|
Movies •Books •Music •Food •Tv Shows •Technology •Politics •Video Games •Parenting •Fashion •Green Living •more >

Lunch » Tags » Writers » Reviews » Miep Gies » User review

Miep Gies
Miep Gies

One of the people who hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during World War II.

< read all 3 reviews

The last guardian of the "Secret Annex" has passed away.

  • Jan 13, 2010
  • by
Rating:
+5
Miep Gies was a remarkable woman.  Born Hermine Santrouschitz, moved with her foster family from Austria after World War I to the Netherlands.  Miep and her husband Jan Gies were friends and coworkers of the Otto Frank and his family and helped to establish themselves in Amsterdam.  During World War II, Miep and Jan along with several of the coworkers hid the Frank family along with the Van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer from the Nazi soldiers because they were deporting Jews back to Germany.  The families hid in a secret room above the office building that Otto Frank used to work in.  Miep and those that helped out hiding the families could have been sent to hard labor camps or shot for "harboring Jews".  The Franks and Van Pels managed to escape from detection for over two years until they were caught, arrested and deported on August 4, 1944.

Before the secret annexe was cleaned out by the Gestapo, Miep took Anne Frank's diaries and other papers and hid them so she could return them to Anne after the war.  Miep failed to bribe the Gestapo officers in a desperate attempt to free the captured families.  When the war ended, Miep was sadden to learn that Anne died at Belsen (along with her mother and sister) and gave the diaries to Otto (who managed to survive the horrible conditions at Auschwitz).  Otto transcribed and published them a few years later.  Miep sought out a criminal trial for the person responsible for being a Nazi informant and telling the Gestapo about the hidden families.  Several suspects were brought forward such as Willem Van Maaren (he was the most investigated suspect), Tonny Ahlers (a dutch Nazi and informant) and Lena van Bladeren-Hartog..  They were eventually cleared by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation.

Miep Gies was knighted by Queen Beatrix, awarded the Order Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and Yad Vashem medal.  She also spoke frequently about her experiences with the Franks and about the secret annex.  Miep has stated that she stands in a long line of what many good Dutch people would have done and regrets that about what has happened to her friends during the dark days of World War II.  Miep was a brave woman who risked the threat of imprisonment and death to save her friends from death.  If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have Anne Frank's diaries, a document into life inside the secret annex.  Miep Gies has been portrayed in films by actresses Dodie Heath (The Diary of Anne Frank), Anne Wyndham (The Diary of Anne Frank TV movie), Janet Amsbury (UK Mini-series)
Lili Taylor (Anne Frank: THe Whole Story) and Mary Steenburgen (The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank).
The last guardian of the

What did you think of this review?

Helpful
16
Thought-Provoking
12
Fun to Read
16
Well-Organized
15
Post a Comment
January 14, 2010
Lovely tribute to a truly remarkable woman, Captain. It also makes me think that that the Franks must have been truly remarkable people to for people to risk their lives and freedom for them. Thanks for sharing!
January 14, 2010
Too bad there weren't a lot of people like Miep and her husband during WWII. Many people were too intimidated and bullied by the Nazis to defy them. Those that did were truly heroes because they did risked their lives and sometimes met very brutal and violent ends.
January 14, 2010
True. Apparently, some 40,000 Dutch people did this, though obviously it wasn't enough, it was definitely still extraordinary.
 
1
More Miep Gies reviews
Quick Tip by . October 29, 2012
posted in WHAT CAN I SAY?
Miep Gies was truly a brave soul.  She, along with her husband Jan, were among the people in Europe that helped out the Jews during the darkest chapters of human history (Nazi rule and the Holocaust).       Miep and Jan (along with other co-workers) helped out the Frank and van Pels family (and dentist Fritz Pfeffer) in hiding in Holland from 1942-44, and even though the people in hiding were unfortunately captured in August of 1944, Miep managed …
Quick Tip by . June 18, 2010
Now that Miep has passed away, try to find some contemporary sources that described the Franks' plight to get the most out of this book.
see all Miep Gies reviews (3)
About the reviewer
Joseph Ulibas ()
Ranked #37
I have been working on my web series Fine Feather Friends.
Consider the Source

Use Trust Points to see how much you can rely on this review.

You
Captain_Couth
Your ratings:
Herschell Gordon Lewis
W.C. Fields
W.C. Fields
Peter Watkins
Peter Watkins
Kurt Raab
Kurt Raab
rate more to improve this
Recent reviews by Captain_Couth
Beauty and the Beat
Our lips are sealed because we got the beat.
a review of Beauty and the Beat
All Summer Long
The Beach Boys takes us back to the fun days of a …
a review of All Summer Long
Album cover
Not qute Smile but close enough.
a review of Smiley Smile
see more reviews
About this writer

Wiki

Miep Gies (15 February 1909 – 11 January 2010) was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during World War II. She discovered and preserved Anne Frank's diary after the Franks were arrested. Miep Gies was a Christian.
view wiki

Tags

Writers, Politics, World War Ii, Anne Frank
see all

Details

First to Review

"The last guardian of the "Secret Annex" has passed away."
© 2013 Lunch.com, LLC All Rights Reserved
Lunch.com - Relevant reviews by real people.
()
This is you!
Ranked #
Last login
Member since
reviews
comments
ratings
questions
compliments
lists