When I first read Anne Frank's The Diary of Anne Frank, I was overwhelmed with grief and anger at the injustice and intolerance that had led to Anne Frank's death, but her honesty and the very existence of the book gave me hope, too. It was the first time I really understood the power of words an selfless acts: Anne Frank's words lived on, and they had the power to change lives,but one person stood out the most that was Hermine “Miep” Gies.We owe the existence of the book to Miep Gies, the tremendously courageous and just woman who helped Anne Frank and her family hide from the Nazis. Gies not only risked her own life to provide the Franks with food and supplies, but she found, saved, and eventually shared Anne"s diary. A secretary for Otto
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At their suggestion, Miep and Jan even spent a night with the eight people in hiding upstairs, where she recalled, "The fright...was so thick I could feel it pressing down on me."She and her co-workers were able to keep the family hidden for over two years, but eventually they were betrayed. On the morning of 4 August 1944, sitting at her desk, Gies looked up and saw a man pointing a gun towards her, Voskuijl, and Kleiman and said, "Stay put! Don't move!" The families had been betrayed and the Grüne Polizei arrested the people hidden at 263 Prinsengracht, as well as Kugler and Kleiman. The next day, Gies went to the German police office to try to find them. She offered money to buy their freedom, but did not succeed. Gies and the other helpers could have been executed if they had been caught hiding Jews; however, she was not arrested because the police officer who came to interrogate her was from Vienna, her birth town. She recognized his accent and told him they had the same home town. He was amazed; then started pacing and cursing at her. …show more content…
When they learned that the rest of the family had perished in the camps, she gave him the diaries. Otto continued to live with the Gieses until 1953. Miep gave birth to her and Jan's son, Paul, in 1952. Although Anne's diaries had been published in 1947, Miep had never read them, but Otto finally persuaded her to do so in their second printing. She said, "Though I wept a lot, I kept thinking: 'Anne, you gave me one of the finest presents I ever got.'"Miep Gies died on January 11, 2010, in a nursing home after a fall, just a month shy of her 101st birthday. She published a memoir,Anne Frank Remembered, in 1987, which provides an illuminating bridge to the Secret Annex. As a woman of courage and conviction, she toured and lectured on the lessons of the Holocaust and Anne Frank's legacy, but Miep always insisted she was not a hero; she simply did what many other "good Dutch people" did. Anne Frank said of her, "We are never far from Miep's thoughts." And indeed, Miep and her husband reserved August 4 as a special day of memory. Miep received many awards late in life, including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Yad Vashem Medal and the Wallenberg Medal.
At their suggestion, Miep and Jan even spent a night with the eight people in hiding upstairs, where she recalled, "The fright...was so thick I could feel it pressing down on me."She and her co-workers were able to keep the family hidden for over two years, but eventually they were betrayed. On the morning of 4 August 1944, sitting at her desk, Gies looked up and saw a man pointing a gun towards her, Voskuijl, and Kleiman and said, "Stay put! Don't move!" The families had been betrayed and the Grüne Polizei arrested the people hidden at 263 Prinsengracht, as well as Kugler and Kleiman. The next day, Gies went to the German police office to try to find them. She offered money to buy their freedom, but did not succeed. Gies and the other helpers could have been executed if they had been caught hiding Jews; however, she was not arrested because the police officer who came to interrogate her was from Vienna, her birth town. She recognized his accent and told him they had the same home town. He was amazed; then started pacing and cursing at her. …show more content…
When they learned that the rest of the family had perished in the camps, she gave him the diaries. Otto continued to live with the Gieses until 1953. Miep gave birth to her and Jan's son, Paul, in 1952. Although Anne's diaries had been published in 1947, Miep had never read them, but Otto finally persuaded her to do so in their second printing. She said, "Though I wept a lot, I kept thinking: 'Anne, you gave me one of the finest presents I ever got.'"Miep Gies died on January 11, 2010, in a nursing home after a fall, just a month shy of her 101st birthday. She published a memoir,Anne Frank Remembered, in 1987, which provides an illuminating bridge to the Secret Annex. As a woman of courage and conviction, she toured and lectured on the lessons of the Holocaust and Anne Frank's legacy, but Miep always insisted she was not a hero; she simply did what many other "good Dutch people" did. Anne Frank said of her, "We are never far from Miep's thoughts." And indeed, Miep and her husband reserved August 4 as a special day of memory. Miep received many awards late in life, including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Yad Vashem Medal and the Wallenberg Medal.