Miep Gies

Miep Gies, a mulher que escondeu Anne Frank e a sua família faleceu no passado dia 11-01-2010.
Para quem não conhece a história, Miep Gies arriscou a própria vida para salvar a família Frank. é mencionada no Diário de Anne Frank...
Deixo aqui um texto com o resumo da sua vida. O texto está em Inglês, quem quiser uma tradução que me mande um e-mail.

Miep Gies is born with the name Hermine Santrouschitz in 1909 in Vienna, Austria. An Austrian Christian, she has to leave her family for economic reasons. She is sent to Leiden, Holland, as part of a relief program to help malnourished children. She lives there with a "host family," whom she grows to love very much. They give her the name Miep, feeling Hermine is too formal. In 1922, she moves with her adopted family to Amsterdam.

In 1933, Miep hears about an opening for a job as an office assistant for Otto Frank, a gentleman who has just moved to Amsterdam. Miep takes the job and becomes good friends with Otto, his wife Edith, and their daughters, Margot and Anne.

During the 1930s, Miep, Otto, and the other members of the office often discuss the dangerous events developing in Germany and Austria. Miep strongly disagrees with the policies of Hitler and the Nazis.

In 1938, during a routine renewal of her Austrian passport, Miep discovers that it is no longer valid. It is replaced with a German passport bearing the Nazi swastika. Shortly afterward, she is invited to join a Nazi-affiliated women's organization. She tells the woman who is urging her to become a member that she will not join the club when the Germans are doing such awful things to the Jews in Germany.

The Germans invade Holland in 1940. Miep is summoned to the German consulate, where she is informed that because her passport is invalid, she will have to return to Austria. The only way to prevent this is to become a Dutch citizen. On July 16, 1941, Miep Santrouschitz marries her boyfriend, Jan Gies, thus becoming a Dutch citizen.


The treatment of Jews in Holland — and all of Nazi-occupied Europe — continues to worsen. In 1942, Otto Frank informs Miep that he and his family are going into hiding. Though she could be severely punished for helping to hide Jews, Miep immediately offers her support.

On July 5, Margot Frank receives a summons to report to a forced-labor camp. Otto Frank tells Miep that the family will have to go into hiding the next day. Miep escorts Margot to the "Secret Annex," a building to the rear of Otto Frank's place of business. Later that morning she slips Otto, Edith, and Anne into the Annex. The van Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer, Miep's dentist, later join the Franks in hiding.


For two years, Miep Gies supplies those in hiding with part of her food rations, news from the outside, and most importantly, friendship. Anne is quite fond of Miep and writes about her in her diary.

Dutch and German police raid the Secret Annex on August 4, 1944, arresting those in hiding. Miep is questioned by an officer about her involvement in the plot. Miep avoids arrest because the officer,who is also from Vienna, Austria, feels a connection to her. Later, Miep unsuccessfully tries to bribe the Austrian Nazi officer with money in exchange for releasing her friends. He refuses.


Shortly after the arrests, Miep returns to the attic and finds Anne's diaries, as well as papers and family photographs. She collects everything and hides them in her desk drawer. She hopes to present them to Anne when she is freed.

Otto Frank survives the Holocaust, returning to Amsterdam from Auschwitz in 1945. He lives with Miep and Jan Gies. After Otto learns that none of his family has survived, Miep presents him with the papers she has collected from the attic floor. The Diary of Anne Frank is published two years later. In the 50 years since its publication, the diary has been read by tens of millions of people worldwide.

Jan Gies, Miep's husband, died in 1993. Miep still lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She has one son. She died in 11-01-2010, with the age of 100

Este texto não é da minha autoria, foi retirado integralmente, exepto a última frase, deste site: http://teacher.scholastic.com/frank/miep.htm