbruck
concentration camp to tell her story in her memoir.
The Ten Boom House is open only for 60-minute English
tours—check the sign on the door for the next start time. The gen-
tle and loving tours come with a little evangelizing that some athe-
ists may find objectionable (donation accepted; April-Oct Tue-Sat
first tour at 10:00, last tour at 15:30; Nov-March Tue-Sat first
tour at 11:00, last tour at 15:00; closed Sun-Mon; 50 yards north
of Market Square at Barteljorisstraat 19; the clock-shop people get
all wound up if you go inside—wait in the little side street at the
door, where hourly tour times are posted; tel. [phone], www
.corrietenboom.com).
s Teylers Museum — Famous as the oldest museum in Holland,
Teylers is a time-warp experience, filled with all sorts of fun curios