To Miep Gies protector of Anne Frank diaries

Anne Frank tours

I first visited an Anne Frank [1] exhibition in a church in Islington in North London some 16 years ago, the pictures and detail of the suffering of the Jews in the Second World War were harrowing but there were as personal story too, the diary of a teenage girl who was hardly in her teens about their daily life the courage of the very few who strove to keep her and her family from the grip of Nazi-occupied Netherlands.

Two days ago, the last of the Dutch citizens to aid and shelter them from harm died at the age of 100, her name was Miep Gies [2].

On my second visit to Amsterdam, in 1996, the Anne Frank Museum [3] was a must see for us and on that dull afternoon we trundled to the almost non-descript house and walked around the house, the enclave and noted the observations of Anne Frank on panels and boards all around the house, it really had that very old feel to it.

A tourist’s itinerary

My third visit was a chaperone to the parents of my friend with whom I visited 10 years before, the whole setup had changed, adjoining buildings had been acquired and the place now looked like a very commercial tourist attraction, probably one of the most visited in the Netherlands and for all intents and purposes, it is worth a visit.

Without going into much detail, Miep Gies, her husband and 3 other Dutch citizens helped conceal Anne Frank, her family and a number of friends, all of whom were Jews in a annex of the office they worked in.

It was an act of exceptional courage in a time of great suspicion and deception, it was difficult to know who to trust, the risk they took could have cost them their freedom as well as their lives.

Unfortunately, Anne Frank and her concealed colleagues were discovered and transferred to Nazi concentration camps where she died at the age of 15.

The preservation of memories and memorials

Miep Gies found the diary Anne Frank kept during the times of concealment and when Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father returned to the Netherlands, that diary was published and has made Anne Frank probably one of the most talked about victims of the Holocaust.

Coincidentally, the concentration camp site at Auschwitz in Poland is falling into disrepair [4] and there are appeals for aid to keep the infrastructure from falling apart and hence preserve an essential piece of memory about man’s inhumanity to man.

The narratives are very clear, the need for exceptional courage and bravery in preserving our humanity, the utility of documenting our daily lives for posterity and fact that we cannot afford for monuments of remembrance to waste away just because they look like relics of times long gone.

All these are signposts of history from which hopefully we can learn lessons to live better lives for ourselves, our communities and humanity at large. Rest in peace, Miep Gies and thank you for showing us your deep humanity and preserving the memories of times we must never forget.

Sources

[1] Anne Frank - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[2] Miep Gies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[3] Anne Frank Museum Amsterdam - the official Anne Frank House website

[4] Auschwitz asks Britain for help to preserve decaying death camp - Times Online

6th of July - 1942, 1946 & 2006

Seeking refuge finding little solace

As Europe changed under the scourge of Communism, Fascism and Nazism, people negatively affected by these developments began to seek succour and refuge in other countries where the effect was less evident.

Men sought to protect their lives and lives of their families as they moved from persecution state to another hoping to outrun, outdo and outlive the tragedies that were knocking at their front doors.

This was a time when trust mattered but suspicion thrived, your good neighbour of yesterday became your sworn enemy the next day as the sufferings gave way to the desire to obtain reward for the despicable acts of telling on others for personal safety.

As so, 64 years ago today, Otto Frank, his wife and two daughter sought refuge in a backroom apartment in Amsterdam to avoid being taken by the Nazis and sent to ghettos or concentration camps as part of plan of Jewish extermination which became known as the Holocaust.

Men of evil persuasion

These were times when probably people could have claimed other allegiances or heritage to escape privation, but no, Jews owned up as Jews and stayed true to being who they were, in the process, they were corralled and gathered for death in concentration camps.

Only a few weeks before this event, Otto had given his daughter Anne an autograph book which she had pointed out to her father, however, on receipt of this 13th Birthday present, she decided to use it as a diary.

For 2 years and 29 days, they sojourned in refuge in the Actherhuis (Secret Annex), unbeknownst to anyone but a few trusted staff of Otto Frank's business.

Accounts reveal that there were Jew hunters who were rewarded handsomely for those deprived times for seeking out Jews, and so it happened that Otto Frank, his family and other Jews in the annex were betrayed and apprehended for transportation to concentration camps.

There is no doubt from those studies that quite a few of the Dutch citizenry were collaborators in fishing out Jews for horrors beyond words.

Anyway, for blackmail, for fear or for honour, the Franks were apprehended and sent to away - only Frank survived that ordeal.

Ensuring a legacy

He returned to Amsterdam where his ex-employees had gathered most of Franks' belongings and papers, which ended which contained writings that became known as "the Anne Frank diary".

I first came across information about Anne Frank in a church exhibition in England, and then when I visited Amsterdam in 1996, we went to the Anne Frank House to be enlightened about life in the Netherlands during Nazi occupation and how it affected the Jews.

The brood of collaborators

Like today, we have another dimension of immigration problems where the collaborators in sending immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers back to places of misery, privation and death are the rule-keepers in the guise of ministers of the Dutch crown.

There are immigrants today who were just as integrated as Anne Frank, her diary was written in Dutch and then translated into many other languages.

It is amazing that there is a still a lot of angst about conferring Dutch citizenship on Anne Frank an issue that has been refused on the technicality that citizenship is not granted posthumously - for people who speak a language that has so many exceptions, one would expect an exception to the rule in this case.

This even in the light of Anne Frank almost being voted the greatest Dutch person.

The problem is not necessarily that of everyday Dutch people, rather it is their unconscionable leaders given to populist notions and deceived by presumed popularity that stoke the embers that bring out the worst in us.

July the 6th - auspiciously inauspicious

Beyond this is the issue of legacies; Anne Frank ensured her legacy by journaling the events of her times, which gives insight into a dark period of Dutch history.

Four years after the Frank's sought refuge, George W. Bush was born; he is in the process of ensuring a legacy which history might not judge to nicely if Iraq, Afghanistan, the War on Terror continues to gather the headlines.

The lesson is simple, we can find good in all men, but when adversity strikes, many good men fall; we can also find truth in all men, but when in the skin of politicians - better be bitten by a rattlesnake than listen to their populist poison that destroys communities and societies.

References

Who Betrayed Anne Frank?

Ex-Liberal boss compares Verdonk to Le Pen

Here lies … About the greatest Dutch person

The Greatest Dutch Person - the official Anne Frank House website

Anne Frank on Dutch 'greatest' list stirs citizenship debate