Righteous Hero

 "When God’s children are in need, be the one to help them out." ~ Romans 12:13

Almost everyone knows Anne Frank’s story; her diary became one of the world’s most famous books.  Her harrowing account may never have been told had it not for Miep Gies, one of the 6 "helpers," who risked their lives hiding Anne, her family and four other Jews for 25 months.

Every day, Miep, the office secretary, acquired meat and vegetables during her lunch break.  She also brought them library books.  Miep used stolen food stamps procured by her husband, who was part of the Dutch resistance.

Tragedy struck in 1944 when the offices were raided and the Jewish prisoners were arrested.  In seeking their release, Gies failed after visiting several police stations offering bribes.

However, Gies was able to make one lasting contribution to the Franks’ story by ensuring that it lived on through Anne’s diary.  Before the authorities could search the attic above the offices where the families had been staying, Miep Gies broke in and took Anne’s diary pages which chronicled her life in hiding.

Gies refused to read the papers, saying even a teenager's privacy was sacred.  Later, she revealed that if she had read them, she would have burned them because they incriminated the "helpers."

Anne Frank died at age 15 of typhus at a Nazi death camp nine months after her capture, just two weeks before the camp was liberated.  The young woman whose tire­less efforts on behalf of Anne ultimately couldn’t save her, returned the unread diary to Anne's father Otto, the family’s sole survivor.  He published it in 1947.

Anne’s dreams lived on just as she hoped.  “I want to be useful or give pleasure to those who don’t really know me,” she wrote.  Those words continue to inspire others around the world even to this day.  Because of us, her voice and her story can continue when we show compassion to others and advocate for the oppressed.

After the diary was published, Miep Gies persistently promoted causes of tolerance.  She brushed aside the accolades for helping hide the Frank family as more than she deserved.  “I’m no hero.  I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did and much more during those dark and terrible times.”  She died in 2010 at the age of 100.

By continuing the work of Jesus, we must work for a world free from war, oppression, and injustice.  And in our own lives, we must work toward healing our brokenness from God and one another.  In this way, the legacies of these two women should inspire us to lend a hand to all those in need; to be an unmistakable missionary for Christ’s love in the world.

“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; Where there is hatred, let me sow charity; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is error, truth; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; and Where there is sadness, joy.  Amen”