Elisabeth ten Boom (19 August 1885 – 16 December 1944) was a Dutch woman, the daughter of a watchmaker, who suffered persecution under the Nazi regime in World War II, including incarceration in Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she died aged 59. The daughter of Casper ten Boom, she is one of the leading characters in The Hiding Place, a book written by her sister Corrie ten Boom about the family′s experiences during World War II. Nicknamed Betsie, she suffered from pernicious anemia from her birth. The oldest of five Ten Boom children, she did not leave the family and marry, but remained at home until World War II. She is a Righteous Among the Nations. Congenital pernicious anemia Betsie ten Boom suffered from a case of pernicious anemia. This case is believed to be caused by a malfunction of the gastric juices of intrinsic factor during the nine weeks before birth. Her illness prevented her from bearing children, so she chose, at a young age, not to marry. Career and education Betsie ten Boom was educated in the local primary and secondary school until the age of 15. She remained at home to work with her father in his watch shop, where she served as the bookkeeper. She also cooked for their family. Her younger sister Corrie later took over the bookkeeping role when Betsie caught influenza. Betsie then began housekeeping and continued to do so until her Nazi detention. 1940-1944 The ten Boom family belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church and believed strongly in the equality of all people before God. Betsie’s brother Willem ten Boom was a minister, and the ten Boom sisters (Betsie, Nollie, and Corrie) had been active in charitable work before the war. During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the family began to hide numerous Jews and resisters in their home and built a secret room to protect them. In 1944, the ten Boom family and other people at the house, about 30 in all, were arrested for their resistance activities and taken to Scheveningen prison. The six Jews in hiding at the house were not discovered and survived, with the help of other Resistance workers. Casper ten Boom became ill and died ten days later at the prison. Willem, Nollie, and a nephew were released. In June 1944, Betsie ten Boom and her sister Corrie were sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. Her strong