[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 23, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H673-H675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING THE LIFE OF MIEP GIES

  Mr. McMAHON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (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.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1074

       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.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. McMahon) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mr. McMAHON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McMAHON. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Anne Frank and her family's struggle to survive the Holocaust is 
known to millions around the world, but few realize that the story of 
Anne and the

[[Page H674]]

Frank family would never have been known had it not been for the 
selfless acts of Miep Gies, who passed away on January 11.
  The Frank family was ultimately captured by the Gestapo and deported 
to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where Anne and her sister 
Margor died of typhus. Anne's diaries survived the war and continue to 
serve as an inspirational story of hope in the face of senseless 
tragedy and an important testament for future generations to the 
horrors of the Holocaust. Were it not for the selfless acts of Miep 
Gies, an employee of Anne's father, Otto, who aided the Frank family 
while they were in hiding and preserved Anne's diary, Anne's story 
would likely never have been known. Miep agreed without hesitation to 
hide and assist the Frank family to avoid persecution in the hands of 
the Nazis, and by doing so put her own life at risk.
  After the Gestapo discovered the Frank family's hiding place, Miep 
hid the pages of Anne's diary for safekeeping and years later returned 
them to Otto, the only surviving member of the Frank family. Miep Gies 
also shared her recollections to author Alison Leslie Gold for the 
book, ``Anne Frank Remembered,'' which was later made into a powerful 
documentary film. She recounted her extraordinary life with a self-
effacing modesty that betrayed her unfailing courage and integrity, 
serving as a powerful symbol of resistance against the forces of 
oppression and injustice.

                              {time}  1430

  We mourn the passing of this extraordinary woman, and honor her for 
her bravery and compassion.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Miep Gies' courage in 
risking her own life to hide and to provide for the Frank family and 
for preserving the memory of Anne Frank and the Holocaust.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I am a proud cosponsor of this bill, and I rise in 
support of House Resolution 1074, which honors the life of Miep Gies, 
who helped Anne Frank's family while they were in hiding and who 
preserved Anne's famous diary for future generations.
  With Miep's passing on January 11, the world has lost a true hero. 
Before German occupation, Miep worked as an office assistant in 
Amsterdam for Otto Frank, Anne Frank's father. After Nazi Germany 
occupied Holland and after Hitler began to accelerate his plan for 
total extermination of the Jews, Anne Frank's father began to make 
plans to hide his family from persecution.
  As Miep later recalled in the spring of 1942, Otto Frank sat her down 
and told her that they were going to go into hiding, and he asked her 
if she would be willing to help out the family by bringing them food.
  Miep simply answered, ``Yes, of course.''
  For 2 years, Miep, her husband and a number of her friends helped the 
Frank family and four other Jews hide in a small attic apartment behind 
the office of the Frank Family business. They brought them food and 
other necessities while putting their own lives at risk every day.
  During their years in hiding, Anne Frank, as we all know, kept a 
diary, which described her experiences. This diary would later become 
one of the most widely read books in the world, providing millions of 
people with a glimpse of the Holocaust through the eyes of a young, 
bright and ever hopeful Jewish girl.
  In August of 1944, the Gestapo discovered their hiding place, and 
they arrested the Frank family. After the Frank family was captured, 
Miep discovered the pages of Anne Frank's diary, and held them in 
safekeeping until after the war. She later gave the diary to Anne's 
father, who returned to Amsterdam after surviving Auschwitz. In fact, 
he was the only member of the Frank family who managed to survive. 
Anne's mother died in Auschwitz, and Anne and her sister perished in 
the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
  Decades after the Holocaust, Miep stated the following about what she 
and her husband and a number of her friends did to help the Frank 
family and others:
  ``It seemed perfectly natural to me. I could help these people. They 
were powerless. They didn't know where to turn. I always emphasize that 
we were not heroes. We did our duty as human beings.''
  What Miep and others did during the Holocaust to save lives, while 
putting their own at risk, was nothing short of heroism. Miep has 
survived and has received many honors for her heroism, including being 
knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and receiving a medal from 
Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.
  Though Miep passed away last month, her relentless courage, her 
compassion and her contribution to preserving one of the most unique 
and important documentations of the horrors of the Holocaust will not 
be forgotten.
  I thank my distinguished colleague, Congresswoman Kilroy, for 
introducing this measure which recognizes Miep's courage in risking her 
life to hide and to provide for the Frank family while they were in 
hiding. It commends Miep for retrieving and preserving the diary of 
Anne Frank. Further, it honors Miep for her bravery during the Nazi 
occupation of the Netherlands, and it honors her dedication to 
preserving the memory of Anne Frank so as to remember the terrible 
lessons of the Holocaust.
  I support this important measure, Madam Speaker, and I urge my 
colleagues to do the same.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McMAHON. Madam Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the prime sponsor 
of this resolution, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kilroy).
  Ms. KILROY. Thank you, my colleagues.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 1074, 
legislation that I introduced to honor the life of Hermine ``Miep'' 
Gies, who aided Anne Frank's family while they were in hiding and who 
preserved her diary for future generations.
  I want to thank Chairman Berman and Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen for 
their support in bringing this resolution to the floor.
  Why is it important to honor Miep Gies?
  I recently visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. 
It is an overwhelming experience, and as we ponder the horror of 
Hitler's plan to eradicate the Jewish people, we ask ourselves: How 
could this have happened? How could so many stand by silently? How 
could so many actually participate?
  So it is important, I think, to understand that there are some who 
spoke up, heroes like Miep Gies, and it is important to honor people 
like her, people who helped the Jews, who worked against the sea of 
hatred that had enveloped most of Europe at that time--people like Miep 
Gies, an ordinary woman, who did an extraordinary thing.
  She was born to a German Catholic family in Austria on February 15, 
1909. When she was 11, her family sent her to live with a foster family 
in the Netherlands to escape food shortages in postwar Austria. She 
worked as a servant, as a seamstress, as waitress. Then, in 1933, she 
took a job with an Amsterdam manufacturing company owned by Otto Frank, 
a German Jew, who left Frankfurt when Hitler became Chancellor of 
Germany and when the organized attacks on the Jews began, including the 
boycott on Jewish businesses.
  Ms. Gies quickly became friends with the Frank family. On July 6, 
1942, more than 2 years into the German occupation of the Netherlands, 
Otto Frank; his wife, Edith; and his daughters, Margot and Anne, went 
into hiding in a secret annex behind a bookshelf in Otto Frank's 
office. They were later joined by Hermann and Auguste Van Pels; their 
son, Peter; and Fritz Pfeffer.
  For 2 more years, Miep Gies, along with her husband, Jan, and three 
other employees of Otto Frank, risked their lives to supply the eight 
people in hiding with food, clothing, with news from the outside, and 
with paper for Anne to write on.
  As Anne noted in her diary, ``Miep has so much to carry; she looks 
like a pack mule. She goes forth nearly every day, scrounging for 
vegetables, and then bicycles back with her purchases in large shopping 
bags.''
  Miep is also the one who brought five library books to Anne every 
Saturday. She did this during a time of war. It

[[Page H675]]

was a time of shortages, a time when getting food meant managing ration 
coupons. Despite their efforts, though, on August 4, 1944, the Gestapo 
raided the secret hiding place, and they captured the eight hideaways 
who were betrayed by an anonymous tip.
  Miep Gies discovered the pages of the diary that Anne kept during her 
time in hiding, and Miep locked them in a desk drawer for safekeeping. 
When she learned that Margot and Anne had died of typhus at the Bergen-
Belsen concentration camp, she returned Anne's diary to Otto Frank, the 
only one of the eight to have survived the Holocaust.
  Later in her life, she testified against the Neo-Nazis, who denied 
the authenticity of the diary. She helped in the establishment of a 
museum in the small building where Anne and her family had hid.
  As was noted, she passed away recently, on January 11, 2010, at the 
age of 100, but she kept alive a very important part of Holocaust 
history by preserving Anne's diary and by helping us to learn, to 
understand and to remember so it will not happen again.
  The ``Diary of a Young Girl,'' by Anne Frank, has been translated 
into 70 languages--an inspirational story about hope in the face of war 
and an important testament for future generations so that the horrors 
of the Holocaust will not be forgotten. Like so many others who read 
Anne's diary, as a young woman, I was deeply moved by her steadfast 
optimism even during a period of her life defined by the evil of that 
day.
  Thanks to Miep Gies' bravery, Anne's recollections have been 
preserved for future generations. Miep later described her efforts to 
assist the eight people in hiding, saying, ``Of course, it's nice to be 
appreciated, but I only did my duty to my fellow man. I helped people 
in need. Anyone can do that, can't they?''
  This understated appraisal of her heroic acts is just one example of 
her modesty and her integrity. We can learn much from Miep Gies, an 
ordinary woman, who showed extraordinary courage in the face of 
unspeakable peril during Nazi occupation and the Holocaust. She is a 
powerful symbol of resistance against oppression and injustice. She is 
an example of our human capacity to rise even to the most daunting of 
challenges.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing this incredible 
woman's life and legacy.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I stand before you today in 
support of 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.''
  I would like to begin by thanking my colleague Representative Mary Jo 
Kilroy for introducing this resolution in the House, as it is important 
that we honor and recognize those who helped and aided groups of people 
who were persecuted by the Nazis during World War II. Furthermore, we 
must never forget the horrible atrocities of the Holocaust and continue 
to fight against acts of genocide around the world as well as fight 
against bigotry and intolerance here at home in the U.S.
  During the Second World War, Miep Gies helped and assisted Anne Frank 
and her family by hiding and protecting them from Nazi persecution. In 
fact, Miep Gies agreed to hide and assist the Frank family in avoiding 
Jewish persecution at the hands of the Nazis without hesitation.
  Miep Gies initially met Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank, in 1933 and 
worked as a secretary in his pectin manufacturing company, Opekta. 
After some time, she became well acquainted with the Frank family, as 
did her husband Jan Gies, whom she married on July 16, 1941.
  In the early 1940s, the Nazis began targeting specific groups of 
people including Jews, ethnic Poles, Romani, Soviet civilians, Soviet 
prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's 
Witnesses, and other political and religious groups. Between 1940 and 
1945 during the Holocaust, more than 6 million Jews and other targeted 
groups were exterminated by the Nazis.
  During this time, Miep Gies along with her husband and several 
colleagues helped hide the Frank family including Edith and Otto Frank, 
their daughters Margot and Anne, Hermann and Auguste van Pels, their 
son Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer, from Nazi persecution. Miep Gies' husband 
Jan Gies was a member of the Dutch Resistance who was dedicated to 
assisting Jews and other persecuted peoples escape by obtaining illegal 
ration cards for food and finding good hiding places. Miep Gies and her 
husband hid the Frank family in a secret upstairs room of the office 
building that was used by Mr. Frank's spice company from July 1942 to 
August 1944.
  Every few days Miep Gies would come by the secret upstairs room of 
Mr. Frank's former office building and bring food supplies in addition 
to writing supplies for Anne Frank. Because of Miep Gies' genuine 
compassion and selflessness, her friends were able to evade the horrors 
of Nazi persecution for two years.
  Sadly, on the morning of August 4, 1944, the Grune Polizei arrested 
Anne Frank and her family who were hiding in the secret upstairs room 
of Mr. Frank's office building. Because of her genuine care and 
compassion for her friends however, Miep Gies attempted to petition and 
bribe the Austrian Nazi officer to release her friends for several days 
after their arrest. Unfortunately the officer would not allow for their 
release.
  After being arrested, Anne Frank and her family were deported to the 
Auschwitz Nazi Concentration Camp where Anne stayed until being 
transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Sadly, Anne Frank 
later died there in March 1945 at the age of 15 though her father Otto 
Frank, from whom she was separated, survived the war.
  Sometime after Anne Frank and her family were arrested and deported, 
Miep Gies found the diary Anne Frank had kept while hiding from the 
Nazis in the secret room and safeguarded it through the end of the war. 
It wasn't until after the end of World War II that Miep Gies released 
the pages of Anne Frank's diary to her father, Otto Frank.
  The diary of Anne Frank was later published and entitled ``The Diary 
of a Young Girl.'' The diary was also translated into 70 languages and 
remains as a testament for future generations on the horrors of the 
Holocaust and the importance of preventing genocide in all forms.
  Sadly Miep Gies recently passed away on January 11, 2010 leaving 
behind a legacy of compassion and teaching. Today I stand in 
recognition of the courage that Miep Gies had in risking her own life 
to shelter and provide for the Frank family while they were in hiding 
from the Nazis. The love and selflessness that Miep Gies showed in 
sheltering her friends from the hatred and persecution of Nazi Germany 
should be an example to us all.
  I would also like to commend Miep Gies for recovering and preserving 
the diary of Anne Frank through the end of World War II. Because of the 
thoughtfulness of Miep Gies, the Diary of Anne Frank now serves as both 
an inspiration as well as an example to millions of people around the 
world.
  It is important that we never forget the horrible actions that took 
place during the Holocaust. It is also important that we never forget 
the courageous and noble acts of people all across Europe in the fight 
against the Nazi regime as well as those who assisted persecuted groups 
during those terrible times.
  Furthermore, I would also like to urge countries and leaders across 
the world to reassess their efforts in fighting racism, intolerance and 
anti-Semitism. Through providing education and instruction to adults 
and children alike, we can help to ensure that what happened in Europe 
during the Holocaust is never allowed to happen again.
  I ask my colleagues for their support of this legislation as well as 
their support for those who protect defenseless people across the 
world. I strongly urge you to support this resolution.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McMAHON. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and 
I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. McMahon) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1074.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. McMAHON. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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