The life (and death) of Miep Gies...

Miep Gies died on January 11. She was 100 years old. I read about her in a book I'd recommend, titled "Anne Frank, A Biography" by Melissa Muller. She was also mentioned in the book, with another theme of a diary, titled "Freedom Writers' Diary" by the Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell.

Probably not a lot of people know her name. Certainly, more people would know the name of Anne Frank. Anne Frank was the Jewish girl who hid with her parents and others in a secret annex in a commercial building in Amsterdam, Holland, a country that was occupied by the Nazis during WWII. Born in Austria, Miep Gies was one of the Dutch residents who hid Anne, the Frank family, and the others, and supplied them with food and necessities while trying to keep them from being discovered by the Nazis. It was risky and dangerous, and it led to the tragic ending when someone informed the Nazis of the hiding place and Anne and others were sent to concentration camps. Of the Jewish people who hid there, only Otto Frank, Anne's father, would survive the concentration camp. When he returned to Amsterdam, Miep Gies gave him the diary journals by Anne that Gies had found and saved.

After Otto Frank published what is best known by the title of "The Diary of Anne Frank," Anne became the face representing the millions of innocent people who suffered the brutality of Hilter and his Nazi regime.

With all his power, Hitler delivered hatred and death to the world. No one in that time in that place was probably as powerless as a Jewish teenage girl. Yet the publication of her story demonstrates that the powerless can be given a voice and can speak to greater and lasting lessons.

The story of Anne Frank is about hiding from unimaginable evil. It is about the grace of courage and hope. It is about the inspiration of words on paper, thoughts of a girl mature beyond her age. When I think of the Nazi era, I think of Hitler and I also think of Anne Frank. The powerless trumps the powerful in the important ways.

Anne Frank said, in her writings, that she wanted to become a journalist. In journalism, giving voice to the voiceless, to the powerless, is a crucial and meaningful ethic. Without the media, through books and movies and the TV mini-series programs and the websites over the years, the story might have been unknown. Without Miep Gies preserving the diaries, the story might have been lost. And Gies stands for something greater as well. She represents the goodness of people who act on principle and care about others rather than just stand by and do nothing in the face of cruelty and injustice.

Miep Gies had a long life. Anne Frank had a short life. But their lives touched each other in amazing and positive ways and then touched the lives of millions of others.