Miep Gies, 100 Years

Miep Gies died Monday at age 100. Most people may not know her name but she is mentioned frequently in one of the best-selling books of the 20th century, Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl. Miep was an employee of Otto Frank in his Amsterdam business and for two years, 1942-44, she helped hide the Frank family from the Nazi occupiers. She brought them food, kept the secret, and went into the hidden rooms where they had lived after they were taken away. Anne's diary was lying on the floor after the Nazis had ransacked the place. Miep Gies put it in her desk and kept it there until Otto Frank, the only member of the family to survive the concentration camps, returned in 1945. The diary was published in 1947.

A noble life has ended and the good that rippled from it is incalculable.