Miep Gies

(http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/All-people/ ())

"Imagine young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero?" ("Miep Gies Quote." BrainyQuote. Xplore, 2001. Web. 09 Feb. 2015). Miep Gies thought she wasn't a hero. She wanted people to start thinking who is a hero and why is she considered a hero. Hermine Santrouschitz AKA Miep Gies was born in Austria. In the year 1920 her baby sister was born. Gies was born to a time that there was not enough food for everyone, her parents thought that if the situation will stay that way she will die. She was one of more than twenty thousand courageous Dutch people who helped hide Jews and others from the Germans during World War II (1939-45). "Nearly every day for more than two years, Gies brought food, companionship, and news of the outside world at tremendous personal risk to eight Jewish people concealed in an attic in Amsterdam, Holland" ("Miep Gies" Newsmakers). She possessed the traits of fearless and wanting to make a change in the world for the sake of putting other people before her own physical and emotional needs. Miep Gies never considered herself as a hero, even though during World War II she was fearless and helped the Jews. She found Anne Frank's diary and published it which made a change in the world. She is an inspiration to the world.

(http://neoneocon.com/2009/02/17/a-milestone-for-a- ())

Miep Gies was fearless for helping the Jews while knowing that if she gets caught the Germans will kill her. "After the Nazi invasion of 1940, Frank prepared a secret annex behind a swinging bookcase in a room above the firm's offices, and in July 1942 the family of four Otto, his wife, Edith, and their daughters, Margot and Anne went into hiding, leaving a false trail indicating that they had fled to Switzerland" ("Hero helped save Anne Frank's diary"). "They were able to get the food needed without raising suspicions. Gies also took out library books and baked a holiday cake to try to keep up the spirits of her friends" ("Miep Gies" Newsmakers ). Miep Gies helped the Frank family, she gave them food, baked cookies and tried to give them a holiday feeling. She was becoming more than just help, she became a friend. Miep Gies gave up on living a normal life style, she decided to help the Frank family while they were hiding in the attic. She did it from the kindness of her heart without asking for anything in return. Austrian-born Dutch woman risked her life daily to hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis. "Miep spent a suffocating, sleepless night on Anne's small, hard bed. She listened to the church clock across the garden chime at 15-minute intervals, listened to her own heart pound. She became aware of what it meant to be imprisoned in those small rooms and felt a taste of the helpless fear these people were forced to endure day and night" ("Miep Gies and The Diary of Anne Frank"). Even though Miep Gies an Austrian born Dutch citizen was not Jewish, one night she spent the night in the attic with the Frank family and finally realized how their lifestyle has been. She didn't have to spent the night in that suffocating attic and the Frank family didn't make her stay there. She just stayed because she wanted to. She knew that if someone will catch her she will die with the Frank family but she was fearless and brave. Miep Gies didn't give up even when she knew her life was in danger for helping the Frank family but she overcame her fear and helped from the kindness of her heart.

(schoolworkhelper.net ())

Miep Gies found Anne Frank's diary and without second guessing she gave it to Otto Frank and made a change in the world. Anne's diary later was published by her father as The Secret Annex in 1947. "Gies gave him (Otto) Anne's papers when her death was reported, but refused to read or listen to any excerpts. She did not look at them until the second printing of their publication because she was afraid they would hold too much grief for her" ("Miep Gies" Newsmakers). Miep Gies gave Anne Frank's father (Otto Frank) Anne's diary. She could have just kept it all to herself but instead she exposed it to the world, to see the horrors and how a 15 year old girl handled starvation, abuse and even death. Miep was so attached to Anne Frank that she couldn't even read her diary, she was afraid that it would be too hard for her, the grief made her the strong person she was. She wrote a book after the death of Otto Frank named "Anne Frank Remembered". "She wrote the book after the death of Otto Frank in 1980, when she and Jan realized that they were the only witnesses left alive to speak of the Franks' tragedy. 'It was very painful for us,' she told an interviewer, 'but we finally did it' "("Miep Gies"Biographies). After Gies published Anne's diary that showed the world what it was like to be a teen in a war, she wrote her own book to show other people the non Jewish side of the war. she explained her struggles and showed how in one dark attic a small light can be found. After all of her Jewish friends died she felt that, as the only live witness that was left, that she had to tell the story. She never said that as a non-Jewish survivor that the war didn't happen. Like some people say she told her story with pride, respect, and that way she made a change in the world.

(interhigh-history.wikispaces.com ())

As Miep Gies stated, "Imagine young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero?" She never considered herself as a hero even though during World War II she was fearless and helped the Jews. She found Anne Frank's diary and published it which made a change in the world, she is an inspiration to the world. Miep Gies was trying to explain to the next generation how even after everything that the Frank family had been through they stayed friendly and grateful. She felt that when she found Anne's book she found Anne. By wanting to make Anne's dream come true she published her diary. Miep Gies gave Anne Frank life after her death. Gies felt like she lost herself after Anne's death but every time she felt like she was losing herself she would remind herself what a wonderful family they were, and what a wonderful daughter they had. She never asked something in return, she only wanted to give them the lifestyle she had. She also tried to give them feeling, culture and food all from the bottom of her heart. Miep Gies is a hero to me because for Jews like myself to know that she helped people during the war makes me happy, happy to know that there were nice people and not all of them wanted us to disappear. "I have no word to describe these people who were still always friendly and grateful. Yes, I do have a word, Heroes. True heroes they were. People sometimes call me a hero. I don't like it .. I myself, I'm just a very common person. I simply had no choice. I could not save Anne's life. However, I did save her diary and by that I could help her most important dreams to come true. She tells us that she wants to live on after her death. Now, her diary makes her really living on in a most powerful way. And that helps me in those many hours of deep grief"("Miep Gies and The Diary of Anne Frank"). Gies never called herself a hero, she called the Frank family heroes and that what made her a real hero.

(www.telegraph.co.uk ())

Works Cited

Bulow, Louis. "Miep Gies and The Diary of Anne Frank." Miep Gies and The Diary of Anne Frank. N.p., 2010-2012. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.

"Hero helped save Anne Frank's diary." New Zealand Herald [Auckland, New Zealand] 16 Jan. 2010: 27.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.

"Miep Gies." Newsmakers. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Biography in Context. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.

"Miep Gies." Newsmakers. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Student Resources in Context. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.

"Miep Gies." UXL Biographies. Detroit: UXL, 2011. Student Resources in Context. Web. 5 Feb. 2015.