- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHermine Santrouschitz
- Height4′ 11″ (1.50 m)
- Miep Gies was born on February 15, 1909 in Vienna, Austria. She was a writer, known for Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank (1988) and Anne Frank Remembered (1995). She was married to Jan Gies. She died on January 11, 2010 in Abbekerk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
- SpouseJan Gies(July 16, 1941 - January 26, 1993) (his death, 1 child)
- ChildrenPaul Gies
- ParentsHermine Santrouschitz.Karoline Maria Santruschitz
- Used to live in Abbekerk, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands.
- Was Dutch (was sent there at the age of 11 to recover from malnutrition).
- 13 July 1950: Son, Paul Gies, born.
- Helped (together with her husband) several Jews during the Holocaust in World War II, including Anne Frank and her family. Was Dutch. She was born in Austria, but was sent to Holland at the age of 11 because of the bad conditions in Austria.
- Got the first name "Miep" from her Dutch foster family.
- People should never think that you have to be a very special person to help those who need you.
- But even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room.
- We did our duty as human beings: helping people in need.
- You are the heroes. You are the heroes everyday.
- During the hiding time I lived for the day that the war would end, when I would be able to go into the hiding place, throw open the doors, and say to my friends, "Now go home!" This was not to be. Perhaps when the time comes for me to join Jan and our friends in the hereafter, I'll push aside the bookcase, walk behind it, climb the steep wooden stairway, careful not to hit my head on the low ceiling where Peter nailed the old towel to it. Upstairs Jan will be leaning against the edge of the dresser, his long legs stretched out, the cat Mouschi in his arms. All the others will be sitting around the table and will greet me when I enter. And Anne, with her usual curiosity, will get up and rush toward me saying, "Hello, Miep. What is the news?" I doubt I have very long to wait. People ask me what it is like to have outlived almost everyone whose history I have shared. It is a strange feeling. Why me? Why was I spared the concentration camp after being caught helping to hide Jews? This I will never know.
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