RIP Miep Gies

[Tiger Edge]

Miep Gies, Anne Frank protector, dies at 100 - CNN.com

Miep Gies, Anne Frank protector, dies at 100

(CNN) -- Miep Gies, who ensured the diary of Anne Frank did not fall into the hands of Nazis after the teen's arrest, has died. She was 100.

Gies was among a team of Dutch citizens who hid the Frank family of four and four others in a secret annex in Amsterdam, Netherlands, during World War II, according to her official Web site, which announced her death Monday. She worked as a secretary for Anne Frank's father, Otto, in the front side of the same Prinsengracht building.

The family stayed in the secret room from July 1942 until August 4, 1944, when they were arrested by Gestapo and Dutch police after being betrayed by an informant. Two of Gies' team were arrested that day, but she and her friend, Bep Voskuijl, were left behind -- and found 14-year-old Anne's papers.

"And there Bep and I saw Anne's diary papers lying on the floor. I said, 'Pick them up!' Bep stood there staring, frozen. I said, 'Pick them up! Pick them up!' We were afraid, but we did out best to collect all the papers," Gies said in a 1998 interview with The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

"Then we went downstairs. And there we stood, Bep and I. I asked, 'What now, Bep?' She answered, 'You're the oldest. You hold on to them. So I did."

The girl had chronicled two years of the emotions and fears that gripped her during hiding, as well as candid thoughts on her family, her feelings for friend-in-hiding Peter van Pels, and dreams of being a professional writer. Mixed into the entries were the names of the Dutch helpers, who risked their lives to keep the family's secret.

"I didn't read Anne's diary papers. ... It's a good thing I didn't because if I had read them I would have had to burn them," she said in the 1998 interview. "Some of the information in them was dangerous."

The diary was sheltered in Gies' desk drawer and later turned over to Otto Frank when he returned after the war as the only surviving resident of the annex. Anne died at northern Germany's Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

Her father published her diary, titled "The Secret Annex," in 1947.

Despite the legendary hardship she endured during the German occupation, Gies never embraced the label of a hero.

"More than 20,000 Dutch people helped to hide Jews and others in need of hiding during those years. I willingly did what I could to help. My husband did as well. It was not enough," she says in the prologue of her memoirs, "Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family."

"There is nothing special about me. I have never wanted special attention. I was only willing to do what was asked of me and what seemed necessary at the time."

Gies' husband, Jan, whom she married in 1941, died in 1993. The couple had a son together.

Thank you for everything.

 

[corianderstem]

Indeed. I'm glad she had a long life. The good don't always die young.

 

[lauramullen]

Agreed. If she didn't save the papers, we would have never learned of the story of Anne Frank and her family.

 

[U2FanMN]

One of history's bravest people. God bless you Miep.

 

[coolian2]

Agreed. If she didn't save the papers, we would have never learned of the story of Anne Frank and her family.

easily the least of what she did.

 

[Zoobaby14]

That's so sad. What an amazingly brave women

 

[Vincent Vega]

easily the least of what she did.

Sure, but even as little as that could've killed her.

100, that's great. Long, fulfilled life.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

A true hero - RIP

 

[Pearl]

I wonder if she was reunited with Anne. Remember how Anne said she wanted to go on living after she died? Well, because of Miep, she did. Maybe Anne thanked her.

 

[deep]

r i p

 

[INDY500]

Courage manifests itself in many forms.
RIP

 

[Earl-Of-IMDb]

Rip

 

[coolian2]

Sure, but even as little as that could've killed her.

exactly

 

[Galeongirl]

An amazing woman and a true hero, even though she hates being called that. There's a huge page filling article on her in the paper today, it was really nice to read.

 

[Bonoa]

An amazing woman and a true hero, even though she hates being called that.

 

[BluRmGrl]

The world could use another 10,000 just like Miep Gies. Godspeed to a humble hero.

 

[corianderstem]

May I ask a dumb question? How do you pronounce her name? Is it "Meep Geese," or something else?

 

[partygirl43]

A true, true hero.

 

[Galeongirl]

May I ask a dumb question? How do you pronounce her name? Is it "Meep Geese," or something else?

I've had to do this quite a lot as my cats name is Miep, but yes it's smiliar to Meep.
Gies is not quite like geese... geese has a long 'ee' sound. Gies has a short 'e'. And the G isn't like the English G. It's a Dutch one, which is even harder to explain. It's like a 'sch'.

 

[corianderstem]

Oh wow, I was way off. Thanks, GG!