Episode 264: Miep Gies, Part One
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.
At the age of 11, and after a very confusing train journey, Hermine was sent to the Nieuwenburg family in the Netherlands. They didn’t speak German (her language) she didn’t speak Dutch (theirs) but the family was welcoming and helped her regain her health. They put her in school, encouraged her to join family discussions, and gave her the nickname, Miep. She flourished and, in her heart, became Dutch- something her birthmother realized when she reunited with Miep five years after she left Vienna.
In 1933, Miep took a job with a company called Opekta that was owned by a recent Jewish German immigrant, Otto Frank. Many years, a short move to the big city of Amsterdam, the start of another deadly war, and a marriage to Jan Gies, Meip was still working at Opekta when Mr. Frank had a extraordinarily serious question for her: would she help the Frank family, Otto, Edith, Margot, and little Anne, stay safe in hiding from the Nazis who had invaded most of Europe including Amsterdam? While it was the morally right thing to do, it was also illegal and very, very dangerous.
Miep didn’t hesitate, “Of course, Mr. Frank.”
The film Miep starred in for Opekta:
We did have to break this subject into two episodes, and all of the media recommendations will be on the shownotes for Part Two.
End song: Softly to Myself by Kylie Dailey, used with permission from Epidemic Sound.
