A Day to Remember

A Day to Remember

Millions of people of different race, religion, and culture were tortured and brutally abused by the Nazi army lead by Adolf Hitler, the ruler of Germany during WWII. This event was known as the Holocaust. Corrie Ten Boom was one of the few survivors of the Holocaust. She later went back to her home in Haarlem, Holland to attest the story over and over again. She later wrote a book that we know as, "The Hiding Place". "The Hiding Place" is a story of Corrie Ten Boom's horrors that she was forced to live through during her time in the concentration camps, and how she held onto faith to keep herself alive. "Number the Stars" was a book written by Lois Lowry about the tale of a young girl who experienced the loss of the people that she cared about the most. She faced rough times by going through the deaths of family and wished it had happened. The main character Annemarie had to also face the fear of losing her best friend, Ellen.

The two main characters, Corrie Ten Boom and Annemarie Johansen, are actually considerably alike. Both main characters were not Jewish and they both would do anything to help the greater good of other people. However, each story had differences in how they demonstrated their faith.

My personal opinion is that Corrie and her sister Betsie show a big demonstration of what true faith should appear to be. They depend on faith while they go through the tough times they were dealing with in the concentration camps. "If God has shown us bad times ahead, it's enough for me that he knows about them. That's why He sometimes shows us things, you know- to tell us that this too is in His hands." (Ten Boom, 156).

I do not agree that Annemarie shows the characteristics of the strong faith that Corrie and Betsie have during the situations. Granted, Annemarie was not in the same situation, but she did not demonstrate the faith that God would provide, and that God was the only way out of the place they were suffering in. Annemarie did, however demonstrate the manner of a true friend. "Annemarie relaxed the clenched fingers of her right hand, which still clutched Ellen's necklace. She looked down, and saw that she had imprinted the Star of David into her palm" (Lowry, 49). Annemarie was so scared for her friend that she imprinted the Star of David into her palm, even though she was not Jewish. She showed how much she truly cared about her friend.

The theme book is also different. One theme in "Number the Stars" was about fairy tales or fantasy dreams. Every time that Annemarie got scared, she would pretend the events going on in the war were just part of a fairy tale, and she would find the courage to continue on to whatever it was that she was doing. The main themes in "The Hiding Place" were religion and demonstrating faith. This faith was present for them