Israel pays tribute to Anne Frank's savior Miep Gies
Gies, who died Monday night, was the last living person from the group that helped hide the Frank family.
By Haaretz Service and DPA Tags: Jewish World Anne Frank Israel newsPresident Shimon Peres on Tuesday sent the Dutch queen condolences following the death of Miep Gies, the woman who helped the family of Anne Frank during World War II and preserved her diary.
The Israel Holocaust memorial organization Yad Vashem also expressed its regret over Gies' death in a statement saying "we were saddened to learn this morning that Righteous Among the Nations Miep Gies has passed away."
Gies, who died Monday night at the age of 100, was the last living person in the group who had helped hide Anne's German Jewish family, who had sought refuge from the Nazis in Holland. They lived hidden in a back house in Amsterdam from 1942 to 1944.
Hours after the Franks were betrayed and seized by the Nazis on August 4, 1944, Gies crept back into the hiding place and collected Anne's diary.
In the prologue to her book, Anne Frank Remembered, Gies wrote that she was not special and not a hero.
"More than 20,000 Dutch people helped to hide Jews and others in need of hiding during those years," she wrote. "I was only willing to do what was asked of me and what seemed necessary at the time."
Anne's diligent recording of her feelings as she became a teenager living under cover has become a document "that endures as a testament to the human spirit in the face of unfathomable evil," The New York Times wrote in its obituary of Gies.
Millions of copies of the diary, a gift for Anne's 13th birthday, have been published in multiple languages, and it has been converted into a play performed worldwide in schools and on professional stages.
After their seizure, the members of the Frank family were transported to the Auschwitz death camp in what is today Poland, where they were separated. Anne is believed to have died of typhoid at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany in March 1945. Her sister, Margot, and mother, Edith, also died in the camps. Her father, Otto, the only survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war and pursued the publication of Anne's diary.
Gies was an employee of Otto Frank, who had moved his family to Holland in 1933 shortly after Adolf Hitler took power in Germany. Gies and five other employees helped keep the Franks alive along with four other people who later joined the Franks in the cramped hiding place - and who annoyed Anne, as her diary testifies.
Gies, who was born on February 15, 1909, in Vienna, wrote on her last birthday on her website: "I am 100 years old now. That is an admirable age, and I have even reached it in fairly good health. So then it's fair to say you've been fortunate, and being fortunate seems to be the red thread running through my life."
She died after a short, unspecified illness, the website said.
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i read the diary of Anne Franks diary when i was twelve years and 38 years or so later, i still brings tears to my eyes.Good bye Miep
There are several Turks who received a place amongst the Righteous of the Nations. The king of Morocco refused to carry over Moroccan Jews to the Vichy French and Germans; he stated Jews in Morocco, including the French and Spanish Jews, were as Moroccan as anyone else. Throughout the Muslim republics of the Soviet Union, in the Caucasus in particular, Jews were considered to be the same ethnicity as the Muslims living there, and many were hid from the death squads by their Muslim neighbours. Some Georgian Mountain Jews served in a German mountain infantry company (what would be a better place to hide than that?), as their were indistinguishable from their Muslim countrymen, and their Muslim "brothers in arms" didn't bear much of an ill will towards Jews, so they kept quiet.
I always find it a pity the full story, the full extent of the holocaust in the Netherlands is never told. It's an ugly truth; thousands of Dutch betrayed their Jewish friends, neighbours and even spouses to the Germans. In fact, Eichmann's representative in the Netherlands stated after the war, that the holocaust would have been impossible to implement without the help of the Dutch police, detectives, paramilitaries, bounty hunters and informers. He estimates the German security service would have been unable to arrest 10% of Dutch Jews. Amsterdam only had about 25 German gestapo agents. The rest were all Dutch collaborators. Anne Frank was arrested by a mostly Dutch detectives (the leader of the unit, Silberbauer, an Austrian, despite efforts by Simon Wiesenthal, died a free man, still a policeman, in his native country). The story of local collaboration in the holocaust- from the countries of the former soviet union and the low countries- is an ugly one, but needs to be told.
Stop beating your breast commentator from Denmark. Denmark only needed to ship its 2000 or so Jewish citizens over the Sont (a 15 minute trip) to safety. The Dutch Jews (140.000) on the other hand were trapped on all sides in a densely populated country with no mountains or forests to hide, with the most modern administration system of the world at that time in which religion was indicated... There are many factors that contribute to the low survival rate of the Jews in the Netherlands. (There is a good wikipedia article on it, but unfortunately only in Dutch.) There certainly was collaboration but to say, as some here do, that the Dutch cooperated with the Nazi's all of the way is pure nonsense.My grandparent hid a Jewish girl, so I am not saying this to clean my own doorstep. It is just a fact that during a brutal occupation some people are brave and most are scared. Be reserved in your judgment!
Thank you for publishing the info about MIep Gies' death. Many of us knew nothing about her. F.
As a gentile from a country (Denmark) that saved almost all of its Jewish population during WW2, I hope that we would do the same, should the situation arise again. When visiting Yad Vashem some 10 years ago, I was utterly chocked by this evidence of inhumanity. Thank G-d that there were people like Miep Gies in many occupied countries.
Why is it that you feel this need to squeeze the world into your misconceptions? I gather Miep was actually quite conservative. Many conservatives have a view of the law that is based on a moral threshold: "if a law doesn't meet the standards of "natural law", it is no law at all". In short, Miep was like a soldier who is commanded by his superior to murder others and who refuses to commit murder. For many, the refusnik is no law breaker.
Remember that Mother Teresa did it because she knew people were watching. She was planning for her sainthood. Miep Gies did it because that was the right thing to do even if it received no recognition.
She did what a real " woman" does.
May you find ever-lasting happiness and be close to HaShem. Miep Gies, you may not have thought yourself special, or a hero, but you were. You were an amazing person, and you did so much. If you save a life, you save the world! I am happy to see you lived to such a great age before passing, truely that is HaShem blessing you in this life. May her story live forever, may she never be forgotten. And may no person who does so much be forgotten.
Hope it was one of health in her waning years. As an aside doesn't she have a strong resemblance to Queen Elizabeth ?
I can only pray that if I ever find myself in the same situation as you and am asked to help, that I remember your simple example of "Yes, of course." May you reap all the rewards in eternity that a wonderful human being such as yourself deserves
Thanks Miep for you great help for Ann Frank and her family.I believe the great GOD will reward you accordingly.
Miep did all she could, and she has a special place in Jewish hearts and in "heaven." But, unfortunately, at the time, evil prevailed and was stronger than the righteous. We must do all we can to eradicate the evil in the world, and hopefully, one day humanity will come together in one mind and heart, and say "no more." G-d bless the righteous gentiles.
We may not put the courageous humanitarian Miep Gies in historic perspective. She belongs to history now, and what she did must be understood in the perspective of history. The legitimate government of Holland had decreed that Jews were proscribed, they were illegal residents of the land. They must be, the ultra-conservatives of Nazi Germany and occupied Holland decreed, be rounded up and put in camps to prevent their contaminating the soul of the nation. Miep Gies disagreed. She broke the law out of common humanity with the man who had been decent to her and his family. She put humanity before her responsibility to the LAW. She committed a crime. I am glad she committed that crime, repeatedly. I wish her crimes had resulted in the survival of the Frank family. Even though had that humanity saved them, I would never have read Ann's diary. Miep Gies was everything the right hates. A weak humanitarian, a law breaker, an enemy of the nation, a criminal. She was wonderful.
Not often a true, real life, ordinary, everyday, honest to god straight up hero passes. We are all a little poorer in her death, but so much wealthier as a people for her life.
May she rest in peace. And may she and her bravery and goodness rest in our hearts and minds. We lost a great person who gave her best to defend people in danger and to defend their memories until today.
I just read MUSLIMS saved JEWS from HOLOCAUST when searching gentile treatment of jews during holocaust. Wow that surprises me. I heard of Mieb plenty of times in history but never these muslims. ? Is it true or just information that no one knows
When the world was overwhelmed by raving dictators and stomping jackboots, the true and courageous humans like Miep quietly saved mankind from descending into sheer evil. May their voices inspire everyone, today and always. Every one should be Righteous Among Nations. Eternal memory to her.
i had the opportunity to visit the anne frank house while in amsterdam several years ago..i still feel place in my bones...chilling,stark,ominous...i am in awe of the courage of the protectors and the desperation of the protected...thank you miep for your mitzvah...may our loving creator comfort you for all time...
She was of course harboring illegals. People proscribed by law, and thus Miep Gies was violating the law because of her human decency. Human decency. That is what separates liberals from conservatives. Had the conservatives gotten hold of her she would have been in real trouble for protecting illegals. What was going on in Europe at that time was a classic conflict between traditional liberal values, humanity, and typical conservative values, the preservation of racial purity and the acquisition of land and wealth. The Nazis were certain that the world had been created for the superior Aryan Race to dominate and the lesser men had been created for the Aryans to dominate and displace. Decent, human people understood the fundamental inhumanity and evil in that vision. The Nazis led Germany to destruction, and Germany does not entertain such a vile beilief now. There are nations which do. Nations which believe that God gave them the right to take what they want from anyone i
"The Israel Holocaust memorial organization Yad Vashem also expressed its regret over Gies' death in a statement saying "we were saddened to learn this morning that Righteous Among the Nations Miep gies has passed away." Just what is this "Righteous Among the Nations" title all about? I never see this designation applied to Jews but only to non-Jews only. Are Jews special people?
It's a shame that Haaretz didn't include Gies website so here goes: http://www.miepgies.nl/en/ rip
you were such a good person,i was so sad to hear you passed away..rip..you will always be a hero in my eyes...
Goodbye Miep, a woman who risked her life not once, but thousands of times , to look after those whom the world had forgotten. If you are in The UK and would like to know more , visit the "Anne Frank + You" exhibition in Westminster for all of January. Recommended for children over 10 years old.
May GOD keep her close ....
Miep Gies. She was a compassionate,brave & good woman from Holland. But the truth has to be said,that the Dutch collaborated with the Nazis throught WW2. And under such an atmosphere of hatred & spying at one's neighbours,it's even more heroic to come out & help someone not from your close family. In a reign of terror,people tend to keep to themselves. It also surely shows that somewhere,no doubt, good Germans must have helped their neighbours. For them it was doubly more difficult.
chose to help. Jews and Israel have a mission to help this planet and the brutal hatred thrown at them throughout history is a measure of where humanity is. Those people who condemn Jews/Israel or any people that are under attack are really condemning themselves. I know that she will rest in peace and I hope there are other great souls out there who will step up to the plate even at their own risk as this very very great soul did. RIP Miep and thank you for being an example for all the souls of this earth
When The family was taken Miep went into the heart of the lions den, Gestapo HQ and tried to get them freed. Few people if any came out of there in one piece. Just for that one act and not taking into account the years of support she gave to the family, then there is no such thing as a hero. She was a most exeptional and couragous woman.
Miep Gies was a good, brave and modest person. if there would have been more Miep's in The Netherlands, there would have been saved more Jews in WW2. Unfortenately many Dutch helped the Germans instead of the Jews. They betrayed, stole and arrested ( police ) Jews in Holland. Miep Gies, we will always remember you and what you did.
We lived in the same neighbourhood. and befriended the family that saved my brother.It was a joy to pay for the many transatlantic flight for 40 years. Tante (aunty) Cateryn lives forever in our hearts. Miep Gies and a host of loving Gentiles...we owe you a debt that is beyond measure
Miep, your actions and humble dignity were an example to billions. You are like a mother Theresa, a modern "mother figure" to today's humanity.