This educational resource for secondary school aged students tells the story of Miep Gies, the woman who supported Anne Frank and her family when they were in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Miep was born in 1909 in Vienna, Austria. During World War One, when she was very young, food was scarce and as a result, Miep often became ill. A Dutch family offered to look after her and help her get better. Miep’s parents thought that this was a very good idea and that the Netherlands would be a safe place for her. When she reached her early 20s, Miep started working in the office of Otto Frank, a Jewish man who had a jam company. Otto had moved to the Netherlands from Germany in the 1930s with his wife, Edith, and daughters, Margot and Anne. Otto Frank thought the Netherlands would be safer a safer place for Jews.
In May 1940, the Germans, invaded the Netherlands and quickly made life increasingly restrictive and dangerous for the Dutch Jewish population. Eventually it became unsafe for Otto and his family in Amsterdam. Otto knew, that in order to protect them, he had to take his family into hiding. On 6 July 1942, Otto and his family went to the upper rear rooms of his office building where he had created a hiding space for them, a secret house. In addition to the Frank family, a couple of Otto’s Jewish friends also hid there. It was Miep Gies, Otto’s dedicated employee and, by now, friend, who helped them stay hidden and safe for over two years. Miep Gies, along with her husband Jan, a Dutch social worker, and several of Otto Frank’s other employees, risked their own lives to smuggle food, supplies and news of the outside world into the secret apartment (which came to be known as the Secret Annex). Those hiding had to depend on this small group of loyal helpers who provided them with food and other necessities, with information about the war's progress, and who also offered indispensable distraction, a breath of fresh air from the world outside Miep knew that if she was found helping a Jewish family she could be arrested. She did everything possible to avoid being caught and didn’t even tell her own parents what she was doing. Miep sourced food from different places and would make several trips each day so she never had to carry more than one or two bags at a time. Sometimes she would hide other things under her coat. She avoided visiting the hiding place during office hours so that other people she worked with would not grow suspicious, and those in hiding were asked to keep as quiet as possible during the day. One morning, in August 1944, Miep was sitting at her desk when she looked up and saw an officer with a gun; he had come to arrest everyone in hiding. Having been betrayed, the hiding place was found and the Franks and the others in the annex were arrested and taken away. Miep had been truly courageous for hiding the Franks and their friends for all of this time. This has been done at great risk to herself, and it was only because the arresting officer was from her home city of Vienna that she escaped arrest herself Miep still wanted to help, she couldn’t let the Franks down now. She collected as much money as she could find and went to the police station in an attempt to free Otto and his family– but this was without success. During the time they hidden away, Otto’s daughter, Anne, kept a diary of her thoughts about what it was like for a young girl to live in one room for all that time, always living in fear. When Miep visited the secret room after the arrest, she found Anne’s diary and locked it away, keeping it safe for Anne’s return. Of the Frank family, only Otto survived. After the war, Miep gave him the diaries. Anne had always wanted to become a famous writer. Tragically, this only happened after she had died. It was because of Miep that Otto survived. Miep wasn’t Jewish, she just saw the Franks as friends that needed her help. It was years later that Miep said: "They were powerless; they didn't know where to turn... We did our duty as human beings: helping people in need.” Otto Frank, who lived with the Gies family after the war, compiled his daughter’s writings into a manuscript that was first published in the Netherlands in 1947 under the title “Het Achterhuis” (“Rear Annex”). Later published as “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl,” the book went on to sell tens of millions of copies worldwide. The American author and journalist Alison Leslie Gold helped Miep Gies put her memories to paper, and so in 1987, forty years after the publication of The Secret Annex, the book Anne Frank Remembered. The Story of the Woman who Helped to Hide the Frank Family, was published. The Dutch version followed later that year, with the title Herinneringen aan Anne Frank. Het verhaal van Miep Gies, de steun en toeverlaat van de familie Frank in het Achterhuis. The book by Miep Gies complements the diaries of Anne Frank. Anne starts writing at the moment that the family moves to the Secret Annex (Het Achterhuis), and her last entry dates from three days before their betrayal. Miep Gies also describes the period that precedes their going into hiding, and relates the sad fate of the Secret Annex occupants after the betrayal. Looking back after many years, Miep Gies is able to provide a context and an overview that Anne could not, given her position on the inside. Miep Gies also recounts how she presented Anne's writings to her father in the summer of 1945, saying 'This is the legacy of your daughter', and all that happened from then on.
Anne Frank and Miep Gies also write about the same events, situations and people, each from their own perspective. The story of Miep Gies is unique because it takes us, in a very comprehensive way, into the world of the people who saved Jews. In her story, she deals with many different themes and dilemmas that she encountered on a daily basis during this period. The focus here is not so much on the Jews, but more on those who tried to help them. It is not just an overview of the events, but deals in detail with the daily aspects that were encountered by people who risked everything to do good in the face of hate and injustice. The interesting aspect in the story of Miep Gies is the fact that she herself makes us part of her story instead of us talking about people like Miep Gies with our interpretations and from our pespective.
On January 11, 2010, Miep Gies, the last survivor of the small group of people who helped hide a Jewish girl, Anne Frank, and her family from the Nazis during World War II, died in the Netherlands at age 100.
The unit offered here is based on the book written by Miep Gies: The Secret Annex, the book Anne Frank Remembered. The Story of the Woman who Helped to Hide the Frank Family, the Dutch version with the title Herinneringen aan Anne Frank. Het verhaal van Miep Gies, de steun en toeverlaat van de familie Frank in het Achterhuis
