Miep Gies
Miep Gies was born on February 15, 1909, in Vienna Germany, and she died on January 11, 2010. She was born with the name Hermine Santrouschitz and later changed it to Miep Gies. She got Anne Frank her diary and she also kept it after the Holocaust. She wasn't a Jew but since she had so much moral courage, she hid Anne Frank, her family, and a few of the Frank's friends from the Nazis (They were all Jewish.) She was basically forced to be a Nazi women, but she had no interest, so the Nazis made her passport invalid and she was deported immediately. During work hours, she didn't want anything to be suspicious, so she stayed in the Frank's hiding place (Where the Franks live.) After Anne Frank passed away in the Holocaust, Miep collected all the papers from her diary and later returned all of them to Otto Frank. And they both published the diary in 1947, they sold ten million copies of it and sold it in over a dozen different languages. Miep was a very humble person, she would always say,“I am not a hero.” That is a very humble thing to say because she obviously was a hero and she didn't really believe in that. Miep was supposed to stay with the Franks for only five to six months, but she ended up staying/protecting them for about a year, maybe even a little bit more than a year just to help out/protect a family that she barely knew before she was with them. When the Franks got betrayed/captured, Miep went to the Nazi officers and asked them if they would release the Franks, that was a life or death situation. A few weeks after that, she went to the Nazi officers again and said that she would pay money for them to let the Franks go. She knew that she could die or be executed for asking that question because once the Nazis say no once, they probably will say it again. The only reason that she wasn't executed, was because the officer that she asked was from Vienna, that is where Miep was born. Miep then stayed safe in Amsterdam even though she was very sad that the Franks had been taken. Right before the hiding place had been destroyed, Miep managed to pick up Anne's diary that she had left in her room. When Miep gave the diary to Otto, she hadn't read any of it, but they decided to read it together why they still could because they were both at an old age and they wanted to have a chance to read it. She also read it again in the second printing of the diary after it had been turned into a book. If Miep will never be forgotten and will always be remembered as apart of the Frank family.
How She Showed Moral Courage
Moral courage and modesty are at the heart of Miep’s character. For more than two years, she risked her own life daily to illegally protect and care for the Franks and four of their friends hiding from the Nazis in an attic. Miep insists that she is not a hero. “I myself am just an ordinary woman. I simply had no choice,” she told a standing room only audience during the fifth Wallenberg Lecture, in Rackham Auditorium, on October 11, 1994. Her name has become known, she said, only “because I had an Anne.” Gies assigned the title of hero to the eight souls who hid in the attic. “They were the brave people,” she said. Also, Miep provided the Franks with food, clothing, and books during their years in hiding to the best of her ability. She addressed all of their daily materials that were needed. She was also one of the few links that the Franks had in the outside world, and she was their main source of hope and cheer. She knowingly faced great personal risk, acting out of integrity with her own internal values. Miep tried to rescue the Frank family after they were taken from the attic, attempting to bribe the Austrian SS officer who had arrested them. Miep even went to Nazi headquarters to negotiate a deal, fully aware that this bold move could cost her life. She did all of this to help other people that were in need. After the Franks were betrayed and arrested, Miep’s task continued. She climbed the attic stairs one more time to retrieve Anne’s writings, finding them scattered on the floor. Miep quickly gathered up the notebooks and kept them for Anne’s expected return after the war. Miep gave Otto Frank his daughter’s notebooks. Ever since, Miep has mourned the cruel fate of her friends in the attic. “Every year on the fourth of August, I close the curtains of my home and do not answer the doorbell or the telephone,” she said. “It is the day that my Jewish friends were taken away to the death camps. I have never overcome that shock.” Miep was a hero and she will always be remembered as one even if she thinks she is just a normal person.
Timeline-
February 15, 1909- Miep is born
July 16, 1941- Miep marries a man by the name of Jan Gies June
1942- Otto Frank asks Miep to help him in his family to go into hiding
August 4, 1944- The Franks get arrested, Miep is not arrested with themAugust
1944- Miep goes to the security police of the Nazis and tries to get the Franks released
June 1945- Otto survives the war and stays with Miep and her husband, they later find out that Margo and Anne have died and Miep then gives Anne's diary to Otto
1987- Miep writes a book called The Memories of Anne Frank
January 26, 1993- Miep's husband dies
February 15, 2009- Miep turns 100 years old
January 11, 2010- Miep dies at the age of 100
“We did our duty as human beings: helping people in need.”
-- Miep Gies
How She Showed Moral Courage
Moral courage and modesty are at the heart of Miep’s character. For more than two years, she risked her own life daily to illegally protect and care for the Franks and four of their friends hiding from the Nazis in an attic. Miep insists that she is not a hero. “I myself am just an ordinary woman. I simply had no choice,” she told a standing room only audience during the fifth Wallenberg Lecture, in Rackham Auditorium, on October 11, 1994. Her name has become known, she said, only “because I had an Anne.” Gies assigned the title of hero to the eight souls who hid in the attic. “They were the brave people,” she said. Also, Miep provided the Franks with food, clothing, and books during their years in hiding to the best of her ability. She addressed all of their daily materials that were needed. She was also one of the few links that the Franks had in the outside world, and she was their main source of hope and cheer. She knowingly faced great personal risk, acting out of integrity with her own internal values. Miep tried to rescue the Frank family after they were taken from the attic, attempting to bribe the Austrian SS officer who had arrested them. Miep even went to Nazi headquarters to negotiate a deal, fully aware that this bold move could cost her life. She did all of this to help other people that were in need. After the Franks were betrayed and arrested, Miep’s task continued. She climbed the attic stairs one more time to retrieve Anne’s writings, finding them scattered on the floor. Miep quickly gathered up the notebooks and kept them for Anne’s expected return after the war. Miep gave Otto Frank his daughter’s notebooks. Ever since, Miep has mourned the cruel fate of her friends in the attic. “Every year on the fourth of August, I close the curtains of my home and do not answer the doorbell or the telephone,” she said. “It is the day that my Jewish friends were taken away to the death camps. I have never overcome that shock.” Miep was a hero and she will always be remembered as one even if she thinks she is just a normal person.
Timeline-
February 15, 1909- Miep is born
July 16, 1941- Miep marries a man by the name of Jan Gies June
1942- Otto Frank asks Miep to help him in his family to go into hiding
August 4, 1944- The Franks get arrested, Miep is not arrested with themAugust
1944- Miep goes to the security police of the Nazis and tries to get the Franks released
June 1945- Otto survives the war and stays with Miep and her husband, they later find out that Margo and Anne have died and Miep then gives Anne's diary to Otto
1987- Miep writes a book called The Memories of Anne Frank
January 26, 1993- Miep's husband dies
February 15, 2009- Miep turns 100 years old
January 11, 2010- Miep dies at the age of 100
“We did our duty as human beings: helping people in need.”
-- Miep Gies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miep_Gies
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8453331.stm
http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Franks-History/All-people/Miep-Gies/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8453331.stm
http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Franks-History/All-people/Miep-Gies/