Miep Gies Research Paper

“It is our human duty to help those who are in trouble.” -Miep Gies. Miep Gies hid eight people during World War II for two years. Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father, asked Miep Gies to hide his family. She agreed without hesitation; sheltering Otto, Edith and their two daughters Margot and Anne, Herman and his wife Petronella and their son Peter, and Albert Dussel, an elderly dentist. To understanding her life will help to know more about her early life, what her life was like during the time she hid eight people, after those eight people were arrested, and her life after world war II.

Early Life:

Miep Gies was born on February 15, 1909, in Vienna, Austria (University of Michigan, 2014). Gies was born with the name Hermine Santruschitz. When Hermine was five years old, World War I started. Since the war was happening food was scarce. Hermine was undernourished and was often not feeling well. In 1919, Hermine’s …show more content…
Miep, Jan, and Otto move to a new house. That same Summer, Miep finally reads Anne’s diary (After the betrayal and after the war, n.d.). She hadn’t read it before because she thought it would bring out the memories she had with Anne. However, in 1948, Jan won the lottery (After the betrayal and after the war, n.d.)! Jan, Miep, and Otto spent the money on a trip to Switzerland. In 1949, at age 40, Miep fell pregnant. Paul Gies was born on July 30, 1950 (After the betrayal and after the war, n.d.). At age 78, Miep published her book Anne Frank remembered: the story of a woman who helped hide the Frank family (Gies, M, 1987). Seven years later, she received the Raoul Wallenberg Award for Bravery (Hearst, E, 2017)! Every year on August fourth, the day the eight people was arrested, Miep shuts her blinds, doesn’t answer her door or phone. She could never overcome the shock of what had happened. Miep died on January 11, 2010, age 100, in Hoorn Netherland (Youth,