“Miep looks like a pack mule. She goes out nearly everyday in search of vegetables, and then cycles back with her purchases in large shopping bags. She’s also the one who brings five library books with her every Saturday.”–The Diary of Anne Frank, July 11, 1943
The funeral service for Miep Gies was attended by hundreds yesterday in Amsterdam and condolences have been pouring in from all over the world on the Anne Frank Museum’s virtual condolence register. Gies, the last surviving member of the group who helped protect Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis, died on Monday at the age of 100.
She and other employees of Frank’s father, Otto, supplied food to the family as they hid in a secret annex above the business premises in Amsterdam. Ultimately, it was Miep Gies who discovered the pages of Anne’s diary on the floor after the family had been discovered and dispatched to a concentration camp.
In a 1998 interview, Gies recalled that after removing the pages, she did not read them immediately, telling herself at the time: “These may belong to a child, but even children have a right to privacy.” She saved them, hoping that one day she would be able to give them back, but after the young girl’s death, she returned them to Otto Frank. Miep and Otto eventually compiled the entries into the bestselling diary that was published in 1947.
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January 18, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Terri Sutton
God Bless Her
February 7, 2010 at 8:05 am
James Hilton
Meip was an amazing lady and was one of the greatest examples of pure stength and courage. RIP Meip. God Bless. XX
June 14, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Karen
II met Miep Gies in 1994 she is such an amazing person. When I hugged and thanked her for all that she had done. I couldn’t believe I was actually talking to a major part of history noless how much I admire her for all she had done. God bless her and. May she R.I.P. Karen from Long Island, New York
June 14, 2010 at 5:00 pm
noveldestinations
Karen, what an amazing story! Miep Gies is one person I would love to have met. What she did for the Frank family is truly inspiring.
June 27, 2010 at 11:27 pm
eva mosbauer
words dont come easy for me at the best of times, but my feeling run deep I believe that many blessings come from helping others in need,if every body did as Miep Gies then many lives could have been saved. It would have been an honour and a privilege to have met such a women in life, may Heavenly Father bless her for eternity.