http://www.care2.com/causes/human-rights/blog/Rescuer-of-Anne-Franks-Diary-Passes-Away-At-100/Miep Gies, the last surviving member of the group who hid Anne Frank and her family during World War II, passed away at age 100 in the Netherlands. The BBC reports she suffered a fall last month, and died on January 11th in a nursing home.
Gies and several other employees of Anne Frank's father kept them safe in an annex and brought them food and supplies for 25 months during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. After the family was captured, Gies collected Anne Frank's papers for safekeeping, and eventually returned them to her father, the family's sole survivor of the Holocaust. The papers were compiled and published in 1947 as Anne Frank:The Diary of a Young Girl.
Her efforts did not stop there. Well into her 80s she went on to travel and speak about her experiences, as well as speak out against intolerance and Holocaust denial. In 1989 the West German government awarded Gies the highest civilian medal, and in 1996 Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands knighted her. In private, Gies and her husband Jan would stay home to reflect on their lost loved ones every August 4th, the anniversary of the raid.
Besides risking her life to protect those in need, Miep Gies enabled the publication of the most famous document of the Holocaust and perhaps the most famous document about human rights abuse. Published in 68 languages and read in classrooms worldwide, this book has allowed generations of people to learn about an extraordinarily dark period of human history and why it must never be forgotten. Miep Gies demonstrates that even in the most dismal of times, the goodness of humanity can still prevail.
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Topic: Rescuer of Anne Frank's Diary Passes Away At 100 (Read 3162 times)