Miep Geis RIP

From time to time we've all learned of someone's death and thought, "I didn't know they were still alive." And that happened again for me this morning when I learned of the passing into ancestry of the Dutch woman, Miep Geis. And it would not surprise me in the least if you didn't have any idea who she is.

I think, in fact, that she would like it that way. Born in 1909 in Vienna, she immigrated to Amsterdam and established for herself a life there. By the time of World War II, she found herself in the employment of Otto Frank as his secretary. When the Nazi's invaded Holland and began persecuting Jews, she gave safe shelter to the Franks for nearly two years. And after they were discovered and sent to concentration camps, she discovered the tattered remains of the diary that Otto Frank's youngest daughter had kept during her concealment.

As Miep tells it, she was too gracious to even read it, but tenderly saved it. And after the war and liberation when only Otto Frank survived the Nazi tyranny, she gave Ann's diary to her father. In 1947, he first published "The Diary of Ann Frank" which has become one of the most translated and published books in the history of the human race.

When asked about her status as a hero, she was always quick to deny it. She said, "I don't want to be considered a hero. Imagine young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero? I was not. I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary."

She is a hero to me, because she inspires me to be just as committed to do the right thing.