When | Why |
---|---|
Dec-03-20 | Text Based Question |
The last survivor who helped Anne Frank and her
family hide from the Nazis has died.
Miep Gies
was 100.
After the Franks were discovered and
deported,1 it was Gies who found and preserved2
Anne’s diary.
DEBORAH AMOS, host: Back in 1998, NPRs
special correspondent3 Susan Stamberg visited a
woman in Amsterdam and asked her a simple
question.
SUSAN STAMBERG: How do you say diary in
Dutch?
Ms. MIEP GIES: Dagboek.
STAMBERG: Dagboek?
Oh, daybook.
Ms. GIES: Yes.
Daybook.
STAMBERG: Dag?
Ms. GIES: Yes.
STAMBERG: Boek.
Ms. GIES: Boek.
STAMBERG: Is diary.
[1]
[5]
[10]
1.
Deport (verb): to officially force someone to leave a country
2.
Preserve (verb): to keep something in its original or existing state
3. a writer or reporter
1
AMOS: That woman is Miep Gies.
The diary she’s referring to is Anne Frank’s.
Miep Gies helped Anne
Frank hide with her family during World War II and saved Anne’s diary after she and her family were
captured by the Germans.
Gies died yesterday at the age of 100.
Teri Schultz has this remembrance.
TERI SCHULTZ: Miep Gies said she did not like being called a hero.
Yet, she risked her life many times
over to help the Frank family during the two years they hid from the Nazis in a secret annex4 built into
the Trading Company office in Amsterdam where she’d worked for Otto Frank almost a decade.
Providing refuge5 to Jews, she noted later, carried a punishment of at least six months in a
concentration camp.6 Still, the Austrian-born Dutch woman, knighted by the governments of Germany
and the Netherlands, recipient of a medal from Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, always insisted she
had done nothing extraordinary.
Ms. MIEP GIES: I, myself, I’m just a very common person.
I simply had no choice.
I could foresee many,
many sleepless nights and a life filled with regret if I would have refused to help the Franks.
And this
was not the kind of life I was looking for at all.
SCHULTZ: Gies explained another motivation for emphasizing her modesty.
She said if people are
allowed to think it takes remarkable qualities to act boldly7 on behalf of others, few will attempt it.
Ms. GIES: People should never think that you have to be a very special person to help those who need
you.
SCHULTZ: But Gies clearly was very special, even when someone still unknown betrayed those she
called the hiders and they were taken away at gunpoint to death camps.
Gies was not intimidated.
She
sneaked back into the secret hideaway to try to preserve any belongings of the Franks that hadn’t been
destroyed or taken.
And there she found what would eventually become a treasure of the entire world.
Ms. GIES: I saw Anne’s diary scattered all over the floor.
I took it with me.
I hoped I could return it to
Anne after the war.
I wanted to see her smile and hear her say, Oh Miep, my diary.
SCHULTZ: That day would never come, as Anne did not survive the Nazi death camps.
But Otto Frank
did.
And he made his way back to Amsterdam in 1945 returning to stay with Gies and her husband.
On
the very sad day that year that he learned both his daughters had died in a camp, Otto Frank later
explained in a documentary, Gies delivered him what he called a miracle.
Mr. OTTO FRANK: When I returned and after I heard the news that my children would not come back,
Miep gave me the diary.
SCHULTZ: Gies described that moment herself years ago in an interview with the Anne Frank Museum
in Amsterdam.
[15]
[20]
4. an extension to a main building
5.
Refuge (noun): shelter or protection from danger
6.
A concentration camp is a place where large numbers of people, especially political prisoners or members of a
targeted group, are imprisoned and are forced to provide free labor.
The term is most strongly associated with the
several hundred camps established by the Nazis in Germany and occupied Europe during WWII.
The camps were
also where the majority of the victims of the Holocaust were murdered en masse.
7.
Boldly (adverb): not fearful in the face of possible or real danger
2
Ms. GIES: (Foreign language spoken)
SCHULTZ: Gies said she took the diary out of the desk where she’d saved it and she handed it to Otto
Frank with the words: this is the legacy of your daughter Anne.
She had never read a word of it, and in
fact, could not bring herself to do so until after Otto Frank published the diary in 1947, two years after
Anne’s death.
The diary of Anne Frank is a legacy Miep Gies gave not just to Otto Frank, but to the world.
It’s been
translated into some 65 languages and remains one of the best read books internationally.
To the end
of her century of life, Gies said she thought with sadness every day about the friends she had lost.
On her website she wrote it was her greatest sorrow that she and the others had been unable to save
Anne, but she was pleased they’d been able to give the young woman two more years of life, and in
that period Gies noted, Anne had written the diary with her message of tolerance8 and understanding.
For NPR News, I’m Teri Schultz.
[25]
8. Tolerance (noun): a willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from one's own
Added December 03, 2020 at 12:28am
by Alicia Hughley
Title: Text Based Question
Can common people be heroes? Why do you think more people didn’t choose to take the risks that Miep Gies took to help?
Cite examples from the text and real life to support your answer.
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Comments are due December 18, 2020 18:00
I think Miep Gies was a hero because she risked her life to hide the Franks. Paragraph 16 sentence 1 states,” SCHULTZ: But Gies clearly was very special, even when someone still unknown betrayed those she
called the hiders and they were taken away at gunpoint to death camps.” I think other people did not risk there life like Miep because if they hide the Jews they can be sent to the death camp.
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According to the text, I believe common people can be heroes and I say that because in the story it states "she risked her life many times over to help the Frank family during the two years they hid from the Nazis. I think people did not take the risk that Miep Gies did because they were scared that they were going to lose their lives and that there were going to be away from their family for a long time. Also, they’re scared that they are going to get hurt.
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Common people can definitely be heroes, someone who endangers there own life to save someone else has definitely earned the hero tag. More people probably didn’t help because a lot of people were racist white people who thought jewish people deserved to be harrased and punished (For literally existing and being jewish something they CANT CONTROL). Others were scared of the punishment they would receive for seeing a jewish person and not reporting them immediately.
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I think common people can be heroes and that Miep Gies is one but as stated in the second section of the passage she claims she isn’t a special person because, she doesn’t want people to believe that they have to be special to help someone in need. I think more people didn’t help the Franks because they were only thinking about themselves and the consequences they might have if the Nazis found out that they were hiding them in their house.
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I think common people can be hero because Miep Gies was a common person. I think more people didn’t choose to take the risks that Miep Gies took to help because they were scared to be found and killed.
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In my opinion, Miep Gies is hero because of the kind actions she took. She risked her life to save Anne Franks family from the Naizs. Miep is a very brave and warm hearted person. The text states," But Gies was clearly very special." Indeed she was very speical. I think she did the selfless act to save the family from being sent to concentration camps and being killed. Meip Gies is a one of a kind and very brave person.
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I believe that common people are able to be heroes because there are many here today.I think that more people did not want to help Anne Frank´s family because they were afraid of getting killed and just was not so willing to be able to help someone going through a hard time.Plus to the fact that she was not scared to die is that like stated in the text Miep Gies would not be able to live with her self if not helping Anne´s family.
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I believe that common people can be heroes because if they do something very heroic that is heroism.In the story of Miep Gies she did not like being called a hero,But other people called her a hero after everything she did for Anne and her family.Lots of people probably didn’t want to help unlike Miep Gies did.In Paragraph 15,Miep Gies said that she is a common person and she simply had no choice to help the Franks.Miep Gies also said is was not the kind of life she was looking for at all.
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Can common people be heroes?I think it no such thing called common people I think that all people are rare but yes I think that all people can be hero. Why do you think more people didn’t choose to take the risks that Miep Gies took to help?Because we’re scared to get find help people and they didn’t want to die so they followed the rules the rules so they don’t want to help that why.
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Miep Gies risked her life to help Anne Frank’s family hide from the Nazis. According to the text “providing refuge to Jews, she noted later, carried a punishment of at least six months in a concentration camp. Still, the Austrian-born Dutch woman, knighted by the governments of Germany and the Netherlands” People who take risks to help others are heroes. A lot of people do not want to take a risk for someone else. On Tuesday, I was watching a story on the news. A women left her car running and two men tried to steal the car. Two people got in their cars and blocked the two people that tried to steal the women’s car. The two thieves shot the two heroes. When people go out of their way to help others there is a risk of being hurt or something bad happening. Most people are not brave and do not want to get hurt to help someone they do not know. I think this is why more people do not chose to take risks to help others to become heroes.
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In my opinion, I believe that common people can be heroes. It doesn’t take a lot to do something that can consider you a hero, so of course regular people can definitely be heroes. I also think that many people wouldn’t choose to take the risks that Miep Gies chose to do simply because of the fear that they would be killed. Also because many people were convinced that everyone who was Jewish was evil, so many people hated them and wouldn’t risk doing what Miep Gies did because of what they believed.
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For example, if someone was to help a kid from getting stuck from somewhere then they’re not necessarily a hero because anybody could do that, but they are a good person for choosing to help that kid. In the passage Miep Gies says, " I, myself, I’m just a very common person. I simply had no choice. I could foresee many, many sleepless nights and a life filled with regret if I would have refused to help the Franks." She talks about how anybody could’ve chose to help to Franks, and how she doesn’t think of her self as a hero, and just thinks of her self as a kind person for choosing to help the Franks. I think that people didn’t choose to take the same risk as Miep Gies because they might have been more worried about their safety then trying to help others in needed. I also think that people didn’t choose to take the risk that Miep Gies did because they might’ve been scared of what could’ve happened to them if the people from the camp would’ve found out that they were hiding the Franks.
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I can relate this sentence from the text to a real life situaction.“Miep Gies helped Anne Frank hide with her family during World War II and saved Anne’s diary after she and her family were captured by the Germans.” I can connect this to some movies. Spefically the ones were the main characters save a bunch of stray dogs from going to a dog shelter were they would be killed. Meip did the same thing with Anne Franks family, by hidding them to prevent them from being killed at the camp. Just as in the movies when they go around the town saving stay dogs and hiding them in a abandon bulding. They took care of the the dogs just how Meip Geis took care of Anne and her faimly.
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Common people can become a hero because some people before they became a hero was a common person. More people didn’t choose to take that risk Miep Gies did because they did not want anything else to happen to them and their family.I feel like Miep Gies didn’t want them to suffer anymore so thats why she helped the Frank family. My reading this passage this tells me that Miep Gies was a kind hearted person that cared for others.
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I beliveve ordinary people can be heros because if someone is being robbed and you help them and get there stuff back thats being a hero. Miep Gies was a common lady that didnt beliveve in jews being captured. She had risked her life trying to help Anne Frank and her family. I think other people didnt do what Miep Gies did because they were maybe scared or wasnt taught any better. Like if they did what Miep did they couldve died or got sent to the concentration camps. Most of the Germans didnt care about the jews and they wanted to get revenge for getting their land taken away.
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Yes, I believe common people can be heroes because a regular person, like Miep Gies, can do something to save someones life or help someone and that is being a hero. According to the text, “Still, the Austrian-born Dutch woman knighted by the governments of Germany
and the Netherlands, recipient of a medal from Yad-Vashem Holocaust Museum, always insisted she
had done nothing extraordinary.” I think more people didn’t choose to take the risk that Miep Gies took to help because other people were focused on how to save their own lives and weren’t really considerate of others.
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I think MIep Geis is a hero because she help anne frank and her family escaped. Anne FRank wa a derman dutch diarist of jewish origin. One of the most discused jewish victims of the holocaust
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