Miep Gies

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Miep Gies (1987)

Miep Gies (born February 15, 1909 in Vienna as Hermine Santrouschitz , † January 11, 2010 in Hoorn , Netherlands ) was one of the four helpers who helped Anne Frank , her family and the van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer families during the Second World War to submerge.

Early years

The future Miep Gies grew up in poor circumstances, which is why her parents sent her to Leiden in the Netherlands in 1920 as part of a project to support malnourished children . She lived there with a host family, with whom she had an extremely good relationship. There she got her nickname "Miep". In 1922 she moved to Amsterdam with her host family . In 1933 she applied to work as a secretary in Otto Frank's Dutch branch of the Opekta company . She received the post and a friendship developed with Otto Frank, his wife Edith and their daughters Anne and Margot .

persecution

In the following years the danger from the National Socialists steadily increased, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands , which was not involved in the war, was occupied by German troops in 1940. Hermine Santrouschitz was an opponent of Adolf Hitler's policies and spoke openly about it with Otto Frank. Since she refused to join a Dutch Nazi women's party, her Austrian identity card was invalidated and she was asked to return to Austria . She tried to marry a Dutchman; this was their only chance of staying in the country. Within the remaining three months she managed to get her birth certificate from Austria, which had been "attached" to the German Reich since 1938 , and married Jan Gies on July 16, 1941, which gave her Dutch citizenship and now officially called Hermione Gies.

When the threat to the Jewish population in the Netherlands increased, Otto Frank informed Miep Gies of his plans to go into hiding with the entire family. Despite the danger that this created for her, she immediately promised him her help. On July 5, 1942, Margot Frank received an order to report to a labor camp . Otto Frank then decided to hide the family and himself immediately in the rear building at Prinsengracht 263, which was actually only planned for a later date. Miep Gies initially accompanied Margot, later Otto, Edith and Anne to the hiding place. The van Pels family and Gies' dentist Fritz Pfeffer joined them later. In the following two years, Miep Gies helped the Frank and van Pels families and Fritz Pfeffer with food and newspapers, but also with friendly affection and encouragement. This time is given in particular detail in Anne Frank's diary . Among the helpers were still Johannes Kleiman , Bep and Victor Kugler .

On August 4, 1944, the people in hiding were discovered and arrested by the “Green Police”. Miep Gies was also present, but escaped arrest by explaining to Inspector Karl Josef Silberbauer that she, like him, was from Vienna. Thereupon he refrained from reporting, but threatened to track her down if she should escape. She later tried to bribe Silberbauer with money in order to obtain the release of the Frank and van Pels families from prison, which usually meant death. The policeman rejected the attempted bribe because he was "not in a position" to "be allowed to decide".

Miep Gies entered the Secret Annex the afternoon after the arrest and rescued the remaining personal belongings of the deported families, including Anne Frank's diary entries. In 1945 she gave this to Otto Frank, who was the only one to return to Amsterdam.

After the war

Miep Gies (right) and her husband Jan Gies (center) (1989)

In 1950 she gave birth to her son Paul. Her husband Jan Gies died in 1993.

Miep Gies last lived in good physical and mental health in her house in Hoorn in the province of North Holland . She was the last surviving helper Anne Frank had known personally. Until her death, Gies answered letters sent to her by readers of the Anne Frank Diary from all over the world. She was interviewed by Jon Blair in 1995 as a contemporary witness for the documentary Anne Frank - Contemporary Witnesses Remember .

Miep Gies died at the age of 100 on the evening of January 11, 2010 after a short illness in the nursing home where she lived.

Awards

Commemoration

In 2011, a park in Vienna's 12th district, Meidling , between the cable works and the route of the U6 underground line south of the Tscherttegasse underground station or between Stüber-Gunther-Gasse and Hoffingergasse was named after Miep Gies. Miep-Gies-Park is not far from the house where Hermine Santrouschitz, married Gies, lived as a child. On the park naming board erected in 2011, her trip to the Netherlands was erroneously dated as 1929; it took place in 1920.

Fonts

  • In collaboration with Alison Leslie Gold: My time with Anne Frank. Report of the woman who looked after Anne Frank and her family in their hiding place, saved them for a long time from deportation - and yet could not save them (original title: Anne Frank remembered translated by Liselotte Julius), Scherz Verlag , Bern / Munich / Frankfurt am Main / Wien 1987, ISBN 3-502-18266-3 and in numerous other editions and translations, currently on the author's 100th birthday: Fischer Taschenbuch 18367, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-18367-8 (extended Edition with a new epilogue by Miep Gies, newly translated from English by Irmengard Gabler).
  • Epilogue to Melissa Müller : The girl Anne Frank . [Biography], Claassen, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-546-00151-6 ; as List-Taschenbuch 60730, Ullstein, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-548-60730-6 .
  • Bettina Flitner : women with visions - 48 Europeans. With texts by Alice Schwarzer . Bettina Flitner: A visit to Miep Gies. Knesebeck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-89660-211-X , pp. 88-95.

Web links

Commons : Miep Gies  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Miep Gies - Activity to Save Jews from the Holocaust , on the Yad Vashem website
  2. ↑ Raoul Wallenberg Award Recipients , website of the Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States of America, accessed on January 12, 2010
  3. ↑ 100th birthday of Miep Gies , press release of the Anne Frank House Amsterdam of February 12, 2009, accessed on January 12, 2010
  4. ^ Austrian Embassy The Hague: Austrian award for Anne Frank helper Miep Gies ; Press release on APA-OTS original text service.
  5. ↑ Stern named after Anne Frank helper Miep Gies ( Memento from December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), in: Lausitzer Rundschau online from October 4, 2009, accessed on January 12, 2010
  6. ↑ [1]
personal data
SURNAME Gies, Miep
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Santrouschitz, Hermine (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch author, assistant to Anne Frank and her family
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 2010
Place of death Hoorn , Netherlands