Miep Gies and the Diary of Anne Frank: A Light in The Dark

"Miep Gies: A Light in the Dark"

Imagine a world where you are forced to hide and protect your friends from a plague that has devoured most of Europe already, an army that kills people for no reason but hateful discrimination. Unfortunately, this was a reality for Hermine "Miep" Santrouschitz-Gies. In the play The Diary of Anne Frank and Related Readings, by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, Miep fulfills what she believes what is her duty; she felt that "permanent remorse about failing to do your human duty...can be worse than losing your life" (Scholastic 1). Anne Frank, along with the rest of her family and four others hid in the Secret Annex from the Nazis, with only Miep and Mr. Kraler to talk to. There is no doubt that Gies saved the lives of nine people, hiding eight in the Annex and one in her own home. Miep Gies, a true hero of the Holocaust, helped conceal and protect the Secret Annex members and preserved the diary, revealing to the world that the Holocaust spanned all cultures and races, even into the secluded life of a young and vivacious thirteen-year old girl.

Anne Kristine Osland

Anne Boleyn

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film)

Although Miep was not the ideal projection of a hero, she did do something that often makes one a hero; she risked her life to save the lives of those around her. Gies had agreed instantly to take care of them when Otto Frank asked, hiding them for twenty-five long months (Holocaust and... 173). Consequently, Miep would have suffered the same fate as the Annex members if she had been caught; however, she was always optimistic and calm when visiting to drop off supplies and share news (174). These included everything from food and soap to wool, linen, hairpins and library books (13). For Anne, whom Miep...