Miep Gies

 

Hermine "Miep" Gies née Santrouschitz was born in Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire (today Vienna, Austria) on February 15, 1909.

To escape the food shortages caused by the Defeat and Collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War 1 she was sent to The Netherlands (which had been Neutral during the War) in 1920.

In 1933 she became a Secretary with the Dutch Branch of the German Spice Company “Opteka” in Amsterdam – when Otto Frank became its Managing Director (having just fled the Nazis in Frankfurt, Germany.)

In 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria. Miep lost her Austrian Citizenship (as all Austrians automatically did at the time.) When she refused to join a Nazi Woman’s Association the Germans stripped her of her German Citizenship too.

Being Stateless she faced the prospect of Deportation to German-Annexed Austria. She was able to gain extensions until she married Jan Gies (her Boyfriend of many years and a Dutch Citizenship on July 16, 1941) and became a Dutch Citizen – even though the Germans have invaded and occupied the Netherlands since May 1940.

With her Husband, Jan, and other “Opteka” Employees: Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman and Bep Voskuijl) Miep helped hide Otto Frank, Edith Frank, Margot Frank, Anne Frank, Hermann Van Pels, Auguste Van Pels, Peter Van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer in the upstairs rooms of “Opteka’s Office Building at 265 Prinsengracht from July 6, 1942 until August 4, 1944.

It was up to Miep to find food on the Black Market on a daily basis for the 8 hidden People since none of them received German Food Ration Books. Miep also got Anne, Margot and Peter Correspondence Courses so they could continue their education in secret.

On the morning of August 4, 1944 the German Uniformed Police (Grüne Polizei) led by SS-Oberscharführer Karl Silberbauer of the Sicherheitsdienst forced Miep, at gunpoint, to open the entrance to the upstairs hiding place and arrested all 8 people hidden there (along with Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman.)

Silberbauer didn’t arrest Miep because she was from Vienna (as was he) which she told him because of her dialect of German.

On August 7, 1944 Miep went to Silberbauer to try and arrange the release of the 10 people, but he refused.

Before the Germans emptied the hiding place of all its belongings (as they did every person they deported) Miep went upstairs and gathered all the documents, diaries, etc. that she could find and kept them hidden until the war ended.

When Otto Frank arrived back from Auschwitz in 1945 he learned everyone he hid with, including his Daughter Anne, were dead and so Miep gave him the documents and diaries she had saved.

The Fate of the Hidden:

Edith Frank Died in the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland on January 6, 1945 (10 days before her 45^th Birthday and 21 days before the Camp was liberated.)

Margot Frank: Died in the Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp in Germany in February 1945 at the age of 18.

Anne Frank: Died in the Bergen Belsen Concentration in Germany in February 1945 at the age of 15.

Herman Van Pels: died in the Gas Chamber at Auschwitz in German-Occupied Poland in October 1944 (his Selection was witnessed by both Otto Frank and Peter Van Pels.) He was 46 years old.

Auguste Van Pels: Died by being thrown off a Cattle Train near the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in German-Occupied Czechoslovakia in April 1945. She was 37 years old.

Peter Van Pels: Died at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in German-Annexed Austria in May 1945. He was 18 years old.

Fritz Pfeffer: Died at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp in Germany on December 20, 1944. He was 55 years old.

Otto Frank:  Worked at “Opteka” again from 1945-1952 when he moved to Switzerland. In 1953, he married Elfride "Fritzi" Markovits-Geiringer, an Auschwitz Survivor He died in Birsfelden, Switzerland from Lung Cancer, on August 19, 1980 at the age of 91.

 

The Fate of the Helpers:

Johannes Kleiman: Spent 6 weeks in a German Work Camp, but was released after intervention from the Red Cross. He took over running “Opteka” in 1952. He died at his office desk in 1959 from a stroke at the age of 62.

Victor Kugler: Spent 7 months n German Work Camps before escaping in March 1945. He immigrated in Canada in 1955. He died on December 16, 1981 at the age of 81.

Bep Voskuijl: Left “Opekta” shortly after the war and married Cornelis van Wijk in 1946 and had 4 children. She died on May 6, 1983 at the age of 63.

Jan Gies: Miep’s Husband was in the Dutch Resistance during the War. He let Otto Frank live with him and his Wife from 1945-1952.  He died in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on January 26, 1993 at the age of 87 having been married to Miep for 52 years.

Miep Gies: She let Otto Frank live with her and her Husband from 1945-1952. In 1950 she had a Son, named Paul. In 1994, Miep was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the Wallenberg Medal by the University of Michigan. In 1995, Miep received the Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Medal. In 1997, she was Knighted in the Order of Orange-Nassau by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. In 2009, the Austrian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Wolfgang Paul, presented the Grand Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria to Miep. She died on January 11, 2010 in Hoorn, the Netherlands at the age of 100.  

On Monday (May 1, 2023) Disney+ and Hulu will air “A Small Light” about how Miep Gies helped save Anne Frank and the other 7 during the German Occupation. Bel Powley plays Miep Gies and Live Schreiber plays Otto Frank.