[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1074 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1074

  Honoring the life of Miep Gies, who aided Anne Frank's family while 
  they were in hiding and preserved her diary for future generations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 2010

Ms. Kilroy (for herself, Mr. Ackerman, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. 
 Conyers, Mr. Wolf, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mrs. 
  Lowey, Mr. Engel, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. Pastor of Arizona, Mr. 
Rohrabacher, Mr. Nadler of New York, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, Mr. 
   Filner, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mrs. Maloney, Ms. 
   Harman, Mr. Delahunt, Mrs. McCarthy of New York, Ms. Norton, Mr. 
McGovern, Mr. Rothman of New Jersey, Mr. Snyder, Ms. Lee of California, 
 Ms. Berkley, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Baca, Mr. Israel, Mr. Matheson, Mr. 
 Miller of Florida, Mr. Sires, Ms. Watson, Mr. Michaud, Mr. Grijalva, 
   Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Johnson of 
 Georgia, Mr. Hodes, Mr. Shuler, Mr. Hall of New York, Ms. Fudge, Mr. 
    Nye, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Polis of Colorado, Mr. Cao, Mr. Klein of 
Florida, Ms. Schwartz, Mr. Peters, Mr. Connolly of Virginia, Ms. Markey 
of Colorado, and Ms. Roybal-Allard) submitted the following resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Honoring the life of Miep Gies, who aided Anne Frank's family while 
  they were in hiding and preserved her diary for future generations.

Whereas Hermine ``Miep'' Gies was born on February 15, 1909, in Vienna, Austria;
Whereas Miep Gies was sent to live with a host family in the Netherlands when 
        she was 11 years old after the tumult of World War I led to food 
        shortages in Austria;
Whereas in 1933, Miep Gies took a job as an office assistant to Otto Frank, 
        owner of Opekta, a pectin manufacturing company, and father of Anne 
        Frank;
Whereas Miep Gies agreed without hesitation to hide and assist the Frank family 
        to avoid Jewish persecution at the hands of Nazi Germany;
Whereas Miep Gies helped hide and sustain the Frank family, along with Hermann 
        and Auguste Van Pels, their son Peter, and later Fritz Pfeffer, for two 
        years in a secret room above Opekta's offices, bringing them food, 
        supplies, and writing supplies for Anne;
Whereas when the Gestapo captured the Frank family, the Van Pels family, and Mr. 
        Pfeffer, on August 4, 1944, Miep Gies discovered the pages of Anne 
        Frank's diary in the secret room and hid them for safekeeping;
Whereas after learning that Anne Frank and her sister Margot died of typhus at 
        Bergen-Belsen, Miep Gies gave Anne Frank's diary to her father Otto, the 
        only surviving member of the family;
Whereas ``The Diary of a Young Girl'' by Anne Frank, which has been translated 
        into 70 languages, is both an inspirational story about hope in the face 
        of senseless tragedy and an important testament for future generations 
        to the horrors of the Holocaust;
Whereas Miep Gies shared her recollections to author Alison Leslie Gold for the 
        book ``Anne Frank Remembered'', which was later made into a powerful 
        documentary film;
Whereas Miep Gies, who would recount her extraordinary life with a self-effacing 
        modesty that betrayed her unfailing courage and integrity, serves as a 
        powerful symbol of resistance against the forces of oppression and 
        injustice;
Whereas Miep Gies represents the valor demonstrated by the countless ordinary 
        individuals who stood up to and helped defeat Adolph Hitler's Nazi 
        regime; and
Whereas Miep Gies passed away on January 11, 2010: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes Miep Gies's courage in risking her own life 
        to hide and provide for the Frank family while they were in 
        hiding;
            (2) commends Miep Gies for retrieving and preserving the 
        diary of Anne Frank, which has served as an inspiration to 
        countless people the world over; and
            (3) honors Miep Gies for her bravery during Nazi occupation 
        of the Netherlands and her dedication to preserving the memory 
        of Anne Frank and the Holocaust.
                                 <all>