ENGLISH LITERATURE STD 6 Unsung Hero NAME: STD: 6 DIV

ENGLISH LITERATURE
STD 6
Unsung Hero
NAME:___________________________ STD: 6 DIV: _____ DATE: _________
Something you would want to know about Miep Gies, the „unsung hero‟.
Miep Gies, white-haired, gentle and courageous, is an inspiring evidence of human nobility. An
unfamiliar name to most people, but without this remarkable woman, there would not be ‘The
Diary of Anne Frank’.
During the Nazi occupation of Holland the Austrian-born Dutch woman risked her life daily to
hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis. For more than two years, Miep helped the Franks
and four other people evade the Gestapo by bringing food, comfort and news of the world to them
in a tiny hideout in the canal-side building that housed the family business.
It all ended on August 4, 1944, when their hiding place was betrayed and the family was arrested
by the Nazis. A few hours later, wandering mournfully through the four small upstairs rooms,
Miep discovered the plaid-cloth-covered diary kept by the young teenager.
By saving the diary from the debris left by the Nazis, Miep Gies made sure that Anne Frank‘s
name was known around the world. It is the most widely read book in the world - for many
children, their first direct brush with the horrors of the Holocaust.
Miep Gies is bewildered that anyone would make a fuss over what she did. In her book ‗Anne
Frank Remembered’ she told: "I am not a hero. I stand at the end of the long, long line of good
Dutch people who did what I did or more—much more—during those dark and terrible times
years ago ..."
The Nobel Prize recipient, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, has dedicated his life to ensuring
that none of us forget what happened to the Jews. He wrote:
"In those times there was darkness everywhere. In
heaven and on earth, all the gates of compassion
seemed to have been closed. The killer killed and the
Jews died and the outside world adopted an attitude
either of complicity or of indifference. Only a few
had the courage to care ..."
Complicity – involvement in wrongdoing, indifference – lack of concern.
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Answer the following questions with reference to the context:
I. “She learned that her boss, Otto Frank, had moved to Holland.”
1.a. Who is „she‟? Why did she live in Holland?
She refers to Miep Gies. She was an Austrian by birth, but was adopted by a Dutch family
and now lived in Holland.
1.b. Name the book she has written on her war-time experiences.
Miep Gies wrote the book named ―Anne Frank Remembered‖ on her war-time experiences.
2. How did she get to know Otto Frank?
Miep Gies worked in a company called ‗Travies and Company‘ which manufactured products
for the homemakers. Otto Frank was her boss at the workplace.
3. Why had Otto Frank moved to Holland?
Otto Frank had moved to Holland with his family from Germany because he was a Jew and
wanted to escape Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
4. What message does Miep Gies convey through her interview?
Through her interview, Miep Gies, the unsung hero, conveys to the people how to spread
courage, hope and friendship in hard times and how to look beyond a person‘s skin, religion
or beliefs.
II. “I thought Otto acted wisely to go into hiding.”
1. What did Miep see in Amsterdam that made her anxious for Otto Frank‟s family?
What made her say the above line?
Everyday, Miep saw trucks with Jews heading for the railway station from where the trains
left for the camps. Nobody ever heard from them again. This made Miep anxious for Otto
Frank‘s family and so she thought that Otto Frank acted wisely by hiding.
2. How did Otto Frank decide upon his hiding place?
The hiding place was initially just a part of Otto Frank‘s business. It was the laboratory used
for product development. During the war, there was no development of new products, so Otto
decided to transform this space into a hiding place.
3. Why did Miep decide to help the Frank family?
Miep decided to help the Frank family as she saw no alternative. She could foresee many
sleepless nights and an unhappy life if she refused and that was not the kind of failure she
wanted for herself. She also believed that the permanent remorse about failing to do your
human duty was worse than losing one‘s life.
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4. Miep mentions three ways in which the secret of hiding the Franks was protected.
What were they?
The three ways in which the secret of hiding the Franks was protected were: Miep visited
several different suppliers a day and did not buy everything from the same place. The
workers at the factory were kept away from becoming suspicious as Miep tried not to enter
the hiding place during office hours and thirdly, the people in hiding would not flush the
toilet during the day and would also avoid making other noises.
5. How did she maintain a regular supply of food for the people in hiding?
To maintain a regular supply of food for the people in hiding, Miep had to buy food in the
‗black market‘. Her husband, Jan would provide her with so-called ration cards, which he had
obtained illegally. Some suppliers like for instance the greengrocer, who understood was she
was doing would help as much as he could.
III. “Someone must have betrayed them to the Nazis…”
1. How did Miep feel when the Franks were caught?
When the police found the hiding place, Miep felt a tremendous disappointment that her
friends were caught so close to the end of the war.
2. How did she escape the Nazis‟ punishment for helping the Franks?
The police officer in charge came from Vienna, the same town where Miep was born. She
noticed this from his accent. When he came to interrogate her, she jumped up and said
cheerfully that both of them were from Vienna. At first he got him angry, but then he decided
not to arrest her.
3. How did Miep describe Anne Frank?
Miep describes Anne Frank as an ordinary, normal girl before she went into hiding. She saw
her as a cheerful, fun- loving and some what a loud girl with curious eyes. After going into
hiding, her eyes gradually grew pensive and although she loved to talk, she would
immediately be silent if someone else started to speak, observing that person very closely.
The funniest memory of Anne Frank was when Miep would go the the attic in the morning to
pick up the shopping list. All the people would silently stand in line waiting for Miep to begin
except for Anne who would always break the silence by saying, ―Hello, Miep, and what is the
news?‖
4. Why did she think Anne would have become a journalist if she had survived the war?
Miep thought that Anne would have become a journalist if she had survived the war as she
would have combined her writing skills with her ability to observe and become a great
journalist.
5. How does she spend the day on 4th August every year? Why does she do so?
Every year on 4th August, Miep stays at home, closes the curtains and does not answer the
phone or the door bell as it was the day the Frank family and their friends got arrested.
6. How did Miep‟s life change after she found Anne‟s diary?
After Anne‘s diary was found by Miep and published by Otto, Miep‘s life gradually changed.
She did a lot of travel worldwide to tell people about Anne. Hundreds of letters came to her
hands every month. She almost became some kind of public property.
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7. In Miep‟s opinion, what message does Anne‟s story convey to the youth of today?
The message that Anne‘s story conveys to the youth, is to stop prejudice and discrimination
right at its beginning. Lumping entire groups of people together is Racism because it denies
the fact that everyone is an individual.
8. Miep describes her heroic effort to protect the Franks as an act of human duty.
Write a paragraph on some of the ways in which you as students can do your human
duty.
________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Give the meaning of the following words:
1. unsung - ____________________________________________________________
2. confidante - _________________________________________________________
3. fraught - ____________________________________________________________
4. foresee - ____________________________________________________________
5. remorse - ___________________________________________________________
6. illegally - ___________________________________________________________
7. pensive - ____________________________________________________________
8. indelible - ____________________________________________________________
9. impact - _____________________________________________________________
10. prejudice - __________________________________________________________
11. lumping - ___________________________________________________________
12. discrimination - ______________________________________________________
13. suspicious - __________________________________________________________
14. accent - _____________________________________________________________
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Photo Gallery – A view into the world
of Miep Gies and the Franks…
Miep Gies as a child
(extreme left), (left)
when she was young,
(bottom right), her
in the last few years
before she died.
(extreme left)
Anne Frank’s
Diary, (left)
Miep Gies
with the copy
of her book
Anne Frank
Remembered
in 1998.
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Miep Gies
and Jen
Gies with
their son
Paul and
Otto
Frank
Miep Gies with Otto Frank
Otto Frank with his
two daughters.
(left), his older
daughter Margot
Frank and (right),
his younger
daughter, Anne
Frank.
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Images of the hiding place of the Franks, The Secret Annex
Websites you can visit for more information on Miep Gies:
http://www.miepgies.nl/en/148.html
http://www.miepgies.dk/
http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Franks-History/All-people/Miep-Gies/Honors and awards
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Quoted from the Prologue of the book Anne Frank Remembered. The Story of the Woman Who
Helped to Hide the Frank Family. By Miep Gies …
I am not a hero
'More than twenty thousand Dutch people helped to hide Jews and others in need of hiding during
those years. I willingly did what I could to help. My husband did as well. It was not enough.
There is nothing special about me. I have never wanted special attention. I was only willing to do
what was asked of me and what seemed necessary at the time. When I was persuaded to tell my story,
I had to think of the place that Anne Frank holds in history and what her story has come to mean for
the many millions of people who have been touched by it. I‘m told that every night when the sun goes
down, somewhere in the world the curtain is going up on the stage play made from Anne‘s diary.
Taking into consideration the many printings of Het Achterhuis (―The Annex‖) – published in English
as Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl – and the many translations that have been made of Anne‘s
story, her voice has reached the far edges of the earth.'
MIEP GIES’S LIFE…
February 15, 1909
Hermine Santrouschitz (Miep Gies), is born in Vienna (Austria).
1918
End of the First World War.
December 1920
Hermine comes to the Netherlands with a group of Austrian children for convalescence. She lives with a foster
family in Leiden and is given the name Miep.
1922
Miep moves to Amsterdam with her foster family.
1933
Miep becomes a secretary with the Opekta company.
July 16, 1941
Miep marries Jan Gies.
Jun 1942
Otto Frank asks Miep if she will help if he and his family go into hiding.
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August 4, 1944
The people in hiding are arrested. Miep and Bep are not taken with them. They find Anne Frank‘s
diary in the secret annex.
August 1944
Miep goes to the SD (Nazi security police) offices in Amsterdam to try to get the people in hiding
released.
June 1945
Otto Frank has survived the war and comes to live with Miep and Jan Gies. When they hear that Anne and
Margot have died, Miep gives Anne‘s diary to Otto Frank.
July 13, 1952
Miep and Jan Gies have a son, Paul. Miep stops working at Opekta.
1987
Miep writes a book: ‗Memories of Anne Frank‘.
January 26, 1993
Jan Gies, her husband dies.
February 15, 2009
Miep celebrates her 100th birthday.
January 11, 2010
Miep Gies dies at the age of 100.
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