what happened to mouschi in the diary of anne frank
Miep Gies, the woman who risked her life daily to help
hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis, visited the Scholastic Spider web site in May 1997. During this projection, students had the opportunity to ask Miep questions well-nigh Anne Frank, her family, and the other people in hiding. Below are Miep's answers to questions from students.
Click the following categories to run across specific questions and answers from the interview:
Hiding the Franks | The Capture | Afterwards the War — Otto Frank | About WW 2 | Anne Frank | The Diary | Near Miep Gies | The Addendum | Thank-you Notes to Miep Gies
Hiding the Franks
How did y'all react when you heard that you lot were going to be taking in Anne Frank? Did you lot agree right away or did it accept time to convince you to do this?
What were your feelings almost the Franks going into hiding?
I was glad that Otto Frank decided to get into hiding, considering I was extremely concerned about him and his family, seeing what was happening to the Jews in Amsterdam. Every day you saw trucks with Jews heading for the railway station, from where the trains left for the camps. Nobody e'er heard from them again, so I idea Otto did wise to become into hiding.
What was it like to lookout Anne and her family unit in hiding? What was Anne'south personality like?
I constitute it extremely painful to see people who would dearest to go out and live in freedom now sitting in a small place and worrying all the time what the future would bring. It is truly awful to sentinel people living in fright. Otto had been my dominate for many years. Now, all of sudden, he was dependent on me.
How was information technology adamant who would hide in the Annex?
Otto Frank decided who would stay in the hiding identify.
Did you lot know about the hush-hush room earlier the Franks hid in that location?
The hiding place was initially just part of the business. It was the laboratory, used for product development. During the war there was no development of new products, then Otto Frank decided to transform this space into a hiding space.
Why did you accept on the responsibility of hiding the Franks?
My decision to help Otto was because I saw no alternative. I could foresee many sleepless nights and an unhappy life if I refused. And that was not the kind of failure I wanted for myself. Permanent remorse virtually failing to exercise your man duty, in my opinion, tin exist worse than losing your life.
Did your husband agree with you lot virtually hiding the Franks, or did y'all have to convince him?
My husband was in total agreement with my efforts to help the Franks. Actually, he was merely equally active in profitable them and often visited with the families.
What was it similar knowing that the fate of eight people rested in your hands and that you were i of their near valuable resources?
I certainly felt responsible. Especially to notice them enough food and then they would stay healthy, that was always on my listen.
Was information technology hard to proceed the people in hiding a secret?
It was not easy to keep the people in hiding a clandestine. They were asking questions all the time, merely yous did not desire to upset them with what happened to the Jews in Amsterdam. Anne particularly kept asking and it was her that I told more well-nigh the trucks with Jewish families heading for the railway station.
We both read Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary and thought it was dandy. We also think you are very dauntless to help the Franks and the Van Pels. Nosotros would like to know how one-time you were. Who were you lot closest to in the Cloak-and-dagger Addendum?
I was a young woman in my thirties. I was closest with Anne and with her father, Otto. Anne, because she was the 1 request me questions all the time; particularly most what was going on in the globe exterior the hiding identify. As a thing of fact, I liked talking with her. I was 20 years older than she was, but it was like talking to a much older person than a teenager. With Otto I had a shut contact considering together we were actually managing the logistics of their stay in the hiding identify.
Did anyone e'er suspect that you were hiding people?
Nobody, not fifty-fifty my own foster parents knew nigh the people in hiding. Therefore, I had no reason to believe that anyone would suspect this. By visiting several unlike suppliers a day and not buying everything at the same place, I avoided suspicion with the grocery shops.
How did you proceed the workers at the manufactory from becoming suspicious?
We kept the workers at the factory from becoming suspicious by avoiding as much as possible to enter the hiding place during function hours. Farther, the people in hiding would not flush the toilet during the day and avoid making whatsoever other noises.
How did you lot manage to alive when you were giving most of your nutrient away?
I had to buy food in the "blackness" market. My husband Jan also helped by providing me with so-chosen ration cards he had obtained illegally. I also knew suppliers, similar for instance the greengrocer, who understood what I was doing and would help as much as he could.
When you were going back and forth transporting nutrient and goods to the Franks, did you have to clothing a disguise or have some blazon of plan so the Nazis wouldn't see you?
Information technology was difficult to bring food to the building where the Franks were hiding. I could not bring everything at one time because it would enhance suspicion. I never carried more than what ane shopping purse could hold or what I could hide under my coat. So, I had to make several trips every twenty-four hour period.
I understand that you lot got food for the people in hiding. But, how exactly did you go enough food for anybody in hiding and yourself?
I felt permanent business concern regarding the food state of affairs. Past visiting several grocery shops and markets a day, I developed a good feeling for the supply state of affairs.
I would like to know what it was like to spend a nighttime in the hiding place.
Spending that night in the hiding place, together with my hubby, opened my eyes for the awful position of my friends. To alive with 8 people in such a small identify, never existence allowed to leave, never being able to talk to friends and always fearing the coming of the constabulary.
Why didn't the Franks sleep during the mean solar day when they were in hiding in the attic?
Why did the Frank'south not sleep during the day and be up during the night? A good question. I recall our biological rhythm makes it difficult to do that. Further, during the nighttime, the neighbors would accept more hands noticed noises.
What did the people in hiding exercise with their trash?
The trash (which is very piffling in times of scarcity) was burned at night in the stove.
What was life like for Margot, Anne, and Peter in the attic?
Life for Peter, Margot, and Anne, existence and then young, was particularly difficult. They could never get out to play and encounter with friends. They could not do whatever sports, become to the embankment, walk through the forests, or do any shopping.
What happened to Mushi, Peter'south cat?
After they were arrested, the cat was still there. It did non run away. But the cat did non feel at home anymore. Information technology missed Peter. Simply ane day the part cleaner asked if she could take the true cat. She took Mushi and gave the true cat a new home.
Who was the most hard in hiding?
I can't point at anyone who was hard to hide. After the war Otto told me (one-half jokingly) that simply Anne's somewhat provocative mental attitude caused problems.
Was it hard on the people in the Hugger-mugger Annex to stay tranquility for such a long period of time?
I think information technology must have been very difficult for the people in the attic to be tranquility for such a long catamenia. I always feel that they were the true heroes during those years.
How did the people get forth being locked up for so long?
From Anne'due south diary we know that it was not e'er easy for the people in hiding to become along pleasantly. I myself never noticed tensions when I visited with them. Later the state of war, I learned that Otto sternly warned them non to bother the helpers with their conflicts.
How did it experience knowing that yous could be raided at any moment, and if the Franks were found, even killed?
I can't remember that I was really afraid while I was hiding the families; I was too busy finding food and other supplies to find time to worry. When I saw my bed in the evening, I would merely fall comatose.
Did you ever consider telling on those in hiding in society to salve your ain life?
I never considered betraying the Franks, any benefit this might have meant for me.
Was there a time when you most got defenseless?
Before the arrest, I believe, we never had a narrow escape.
Did yous ever feel similar the suspicion was mounting and felt that yous did not want to exist responsible for the Franks and wanted them to leave (and all the other residents)?
I concord that Anne'south diary reflects her growing business organization about the future. I myself was more optimistic, because the war was gradually coming to an finish and during the ii years no serious threats became evident. I certainly never considered to stop helping or have them get out. I never wanted to skip responsibility for my friends.
The Capture
Tell usa most the 24-hour interval the Germans arrived to have the Franks abroad. Did you lot try to warn the Franks that 24-hour interval? Or did y'all come up home to visit them, and they were gone? Did y'all try to find them that twenty-four hours?
I would have tried, of course, simply it was impossible. One morn, sitting at my desk-bound, I looked upward and saw a man pointing a gun at me and saying, "Don't motility, continue silent!" The adjacent twenty-four hours I went to the German police office to endeavor to detect them. I offered money to buy them costless, merely I did not succeed. I was very scared when they came that 24-hour interval!
Could you describe for me the concluding time that y'all saw Anne?
The last time I saw Anne was at 9:00 on the morning time of the arrest. About 11 o'clock the police force came. I can't recollect what Anne said that last fourth dimension. I call up it was her usual "Howdy Miep, and what is the news?"
How did the Nazis notice the attic? Who do you recall turned the Franks in to the Green Police?
Someone must take betrayed them to the Nazis. We never found out. Don't forget that many people lived in that neighborhood and possibly noticed something past day or heard something at nighttime. It could take been one of the burglars that came to that identify. It could accept likewise been one of the people working in the edifice. Nosotros will never know. The Austrian policeman was interviewed afterward, just he did not know who had called the constabulary with the data. The Nazi who took the call died. Then they could not enquire him who had called. No one knows. Twice, after the state of war, the Dutch police force made an extensive endeavor to find the person who turned my friends in. Without success! There were suspicions. Some people were pointing at the man working in the warehouse, simply the Court decided there was no prove. Also, in my opinion, I don't think this man has done it. So, nosotros don't know!
How did you find out about the Franks' capture?
If you read my volume Anne Frank Remembered (Simon & Schuster), you will see that I was in the function at the moment the police came. I regret to discover that the play — and from other publications — give a incorrect perception regarding the arrest. There was no phone ringing prior to the arrest. This is merely dramatization past the playwright.
How did yous feel when the Franks got caught?
When the police found the hiding place I mainly felt a tremendous thwarting that so close to the end of the war my friends were caught. We honestly thought that we had made information technology. Paris was already captured by the Allies. Their troops were less than 250 miles from Amsterdam. Germany had actually lost the war. And then this happened.
What happened to the Franks' house and the possessions in it?
Everything in the Franks' habitation was taken away by the Germans and sent to Germany. Otto Frank never found his piece of furniture over again.
Did you get in trouble when the Nazis constitute out that you were hiding them?
Of course I was in trouble, but my luck was that the police officer in charge came from Vienna, the aforementioned town where I was born. I noticed this from his accent. So, when he came to interrogate me, I jumped up and said, as cheerfully as I could, "You are from Vienna? I am from Vienna also." And, although he got very angry initially, it made him obviously decide non to arrest me. Apart from the shock, the fear and my heart-breaking business regarding the fate of my friends, nothing happened to me.
What helped yous to carry on after the Franks were captured?
The hope that they would return safely. The state of war had almost come to an end and the Franks were healthy at the time of their arrest.
Did y'all ever feel like you could have done something more to assist the Franks when they were captured?
I honestly believe nosotros could not have done anything more to help the Franks.
While the Frank family unit was in a concentration camp, were you able to get any information about them?
After the arrest, I never heard from my friends again, they were not allowed to write.
If y'all plant out who was the one who told on the Franks, what would you say to them?
If I ever found out the person who betrayed my friends, I would not exchange ane word with that criminal.
Which camp did Anne and Margot go to when they were caught?
Anne and Margot went start to a transit-camp chosen Westerbork in holland. From at that place they went to Auschwitz and finally to Bergen-Belsen, where they both died.
Did Anne know anyone in the concentration camp besides her sis?
Much to her surprise she discovered that in some other part of the army camp (Bergen-Belsen), her friend "Lies" was sitting, the one she writes well-nigh a lot in her diary. Her true proper name is Hanneli Pick-Goslar, who now lives in Israel.
What were some of the horrible things the Nazi party did to other people? Did you always witness whatever?
The most horrible thing in my opinion was that they were discriminating against people for a reason those people could non help or change. Simply for being Jewish. It made those people feel defenseless. What could they possibly practice? Just sit down there and await in fear. This was terrorizing the poor Jews, even at the fourth dimension that they could still live in their own homes. What I never forget myself was the twenty-four hour period that the Franks were arrested. I still hear their steps in the stairway when they were brought exterior.
Later on the War — Otto Frank
How did y'all come across Mr. Frank?
Do you lot know how Otto Frank escaped death when the rest of his family and the other families in hiding didn't?
Otto'south escape from decease is a miracle. When the Russians finally liberated him in Auschwitz, he was sick, very weak, and extremely skinny.
When Otto Frank returned, was he bruised, actually skinny, stake? What was his physical condition? What was his mental condition?
Otto Frank was very skinny when he returned from the camp. However, he was mentally in adept status.
What happened to Mr. Frank after the war?
Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam. He picked upwards his concern once more, merely after the publication of the diary, he was very busy answering the thousands of letters he received from children virtually the diary. He moved to Switzerland after the war. He was the only survivor from the Secret Annex.
Subsequently the state of war, was it difficult to see Mr. Frank once again and not see the others?
Information technology was not difficult to meet Mr. Frank when he returned from Auschwitz. I was of grade very happy. Not like shooting fish in a barrel was my time with Otto Frank after he had learned he had lost his whole family. For me this was atrocious, too.
What do you lot remember most vividly almost your meeting with Otto Frank afterwards the state of war?
My most brilliant memory of Otto is the day that he learned about the expiry of his ii children, and my giving Anne's diary to him at that very sad moment. I cannot forget the style he looked at that time.
Did you and Mr. Frank remain friends?
My husband and I were shut friends with Otto until he died in 1980, at ninety-ane years former. The start seven years later the state of war he even lived in our home in Amsterdam, until he remarried in 1952. Then he moved to Basel, Switzerland.
What yr did Otto Frank die?
Otto Frank died in 1980 at the age of ninety-one in his home Buchenstrasse 12, Birsfelden; a small-scale boondocks well-nigh Basel, Switzerland.
About WW II
How exactly did the war start? Why did it take so long to end it?
What other places did people hibernate in as well the Secret Annex? Did nigh people have someone to bring them nutrient and other supplies, or did they have to sneak out and become the supplies themselves? How many people actually lived through the war in hiding without beingness discovered?
The usual places to hibernate people in were the attics of homes. Others stayed in the woods or in sheds. People in hiding were always dependent on others for food; they could non do it alone. In Holland, twenty,000 people went into hiding. Only 11,000 were not caught.
Students here are studying WW Ii and have noticed the symbol SS on the sleeves of the Nazis. What does that stand up for?
SS stands for "Schutz Staffel," which means "Protection Flight" or "Defense Squadron."
Did the Germans carry guns when they searched?
The Germans ever carried guns when they searched places.
What was the pct of the people in Kingdom of the netherlands that persecuted the Jews? If you didn't know the Franks, would you accept still helped other Jews?
About 2 or 3 percent of the Dutch people were Nazis or in support of them. Many others were indifferent to the fate of the Jews and preferred to look away from information technology. If other Jews than the Franks had asked for assist, I would, of course, helped them too. Actually, my husband did such in several cases.
How did the handling of the Jews compare with the treatment of the Christians who helped the Jews?
The Dutch who helped the Jews were also sent to a military camp, but with a milder regime than the camps for Jews. My male office colleagues were put in such a camp and both survived.
Was Hitler liked at first and then afterwards hated for his meanness?
Initially many liked Hitler. Deutschland was economically in very poor shape and people (like many tend to do as well today) were looking for somebody to blame for the misery. Hitler offered the Jews equally scapegoats and that certainly made him popular. He too promised jobs at the price of the "not-Aryans" (the non-Germans). Hitler promised to take their civil rights abroad, like he did soon after he came to ability. For case, the Jews, who were High german citizens, lost this position overnight. Today we call this ethnic cleansing. In may places, all over the earth, lots of people again support the idea of having immigrants thrown from the country.
How has Holland changed since the end of Globe War II?
I promise and believe that many Dutch people will be more helpful in the future than they were during the Holocaust. Only 11,000 Jews were safely brought through the war. The others, about 105,000, perished and that could accept been a considerably lower effigy if all Dutch people understood their responsibility to help.
Do you think it'due south possible for something like this to happen once more?
I certainly recollect that some other Holocaust can happen again. It did already occur, call back of Kingdom of cambodia, Rwanda, and Bosnia.
What message should the young people of today pass on virtually Anne'southward story?
The bulletin to take from Anne's story is to stop prejudice and bigotry right at its beginning. Prejudice starts when we speak well-nigh THE Jews, THE Arabs, THE Asians, THE Mexicans, THE Blacks, THE Whites. This leads to the feeling that all members of each such group retrieve and act the aforementioned. That results in prejudice. Lumping entire groups of people together is RACISM, because it denies the fact that everyone is an individual. Fifty-fifty our own brothers and sisters or parents are not exactly like we are. So how exercise we cartel to lump entire groups of people together? If any High german had always asked Anne to tell something near herself, I retrieve she would exist withal with us today. However, nobody asked: she was but a Jew! Therefore, never base of operations your opinion nearly anybody else on the color of that person's skin, or on the passport that a person carries, or on the family unit that person comes from, simply but on what the person says and does and on Nil ELSE.
If you lot could, would you lot ever speak to the neo-Nazis that live in Federal republic of germany today? What would you say to them?
I would urge them to realize that racist ideas caused the decease of Anne Frank, an ordinary and innocent kid, and besides the death of millions of people.
Anne Frank
When was Anne'due south altogether?
How long did you know Anne?
I knew Anne since 1935 when Otto (my boss since 1933) invited me to come up to his home to encounter his family.
What was your human relationship with Anne Frank before the state of war? Did you lot ever call up that the Nazis would find out and kill you and your family?
A very superficial one. She was just a child, who I did not pay much attention to. I saw her at her home, when I visited with her parents. Sometimes she would come up with friends to my office and play with the house phone. I was deeply disappointed that and then close to the end of the state of war the Nazis found Anne. Before that I was rather convinced that nosotros would brand information technology. Being probably killed myself by the Nazis never crossed my mind. If I was ever concerned, it was almost the people in the hiding place.
What type of person was Anne Frank? Was she overnice? Was she fun to exist with?
I would depict Anne as an ordinary, normal young daughter earlier she went into hiding. I saw her as a friendly, cheerful, fun-loving, and somewhat loud girl, with very curious eyes. After going into hiding her eyes grew gradually pensive likewise. Although she loved to talk, she would immediately exist silent, if someone else would speak, observing that person very closely.
Did Anne like to do some of the hobbies children her age do, like playing sports and doing crafts?
Anne was not really a sports daughter. As a affair of fact, she was non what you lot would call a potent or sturdy person. As far as I know she was non doing crafts, but enjoyed working at her diary and writing short stories. She besides liked illustrating them. Further she took a keen involvement in movies and actors.
Where did Anne go to write her diary? How did Anne go along the others from reading her private information?
Well-nigh times Anne wrote her diary in her sleeping room. This room she had to share with the dentist, then she had to work out an system with him. From her diary we know that this was not always easy, considering Dussel could non imagine that a young girl really needed a workplace. During the weekends her begetter allowed her to go downstairs and sit in his former office. This space was non office of the hiding place. Its furniture was non taken abroad after their arrest; therefore, the chair that Anne had been sitting and the desk at which she was writing are even so there. Anne had a briefcase where she kept her diary that could be locked. The edited version contains besides some very private parts, but there was some more to it. In the edited version, nigh of her unpleasant remarks about her mother were left out and also the rather graphic (merely delicate) description of her developing trunk and sexuality. Furthermore, her concern about the position of women (entered the solar day after her fifteenth altogether) was initially not included.
Was Anne ever as cheerful as she was in her diary?
I would depict Anne as an ordinary, normal young girl earlier she went into hiding. I saw her equally a cheerful, fun-loving, and somewhat loud girl, with curious eyes. After going into hiding her eyes grew gradually pensive likewise. Although she loved to talk, she would immediately exist silent if someone else would speak, observing that person very closely. My funniest retentivity of Anne Frank is going to the attic in the morning to pick upward the shopping listing. All of the people would silently stand in line, waiting for me to begin, except for Anne, who would ever break the silence by saying, "Hi Miep, and what is the news?" Her female parent strongly disliked that, knowing that the other people in hiding would afterwards arraign Otto for what they would call "the result of a also liberal upbringing." A sad retentiveness I have is one day when I entered the hiding place and establish Anne writing in her diary. She felt her privacy abused and probably thought that I was spying on her. She closed her diary with a blindside and gave me a hostile await. Her mother came in and said, noticing the tense situation between the two of us, "You should know, Miep, that my daughter is writing a diary." I did not know that; I was the one giving her bare newspaper, afterwards she had run out of space in her lilliputian diary. Anne stood up, looked down on me and said, "And about you lot too," then left the room.
How one-time was Anne when she went into hiding?
Anne was thirteen when she went into hiding and fifteen when arrested.
What memories do you have of the relationship betwixt Anne and Peter?
I never noticed a close relationship between Peter and Anne. One time Peter asked me to buy flowers for Anne. That was the just time I understood that Peter liked Anne.
Did Anne always get very ill in the Annex? If so, what did she have?
The i time Anne needed a doctor was when her eyesight became poor. She probably needed spectacles. I offered to bring her to a medico, but Otto did not agree.
Was Anne always scared?
Anne never told me that she was scared, but from her diary we know that she had such moments.
Did Anne talk to you more than about happenings in the Hush-hush Addendum or were your conversations more centered around the progress of the war?
My discussions with Anne were mainly about the things going on in Amsterdam. She never talked or complained about the other people in the hiding place. About the progress of the war, Anne talked with her father. He was pretty well-informed because he secretly listened to British radio.
I've heard dissimilar stories nigh Anne. Ane is that she well-nigh toll the Franks and the Van Daans their lives because of noises she would make. Could y'all requite me an example of one and how did y'all endeavor to cover for it when other people heard it?
I strongly deny that Anne always made noise or threatened to do so.
When did you find out that Anne had died?
In Baronial 1945 a letter came for Otto Frank from a nurse who had been with Anne in the same office of Bergen-Belsen, telling him that his two daughters had died.
What day did Anne dice?
The precise engagement is non known. All we know is that she died some day in March 1945. She died of a disease chosen typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration campsite. I however have the letter informing Otto, written by the lady who was in the same camp as Anne, telling him that Anne had died.
What would exist different if Anne never existed or if she had lived through the Holocaust?
If Anne had never existed, we would not have had her diary that touched the heart and gave inspiration to millions and millions of people. If she had lived through the Holocaust, the question is whether she would take published the diary herself. I recollect she would take done so, but I am non sure. In my opinion, one matter is sure: She would have combined her writing skills and her power to observe, becoming a not bad journalist.
How old was Anne'due south mother when she died?
Anne'south mother was simply forty-four when she died in Auschwitz.
How do you recall Anne would react to all of this attending and fame if she were alive today?
I think that Anne would have liked the fame if she were alive. Already as a immature daughter she liked to be in the centre of her friends' attention. Maybe this could have inverse later in life, just not very likely.
What is the almost outstanding retentivity you lot take of Anne Frank and the horrors of the war?
My virtually outstanding memory of Anne is meeting with her in the morning, when I visited the hiding place to selection upwardly the shopping list. It is an indelible retentiveness of Anne standing at the pinnacle of the stairs and hearing her cheerful vox: "Howdy, Miep, what is the news today?" The horror of the war I experienced most deeply was the day that the Nazis came to abort the Frank family and their friends. Every twelvemonth I stay at abode on August 4, the day of their abort. I close the defunction and don't answer the phone or doorbell.
If Anne had lived, practice yous think that Anne would be as positive as she was?
I can't answer the question virtually whether Anne would exist just as positive equally she was in hiding. Speaking for myself, I am all the same optimistic about our future earth. As well Anne'south father kept basic confidence in people, and so Anne might have kept hers.
Are you proud of Anne for never losing faith?
I am proud of Anne, because nonetheless her very difficult situation, she always establish the energy and the perseverance to write her diary.
Do you lot miss Anne Frank?
Of course I miss her very much. She was always such an attentive listener to what I told her. I liked her intelligent questions. Therefore, I am grateful for her diary. It is as if I hear her voice again.
What were the terminal words Anne said to you earlier she got captured?
At the time of her abort, I was not with her. That morning time I had seen her for the last time, when I came to the hiding place to pick up the shopping listing, as I commonly did. At that time, she greeted me the style she e'er did: "Hello Miep, what is the news today?"
If you were put in Anne Frank's position, how would you react?
Till today, I am impressed past the patience and perseverance of the people in the hiding place. I really wonder how I would have been nether such circumstances. Would I accept had the field of study and courage to keep a diary? I wonder. Would I have been ever so friendly and cheerful as Anne was? I dubiousness it. I consider Anne and the others in hiding real heroes. Further, I believe the Franks could non practise anything across what they had done. I besides would have gone into hiding. There were no other options as well obeying the German orders.
The Diary
After not wanting to have Anne's diary published, what suddenly caused y'all to alter your mind?
I never opposed publication of the diary. Initially, I did oppose reading information technology considering I feared information technology would cause me but more pain. This changed completely when I finally agreed to read the diary.
Did you have a function in publishing Anne's diary?
I had no part whatsoever in publishing Anne's diary.
Is everything almost the characters in the published diary true?
The characters as Anne described in her diary reverberate, of course, her opinion. I myself consider some of the people more genteel than Anne did, like her female parent and the dentist Dussel.
Is anybody else in Anne Frank'due south diary alive?
I am the last ane of the helpers still alive. Anne'due south friends Jopie and Lies (truthful names Jacqueline van Maarsen and Hanneli Choice-Goslar) are nonetheless living. Both travel regularly to the U.S. to speak at schools.
Why did Mr. Frank modify the names of the people when he wrote the book?
It was Anne (and Not Otto Frank) who changed the names of the people. Like other authors do too, Anne felt she should not use the real names. This gives me the feeling that she planned publication of the diary after the state of war.
Did y'all ever retrieve at the time what an bear upon your actions and Anne's diary might accept?
I never foresaw the touch on Anne's diary — as well as my saving that diary — would accept. I only picked it up in lodge to give information technology to Anne when she would return.
How did your life alter afterwards you found the diary?
After the diary was plant by me and published by Otto, my life gradually changed. I did a lot of travel worldwide to tell nearly Anne. Hundreds of letters came to my hands every month. I have near get a kind of public belongings.
How practise you feel virtually the diary having become so memorable, truly a archetype? Do you lot notwithstanding have the original diary and photos of Anne Frank?
The diary became so important considering information technology is the only retention of Anne. After the state of war I gave the diary to Otto Frank, the merely ane of the Frank family who survived the concentration camp. Otto Frank died in 1980 and donated the original diary to the Dutch authorities.
When yous read Anne'south diary, what came to your mind when y'all saw your name and realized that she had mentioned you?
I was moved to read my name in Anne's diary and the nice things she said about me. I was surprised that she had changed the names of all the people, except mine. Did she feel too close to me to give me some other name? I will never know, but it really touches me.
Most Miep Gies
How did you feel at first with your adopted family?
How old were you when the Holocaust started?
I was 30-four when Hitler came to ability and forty-one when the Holocaust started.
Equally a girl, did you lot ever imagine something similar WW 2 happening?
Every bit a child I could never imagine that people would be then cruel towards others. Even during the war we refused to believe the reports about the gas chambers.
How did you feel most Hitler's ideas and rules?
I despised Hitler from the showtime day that he opened his mouth. He was a racist, hating all immigrants and other non-Aryan (non-High german) people, similar the Jews.
What was your job at Mr. Frank's factory?
I was a secretary at Mr. Frank'south function.
Did you e'er feel like you were part of the Frank family?
In a certain fashion I felt very shut to my friends in hiding. Yet I always looked up to the Franks every bit the family unit of my dominate.
How did it feel to help many people who needed you to survive?
I think that information technology creates a rewarding feeling to assist people. Therefore, the more the better. This, at least, I feel. Think of the many doctors and nurses who accept at a very low pay an uncomfortable (oft even dangerous) job in faraway countries, merely to help people.
Weren't you terribly frightened during the time y'all hid Anne Frank? Wouldn't information technology exist easier for you just to live your life as a German language without this burden? What could you tell us today well-nigh caring for others instead of just thinking of ourselves?
Of course, initially life is more comfortable if you stay out. You might silence your business organization about injustice or fell things happening to other people by telling yourself that those people should solve their problems themselves. Information technology is a very selfish attitude, but, as I said, safe in the starting time. Just, I could foresee that at that place would come up a 24-hour interval that my conscience would outset to bother me. This would exist a kind of brunt. Just similar many people, all over the earth, are unhappy and restless today considering they did not assistance the Jews during the Holocaust. Think for instance of the ships with Jews that tried to enter the U.S. and were sent back! So, my determination is that actually thinking of yourself is often better served by making some sacrifices today than having a miserable life later, feeling remorse about the aid yous failed to give to those who needed yous. By the mode, I am born Austrian, not German.
How did it touch your family unit life to assist Anne Frank and her family unit? Did it make y'all feel skillful?
Both January, my husband, and I felt really grateful for the opportunity to aid them. It brought a lot of sense to our lives. It is ever prissy to feel needed past other people. This, at least, is my agreement of living a worthwhile life.
How did your parents experience about you helping the Jews out in their predicament, and were they confronting you lot or were they with you helping the Jews hide?
My (foster) parents did not know nigh me helping the Franks. They might have worried. You would never talk with everyone about Jews in hiding. People may showtime talking about information technology to others. This was unsafe. There was a lot of betrayal. Of grade my husband knew. He was my large helper.
Were at that place others that you helped? Where are they at present?
We kept a non-Jewish student who was wanted by the Germans hidden at our home. That person went to the The states. I don't know whether he still lives at that place, we lost contact.
I am a nine-twelvemonth-quondam Jew. I am very interested in learning most the Holocaust. How could you be so heroic if you were and then afraid? Did the Nazis always find you lot?
Even if you are afraid, y'all tin can however find it more important to exercise your human duty, and that is to assist people who demand more help. I don't consider myself heroic. To tell you lot, I was more afraid of the many sleepless nights and the unhappy life I would take afterward had I refused to help.
How does information technology experience to be a hero?
I don't want to be considered a hero. Imagine young people would grow upwardly with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am agape nobody would ever aid other people, because who is a hero? I was not. I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary.
Have y'all received whatsoever recognition for helping the Franks, Van Daans, and Dussel hibernate from the German troops? Did you lot take to exit your country considering of what you lot did?
I received recognition from Yad Vashem, from the German Government, and from the Queen of the Netherlands. I have several medallions and even an honorary Ph.D.
What is your most valued retention from your past?
My most valued retentiveness is Anne'southward diary.
Practise yous have any nightmares nigh this time?
I have no nightmares, but I tin never forget what happened to my friends.
What are your husband's and child's names?
My husband's proper name was January (Henk in the diary). My son's proper noun is Paul. He was born in 1950 and lives with his wife and iii (wonderful) children a half-hour drive from my home.
How did your husband die?
My unforgettable married man for over 50 years, January (Henk in the diary), died of diabetes in 1994.
How quondam are you now?
I am fourscore-eight now.
Where do y'all alive now?
I accept lived for almost 70 years, until at present, in Amsterdam, holland. I have a small apartment that I shared for 40 years with my hubby Jan till he died in 1994.
Do you lot experience that you are in another world because when you were young in that location were no TVs and now you're on the Net?
Yeah, we live in a different world today. Children who use the Internet are much ameliorate informed than when I was young. Employ this to your reward.
If you had to hide the Franks once again, would you do it?
Yes, I would assistance again. Although, some people (rightfully) state that I could have not saved Anne's life, I even so helped her to alive some other ii years. During these years she wrote her wonderful diary, touching the heart of millions of people and inspiring them. Because I could rescue this diary, it was not a lost effort. From this nosotros learn that it is always better to try. Certain failure results from not trying. My conclusion to help Otto was because I saw no alternative. I could foresee many sleepless nights and an unhappy life if I would decline. And that was not the kind of future I wanted to for myself. Permanent remorse about failing to do your human duty, in my stance, tin exist worse than losing your life.
What are the things you are most proud of that yous have done to remember Anne? Where have you moved since the houses y'all lived in with Anne have go museums?
The thing I enjoy nearly having done is that I could relieve Anne's diary. Through her diary Anne is remembered by millions of people. She said in her diary that she wanted to live after her death. Through her diary this actually happened. I did not alive at the place where Anne was hiding. She was staying in the place where I served as secretary. It was the building in which Otto Frank, Anne'south father, had his concern before he had to get into hiding with his family.
The Addendum
Is the Annex still continuing?
The Addendum is certainly nonetheless standing.
Is the house exactly as it was when Anne was in information technology?
Anne and her family stayed on two floors in the Annex to the main building. Those ii floors are exactly like they were when Anne was in it. The balance of the building has been remodeled to serve as a museum. None of the article of furniture is there. They removed the furniture.
Thank-you Notes to Miep Gies
Cheers for taking the time and effort to write back to the many children who have been touched past reading Anne'south diary. Yous are truly a hero who so unselfishly gave of yourself to protect those who needed you. My class has been profoundly impressed by you. Please receive our virtually humble gratitude. It was a corking mode to end an fifty-fifty greater book.
Our literature class is studying Anne Frank right at present. This online event could not accept come at a better time. I establish that this was a very useful experience for my classmates and me!
Thank y'all very much for answering my question. My question asked why you changed your mind about publishing the diary. When you lot answered it I found out that yous never objected to it, it only injure you lot so much to read information technology. That really helped me to sympathise.
Source: http://teacher.scholastic.com/frank/tscripts/miep.htm
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