Miep Gies

Miep Gies
Gies in 1987
Born
Hermine Santrouschitz

15 February 1909
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died11 January 2010(2010-01-11) (aged 100)
Hoorn, Netherlands
Known forHiding Dutch Jews, including Anne Frank and her family, from the Nazis; keeping Anne's diary
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1941; died 1993)​
Children1
Websitemiepgies.com
Righteous
Among the Nations
By country
Otto Frank (father of Anne Frank) and Miep Gies, Achterhuis, Anne Frankhuis, Amsterdam, 9 May 1958
Miep and her husband Jan Gies at the book presentation of Miep Gies: Herinneringen aan Anne Frank (the Dutch version of the book Anne Frank remembered : the story of the woman who helped to hide the Frank family, 1987) in Anne Frankhuis near the moveable bookcase covering the stair to the secret hiding place "Achterhuis", Anne Frankhuis, Amsterdam, 5 May 1987

Hermine "Miep" Gies (Dutch: [mip ˈxis];[a] née Santrouschitz; 15 February 1909 – 11 January 2010) was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank, her family (Otto Frank, Margot Frank, Edith Frank) and four other Dutch Jews (Fritz Pfeffer, Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, Peter van Pels) from the Nazis in an annex above Otto Frank's business premises during World War II. She was Austrian by birth, but in 1920, at the age of eleven, she was taken in as a foster child by a Dutch family in Leiden to whom she became very attached. Although she was only supposed to stay for six months, this stay was extended to one year because of frail health, after which Gies chose to remain with them, living the rest of her life in the Netherlands.

She said, "Over two million Holand people had helped hid Jewish people in the Second World War, I am just doing what I can to help".

In 1933, Gies began working for Otto Frank, a Jewish businessman who had moved with his family from Germany to the Netherlands in the hope of sparing his family from Nazi persecution. She became a close, trusted friend of the Frank family and was a great support to them during the twenty-five months they spent in hiding. Together with her colleague Bep Voskuijl, she retrieved Anne Frank's diary after the family was arrested, and kept the papers safe until Otto Frank returned from Auschwitz in June 1945 and learned of his younger daughter's death soon afterwards. Gies had stored Anne Frank's papers in the hopes of returning them to the girl, but gave them to Otto Frank, who compiled them into a diary first published in June 1947.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

In collaboration with Alison Leslie Gold, Gies wrote the book Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family in 1987.[9] She died in 2010 at age 100.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Luther, Claudia (12 January 2010). "Miep Gies dies at 100; gave protection to Anne Frank". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  2. ^ Obituary in the Washington Post, 12 January 2010.
  3. ^ Obituary in The Times, 13 January 2010.
  4. ^ Ezard, John (12 January 2010). "Miep Gies obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  5. ^ "Miep Gies: Office secretary who helped to hide the Frank family from the Nazis before rescuing Anne's diary". The Independent. 14 January 2010. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Anne Frank guardian reaches 100". BBC News. 15 February 2009. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  7. ^ Carolyn Kellogg (17 February 2009). "Miep Gies, Anne Frank's custodian, turns 100". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  8. ^ Goldstein, Richard (12 January 2010). "Miep Gies, Protector of Anne Frank, Dies at 100". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Anne Frank Remembered Book, 2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).