What happened to the real Miep & Jan Gies (and what the miniseries leaves out)

Although most people will have heard the story of Anne Frank, they may not know the other side of her incredible and sad diary, that of Miep and Jan Gies, who are responsible for hiding the Frank family, a tale depicted in National Geographic . A small light. Premieres on May 1, 2023. A small light Tells the true story of a Dutch couple in the 1930s and 1940sMiep Gies (Bel Powley) and Jan Gies (Joe Cole), who helped the Jewish Frank family hide from the occupying Nazis from 1942 to 1944.

There have been several movies and TV shows about Anne Frank, but almost none about the people who hid her. A small light Provides an account of the lead-up to the Nazi occupation of Holland, Frank’s time in hiding, and the aftermath when the Nazis discovered their hiding place. The eight-episode miniseries is 100% on Rotten tomatoes and earned a SAG nomination for Powley’s performance. While A small light It takes some liberties, it is mostly a factual account, and the feel of the series is adapted to the real emotions and motives of that decade.

Miep and Jan Gies were a Dutch couple who were close friends of the Frank family

Miep moved from Austria to the Netherlands during the First World War

Miep Gies and Jan Gies are in fact a real-life Dutch couple and much of A small light is based on Miep’s 1987 autobiography Anne Frank remembers and the 1995 documentary based on the book (by Smithsonian Magazine). Miep was born in Vienna in 1909 and was originally named Hermine Santrouschitz. Because of the destruction brought by WWI, Hermine’s family sent her to the Netherlands as part of a charity program to care for children affected by the war. She was eventually adopted by her foster family and given the Dutch name, “Meep”.

It was in the Netherlands that Miep began working as a secretary for Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber) at his packaging company, Opekta. Otto moved his family to the Netherlands from Germany in 1933 as the Nazis gained power and anti-Semitic hatred began to grow exponentially (through USHMM). Jan also worked at Opecta, and there the two met, later married in July 1941, shortly before the Franks went into hiding (by DigitalSpy). While working together, Miep and Otto grew close, often discussing the worsening political crisis in Europe.

The Gies family hid Anne Frank and her family during World War II

The Geese ended up hiding nine people in their home and in Otto’s office

Although he fled his homeland, Otto Frank could not escape from the grasping hands of the Nazi apparatus. In May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands and defeated the Dutch army in just a few days. The anti-Semitism that the Franks fled from was now at their door, and in an even worse state than before. Otto handed over the ownership of his company to Jan and another colleague, Victor Kugler (Nicholas Burns), and served as an advisor under the new anti-Jewish laws established by the occupying force.

Then in the spring of 1942, Otto suddenly approached Miep with a request to help his family while they were in hiding. He didn’t give any more explanation and Meep didn’t ask any more questions. Later she recalled the moment,

“I didn’t ask any further questions. The less I knew, the less I could say in an investigation. I knew when the time was right he would tell me… everything else I needed to know. I didn’t Feeling no curiosity, I gave my word.”

Shortly after that conversation, Margot Frank (Ashley Brook), Frank’s eldest daughter, received a notice to report to a forced labor camp with other Jewish people. Although it was not fully understood at the time, Margo has just been ordered to surrender to a concentration camp. Although the exact nature of the camps was not fully known, most people understood that they were not somewhere anyone would want to be. Otto accelerated his plans to hide his family and moved them into a room in his office building at Prinsengracht 263, hidden behind a bookcase.

Miep personally brought Margot to the room and Margot quickly joined her family. Otto’s business partner, Hermann van Pels (Andy Nyman) his wife and son, and Dr. Friedrich “Fritz” Pfeffer (Noah Taylor) later join the family in hiding after coming to Miep, trusting her to find them a place to Hide The eight refugees in Otto’s offices are kept alive by the combined efforts of Jan, Miep, Kugler, Bep Voskuijl (Sally Messham), Johannes Kleiman (Ian McElhinney), and Johan Voskuijl (who does not appear in the series).

According to The Diary of Anne FrankAnne said of Miep,

“Miep is just as gentle as a slap, she takes and carries so much. Almost every day she manages to pick up some vegetables for us, brings everything in shopping bags on her bicycle.”

John was a member of the Dutch resistance, and as a social worker, he was able to travel across the city, obtaining ration cards and illegal papers. It was necessary. While Miep was in charge of getting food, Ian visited the family almost every day, bringing them books and news and keeping them company in a dark and lonely time. Unknown to the Franks, the Geese are also hiding Kuna van der Horst (Froston Neyman), a young man who refused to declare his support for the Nazis and who was in danger of being deported himself.

Then, on August 4, 1944, Nazis arrived at the Affecta office. How they got excited about the Franks is still a hotly debated question. They went to find the secret annex and arrested everyone hiding, including Kugler and Clayman. But the gises and wascoils remained. amazingly, Miep went straight to the Gestapo’s local headquarters and offered a bribe to the SS officer.Carl Joseph Silberbauer (Daniel Donskoy), to free everyone. Even though she was refused, they somehow allowed Miep to leave unmolested. She would never see any of them but Otto again.

What little light is left out of the real story

A small light only changes some details of the real story

While many World War 2 TV shows change certain events for the sake of drama, A small light Does not need to change too much of the incredible true story. There are, of course, a few changes here and there, however. In the series, Jan and Miep’s relationship is given a little more attention, and their courtship involves Jan messing around in a bar and Miep adopting a kitten that happens to be from Jan’s employer.

In real life, Miep was in the midst of a divorce when she met Jan at work. Otto actually helped secure the couple to their boss who had a problem with a married woman living with an unmarried man. A small light Also has a heavy focus on Jan’s operations as a member of the Dutch Resistance. In fact, no one knows exactly what Jan did for the resistance, only that his involvement was extensive. Alison Leslie Gold, who co-authored Miep’s autobiography, said of Jan (via independent),

“[He was] Like double trouble, because you don’t even know what else he did – and you never will. [because] He was too modest to even tell anyone much of anything.

Apart from the small creative freedoms, A small light Does an admirable job of keeping the show close to the reality of the storyNever take away or unnecessarily add to the great deeds of anyone.

What happened to Miep and Jan Gies after WWII?

Miep and Ian both lived long lives

Like many Holocaust movies and TV shows, the results of this horrific part of human history are almost as important to depict as the lead-up and event itself. A small light Again closely follows the real story of what happened after the war. Otto came to live with the Giese for some time, the only living person from the attic. After Otto learned that the rest of his family had died, Miep gave him a diary. She never read it out of respect for the young girl And of hope for her return.

Otto eventually moved to Switzerland and remarried, but remained close to the Gies until his death in 1980. Gies published her memoirs in 1987, then began traveling to tell Anne Frank’s story and explain What she saw about the destruction. The Jies have lived in Amsterdam all their lives. Jan Gies died in 1993 at the age of 87 from kidney failure. Miep Gies died in 2010, a month after her 101st birthday. Regarding Jan, Miep spoke on her 100th birthday about the “unsung heroes” who helped Dutch Jews,

“I would like to name one, my husband Jan. He was a resistance man who said nothing but said a lot. People like him existed in thousands but never heard of.”

About herself, Mieff was modest, writing in the prologue of her book,

“More than 20,000 Dutch people helped to hide Jews and others who needed to hide over the years. I gladly did what I could to help. My husband did too. It’s not enough. There is nothing special about me. I never paid special attention to doing what was asked of me and what was necessary at the time.

A small light Describes in excruciating detail the pain and terror of the Holocaust and the prelude to it. At the same time, the virtues of not only people like Miefe and Jan Gies, who put their lives on the line for others, but also the People like the Franks, who had to put their trust in their friends and neighbors in an impossible situation.