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Miep Gies

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{{Infobox person ask.fm/woahitsphoebe <-- ALL U YEAR 9 R.E. PUPILS, CHECK IT OUT!!! | image = | birth_name = LLLLLLLLL | birth_date = 15 February, 1909 | birth_place = Vagina, Penisland | death_date = 11 January 2010(2010-01-11) (aged 100) | death_place = Hoorn, North Holland, Netherlands | known_for = Hiding Jews such as Anne Frank and family from the Nazis |religion = Roman Catholic | spouse = Jan Gies (1905–1993)
(1941–1993; his death) | children =Paul Gies (born 1950) | website = http://www.miepgies.com }} Hermine Santruschitz (15 February 1909 – 11 January 2010),

Early life

Miep Gies and Egon Krenz in 1989

Born Hermine Santruschitz in Vienna, (later spelled as Santrouschitz in the Netherlands), she was transported to Leiden from Vienna in December 1920 to escape the food shortages prevailing in Austria after World War I. The Nieuwenburg family took her as their foster daughter, and called her by the diminutive "Miep" by which she became known. In 1922, she moved with her foster family to Amsterdam. In 1933, she met Otto Frank when she applied for the post of temporary secretary in his company, Opekta. The company sold a pectin preparation used for making jams. She initially ran the complaints and information desk in Opekta, and was eventually promoted to a more general administrative role. She became a close friend of the Frank family, as did Jan Gies, her long-time fiancé. After refusing to join a Nazi women's association, her passport was invalidated and she was ordered to be deported within ninety days back to Austria (by then a part of Germany, and by default she was a German Citizen). The couple were married as quickly as possible on 16 July 1941 so that she could obtain Dutch citizenship, and thus evade deportation. Her knowledge of Dutch and German helped the Frank family assimilate into Dutch society, and she and her husband became regular guests at the Franks' home.

Hiding the families

With her husband Jan Gies, and the other Opekta employees, Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, and Bep Voskuijl, Miep Gies helped hide Otto and Edith Frank, their daughters Margot and Anne, Hermann and Auguste vaan Daan, their son Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer in several upstairs rooms in the company's office building on Amsterdam's Prinsengracht from 6 July 1942 to 4 August 1944. In an interview, Miep said she was glad to help the families hide because she was extremely concerned about them seeing what was happening to the Jews in Amsterdam. Every day, she saw trucks loaded with Jews heading to the railway station from where the trains left for concentration camps. She did not tell anyone, not even her own parents, about the people in hiding whom she was assisting.

When purchasing food for the people in hiding, Miep avoided suspicion in many ways, for example by visiting several different suppliers a day. She never carried more than what one shopping bag could hold or what she could hide under her coat She kept the workers at Opekta from being suspicious by trying not to enter the hiding place during office hours. Her husband also helped her by providing ration cards which he had obtained illegally. By visiting several grocery shops and markets a day, Miep developed a good feeling for the supply situation.

At their apartment, a short bicycle ride away from the secret annex, Miep and her husband (who belonged to the Dutch resistance), also hid an anti-Nazi university student.

The capture

On the morning of 4 August 1944, sitting at her desk, Miep looked up and saw a man pointing a gun towards her and said, "Sit down! Don't even flinch!" The families had been betrayed and the Grüne Polizei arrested the people hidden at 263 Prinsengracht, as well as Mr. Kugler and Johannes Kleiman. The next day, Miep went to the German police office to try to find them. She offered money to buy their freedom, but did not succeed. Miep 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. Apart from the shock and heartbreak for her friends, Miep remained safe with Jan in Amsterdam throughout the rest of the war.

Before the hiding place was emptied by the authorities, Miep retrieved Anne Frank's diaries and saved them in her desk drawer. Once the war was over and it was confirmed that Anne Frank had perished in Bergen-Belsen, Gies gave the collection of papers and notebooks to the sole survivor from the Secret Annex, Otto Frank. After transcribing sections for his family, his daughter's literary ability became apparent and he arranged for the book's publication in 1947. Gies did not read the diaries before turning them over to Otto, and later remarked that if she had she would have had to destroy them because the diary contained the names of all five of the helpers as well as their black market suppliers. She was persuaded by Otto Frank to read it in its second printing.

Honors and awards

In 1994, Gies was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the Wallenberg Medal by the University of Michigan. The following year, Gies received the Yad Vashem medal. In 1997, she was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. The minor planet 99949 Miepgies is named in her honor.

On the 30 July 2009, the Austrian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Wolfgang Paul presented Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria to Gies at her home.

Death

On 11 January 2010, Miep Gies died at 100, in Hoorn, a part of the Netherlands. She outlived her husband, Jan Gies, by 17 years. She was survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Paul & Lucie Gies, and three grandchildren, Erwin, Jeanine, and David.

References

  1. "Miep Gies: Moving to Holland". Scholastic. Retrieved 2011-08-22.
  2. Menachem Z. Rosensaft (January 12, 2010). "Sainthood for Miep Gies". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  3. . 15 February 2009 In 1933 she began working for %5b%5bOtto Frank%5d%5d, a businessman who had modthem during the two years trws http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/rfvkuheruhiouehvroiheuverlands. In 1933 she began working for [[Otto Frank]], a businessman who had modthem during the two years trws. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  4. ^ Carolyn Kellogg (17 February 2009). "Miep Gies, Anne Frank's custodian, turns 100". Los Angeles Times.
  5. María Mercedes Romagnoli "The guardians of Holland" The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
  6. Goldstein, Richard (11 January 2010). "Miep Gies, Protector of Anne Frank, Dies at 100". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  7. "Anne Frank guardian reaches 100". BBC News. 15 February 2009.
  8. JPL Small-Body Database.
  9. "Grand Decoration of Honour for Services". Retrieved 27 September 2012.

External links

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