Anne Frank Remembered

It seems as if we are never far from Miep's thoughts....Yours, Anne

For the millions moved by Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, here at last is Miep's own astonishing story. For more than two years, Miep Gies and her husband helped hide the Franks from the Nazis. Like thousands of unsung heroes of the Holocaust, they risked their lives each day to bring food, news, and emotional support to the victims.

From her own remarkable childhood as a World War I refugee to the moment she places a small, red-orange, checkered diary -- Anne's legacy -- in Otto Frank's hands, Miep Gies remembers her days with simple honesty and shattering clarity. Each page rings with courage and heartbreaking beauty.

Miep and her collaborator Alison Leslie Gold have done a wonderful job in bringing to life in clear crisp prose Miep's role in helping the family during that terrible time when barbarity had stood the world on its head. One point of interest is the inconsistency of Miep's report of events, with others, on that awful day of the family's arrest in August 1944. Chapter 15 of Miep's book should be read closely with the very precise account of that day contained in "The Diary of Anne Frank: the Critical Edition."

This is not to imply that Miep was in anyway involved in the betrayal of the family. Clearly, she wasn't. Miep's inconsistences just make her book more realistic, more readable, more earthy. Her book becomes an account not of a hero, a saint or a fighter for a cause. Miep was simply a friend who cared.


Would you?   April 11, 2004
J.H. (Beaverton, OR)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

I think many of us would like to think that if a family that we know well is in dire need, we would go to extreme measures to help them in any way we can. But if it came down to a life-and-death decision, I wonder how many people would have made the same decision that brave Miep Gies made to help out the Franks. She details this decision, and her years of helping the Franks hide in the little apartment behind her office, in her well-told book "Anne Frank Remembered".

Part memior, part rememberance of Anne herself, this book details the life of Miep, from a little girl born in Vienna, to her migration to Amsterdam. She becomes an office worker in Otto Frank's pectin business, and her history is now set. Soon, due to Hitler's oppresive policies against the Jews, the Franks must go into hiding to survive.

Miep recounts details of her assistance in helping keep the Franks, the Van Daans and Albert Dussel alive. In fact, this book is a brilliant piece of writing to accompany Anne Frank's diary. While Anne details life inside the Annex, we find out from Miep what she was doing outside. Together, they paint a complete picture of the horror and danger of their daily lives. And when Anne's diary stops before that faithful day, Miep's story continues. She bravely tries to bribe the Franks out of captivity to no avail.

Whereas Anne is probably the most "famous" Frank, Miep does talk about her from time to time, knowing that we would want to know her impressions of the little girl. She offers some touching, poignant insights to Anne, making her seem more real, if that's possible. Detailing Anne growing out of her clothes, which Anne domcuments herself in her diary, is a particular moment that shows us Anne having to grow up, imprisioned becuase of her religion and for her safety.

Without a doubt, Miep and all of the people who aided the Franks in the Annex are heroes. This time of history had many thousands of heroes, many of them unsung. Fortuantely, we have a well-documented life of Anne and we can spend as much time as possible with them, thanks to these books.


A haunting story that will stay with you for a long time!   August 17, 2001
Sue Marinelli (Plainville, Connecticut United States)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

Miep Gies has done an astounding job and written a really wonderful book. I own this book, originally having bought it when it first came out 14 years ago. I read it then, put it away, and recently got it back out when the Anne Frank miniseries was on t.v. I reread it, and it was just like reading it for the first time! You get to know more about the Frank family and those in hiding with them. You learn more about them on a personal level. Miep also tells us about herself and her background. She really helps us feel what it was like to be a Jew in hiding. And she describes the days before, during and after the war so vividly. It's a great lesson in the circumstances and political atmosphere of how Hitler's Third Reich came to power. Miep says that she is not a hero; that she only did what a lot of people did, but after reading this book I cannot agree with her. What she and her husband did was extremely heroic and the Frank family was truly blessed to have them. She and her book are truly a treasure.


A Familiar Story Told in and Interesting Way   April 27, 2000
Rachel Jongerius (Peoria, IL)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

Many people are familiar with the story of Anne Frank and her family during the Holocaust. But in the book Anne Frank Remembered, you get the unique opportunity of hearing the story from the woman who helped to hide the Frank family during this horrible time, Miep Gies. Mr. Frank and his wife and two daughters, Anne and Margot, moved to the Netherlands to escape the Nazis. Miep was an employ of Mr. Frank in the Netherlands. When the Nazis entered the Netherlands, they began to get worried. So Miep and her husband agreed to hide the family in the attic of Mr. Franks office building. They had to be very secretive about all of this. All of the trash that the Frank family accumulated had to be burned, and they couldn't walk at all during the day in case someone heard their footsteps. There was also a small window in the attic that they couldn't go near in case someone saw them. Even with all the precautions, they were still eventually caught, but never forgotten by Miep. I thought that this was an outstanding book. It tells a familiar story in a way that it has never been told before. Hearing it from the woman who helped hide the Franks was amazing. It is by far one of the best books I have ever read.


Desperation   February 1, 2000
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

This wonderful book perfectly captures the feeling of desperation and fear that pervaded all German occupied lands. Reading the Diary of Anne Frank, I never cried because Anne herself seemed so resilent, so full of hope. Reading Anne Frank Remembered, I wept at the desperation that these people endured and at the magnificent beauty of Miep Gies and her strength. I cannot recommend this book enough.