Travelers with a Golden Hour glow at Versailles! Photo: Ken Nelson
In April, 55 of of us descended upon Paris for a History Chicks Field Trip! It was nine days of history, exploring, learning, wonder, and friendship. And champagne. And cheese. We’ve compiled the stories of those experiences from some of our fellow travelers into this episode.
All of our Field Trips begin with a tour of the city to get the lay of the land. On this one, this was an “OOOOH!” moment as we saw the Eiffel Tower sparkling for the first time that evening.
A model of what Petite Malmaison looked like with the attached greenhouse.Petite Malmaison, well, part of it anyway.The backyard of Petite Malmaison, photo by Heather V.
We joined the masses at Versailles on a beautiful day, but the night? That was just us!
The Bikers at VersaillesRose and her fancy French crutches at Versailles at the Golden Hour, photo by Shannon O.Lunch is served! At our luncheon, Veuve Cliquot Rich on ice with dessert was a very controversial addition to champagne.Many of us waited in the lines to see Notre Dame all polished up; she did not disappoint.Mass at Notre Dame, photo via Karen H.Cooking class at Le Cordon BleuOne of many photos of Noel with her perfect macarons photo Noel P.May Day at Monet’s gardens at GivernyAllegoria dell’Inclinazione by Artemesia Gentileschi, the drape was added afterward- photo Claire V.
Baby Eiffel Towers ready for adoption at Reve de Gosse, photo Dee R.David Hockney’s Garrowby Hill from the exhibit at the Foundation Louis Vuitton. Photo by Nancy R.When you wander you can discover a surprise on every street. Photo by Heidi S.A shower of rose petals descended on our private, last evening dinner cruise! Thank you whoever arranged this, it was magical!
All of our Field Trips are organized by Like Minds Travel, with the magical organizing powers of Laura Hart. We don’t know how she does it, but we are so grateful she does!
Time Travel With The History Chicks Paris Travelers
Here are some links for places we visited or things we did that are mentioned in this episode!
This is our third year with Aurélien and Andrés of We Taste Paris leading us on a wine and cheese food tour of France. Each time there were different cheese and wine pairings, it all depends on what the gentlemen find that’s good that day.
The shop where you can adopt a baby Eiffel Tower is called Reve de Gosse, but their Instagram to see all the creations is BabyEiffelParis
Musee Marmatton is a former mansion turned museum with an extraordinary collection on Monet and other Impressionists’ works.
We left Miep right after she decided, with zero hesitation, that she would do whatever was necessary to keep the people in the attic safe as they hid from the Nazi persecution of the Jewish population.
For the next several years Miep would risk her life daily to fulfill that promise, and her Miep’s story is quite documented. One of the most important things she did was to collect from the annex and keep safe the writing collection of a 15-year-old Anne Frank until after the war. We know how she, Jan, and the other four helpers–Bep Voskuijl, Victor Kugler, Johan Klieman, and Johan Voskuijl– kept the Frank and Van Pel’s families, and Fritz Pfeffer safe for two years in the attic. In the slightly wider world, we know how the Nazi government captured, transported to concentration camps in other countries, tortured, and slaughtered millions of mostly Jewish people but also resisters, Black, Roma, and gay people… including all the former inhabitants of the secret annex with the lone exception of Otto Frank.
The time that Miep spent caring for those in hiding was not pleasant in Amsterdam, there was severe food shortages and more and more control by the Nazi military until, in 1945, the war ended and the rebuilding began. Otto Frank returned to Amsterda and moved in with Miep and Jan for the next seven years. He edited, published, defended, protected, and made sure that his daughter Anne’s legacy, her diary, was read and understood by as many people as possible throughout the world so that atrocities like this may never happen again.
Miep did what she could to support him until he passed away in 1980, then she took up his work until her death at 100 in 2010.
When Otto Frank, Anne Franks father, received the news that Anne and Margot had died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, helper Miep Gies was with him in the office. In this video, she explains how she gave Otto Frank the diaries of Anne Frank. She had saved these papers from the moment the people in hiding were arrested. #annefrank#miepgies#ottofrank#diary#legacy#woii#after
Miep said this of her work during the war: “My story is a story of very ordinary people during extraordinary times, times the like of which I hope with all my heart will never come again. It is for all of us ordinary people, all over the world, to see to it that they do not.”
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Perhaps more than any other subject, this is not an exhaustive list of materials on Miep, Anne, the Holocaust, WWII…it’s simply the ones that we used and can recommend.
Books!
Miep’s memoirWho betrayed the family? By Rosemary Sullivan (also in audiobook narrated by Julia Whelen) One of three versions, this is the most recent, the Definitive VersionFrom Bep’s perspective by her son, Joop Van Wijk-VoskuijlBy Angela WoodBy Carol Ann LeeBy Corrie Ten BoomBy Tim BradyBy Nina Siegal
Kids books:
By Meeg Pincus, Illustrated by Jordi SolanoBy Barbara Lowell, illustrated by Valentina Toro
There were many investigations aimed at revealing the person who betrayed those hiding in the attic, the first one was only a year after the war ended. Here’s an article on one from Anne Frank House website.
Moving Pictures!
1995 documentary based on Miep’s memoirfrom 1988 starring Mary SteenburgenThe most recent adaptation of Miep’s memoir, currently on Disney+ (It’s very good)
Hermine Santrouschitz was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungry on February 15, 1909. Her earliest memories are of the start of what would become World War 1. As the war ravaged her country, it was a tough life in the city as food and work became scarce for her family. That situation became dangerous as malnourishment and tuberculosis hit young Hermine so much, that the only way to save her life was to send her to a foster family outside of Austria.
To leave you with a bit of lagniappe for Women’s History Month, we broke our usual format to sit down for a talk with Anne Sebba, author of the new book, The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz: A Story of Survival. Anne tells us about some of the women in the orchestra, her process of learning about these women, organizing their stories into this book, and about other biographies she’s written in the past, about the past.
If you live in the UK or Australia, you’re in luck, this book is available now. The rest of us have to either wait or become resourceful to get our hands on a copy. But that doesn’t make the conversation Susan and Anne had about the remarkable survivors of the only all women’s orchestra in any Nazi prison camp any less interesting. Anne tells us the history of the orchestra, introduces us to Alma Rosé, an imprisoned celebrity violinist who became the orchestra’s main conductor, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, then a teenage cellist and, most recently, the last surviving member or the orchestra, and the extraordinary Hilde Grünbaum Zimche who recently passed away in 2024 at 100.
The fabulously named orchestra leader, Alma Rosé
Anne, the author of numerous biographies, also tells us about her process for writing the books that we, non-fiction readers, gobble up (hint: it’s a lot longer than it takes us to read them.) To read more about Anne’s work, visit this, her website.
Other things we discussed: The Shoah Foundation, formed after Schindeler’s List movie, whose mission is to “collect, preserve, and share survivor testimonies in order to increase knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust and to build a future for all that rejects antisemitism, hatred, dehumanization, and genocide.”
This book and movie it’s based on:
End music: Way, Way Back by Lvly with Megan Gifford, used with permission from Epidemic Sound
