Miep Gies Part 1

Summary

Podcast Summary: The History Chicks – "Miep Gies Part 1"

Released on April 10, 2025

---

Introduction to Miep Gies

In the premiere episode of "Miep Gies Part 1," hosts Susan and Holly embark on a compelling journey through the life of Miep Gies, a courageous woman who played a pivotal role in sheltering Anne Frank and her family during one of history's darkest periods. This episode delves deep into Miep's early life, her move to the Netherlands, and the burgeoning threats of World War II, setting the stage for her heroic actions.

---

Early Life in Vienna

Miep Gies, originally named Hermine Santruc, was born on February 15, 1909, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Raised in a modest household with her maternal grandparents and uncles, Miep faced economic hardships from a young age. Susan provides a glimpse into her childhood, noting the absence of her father in official records:

Susan [02:08]: "You will read things that have a name, that give a name, but that doesn't appear to be the actual father."

Holly paints a picture of a childhood marked by poverty and the looming shadow of global conflict:

Holly [02:14]: "Bad stuff was a coming."

At the tender age of five, Miep experienced the harsh realities of war firsthand when Austrian military troops marched through her neighborhood, an event that left a lasting impression:

Susan [04:07]: "...she got so excited that she ran out of their apartment, ran down into the street... until somebody... carried her home to her frantic mother who was like, 'you cannot go out there anymore. We're done going outside. It is too dangerous.'"

The economic turmoil in post-World War I Austria led to widespread famine and malnutrition, severely affecting Miep's family. By age eleven, desperate circumstances compelled Miep to leave Austria and seek refuge in the Netherlands:

Holly [06:03]: "The world took notice of the starving children of Austria. And not only that, they took action... And the doctor nods and puts a piece of string around your child's neck..."

---

A New Life in the Netherlands

Upon arriving in the Netherlands, Miep was placed with the Nievenburg family in Leiden. Adjusting to a new country and language was challenging, but the warmth and generosity of her hosts provided her with stability and comfort. Holly shares her initial bewildered memories of the journey:

Holly [07:30]: "Hermine herself tells the story of her journey with sort of jumbled memories... I don't know, but Miep was bundled onto a train with a lot of other crying children..."

Despite the language barrier, Miep quickly adapted, becoming fluent in Dutch and excelling academically:

Susan [14:01]: "She was very good at it because she'd been in an interview, that's a really good sign. Right? Like, oh, when you meet Mr. So and so... she could get involved in these conversations."

Miep's integration into Dutch society was marked by her involvement in school and her blossoming personal life, including her education and social activities:

Holly [17:53]: "She knew she was being taken care of, even though she wasn't with her. Fortunately, we do know what kind of classes she took and how she was in them... she got fours in all of those."

---

Meeting Jan Gies and Building Relationships

At the age of sixteen, Miep returned briefly to Vienna, only to realize that her place was firmly within the Netherlands. Following a successful annulment process and with Otto Frank's assistance, she married Jan Gies on July 16, 1941:

Susan [63:10]: "She wrote to him, and she said, can you get this for me? And he tried and tried and tried... So Miep opened an envelope from her uncle... the wedding was on."

Holly emphasizes the emotional significance of their marriage, highlighting the supportive community that surrounded them:

Holly [68:40]: "All the Franks came. The whole office came... This might be some of the last happy photos of the Franks, especially Anne and Margot, that we have available to us."

Their union not only solidified Miep's place in Dutch society but also forged strong bonds with the Frank family and other Jewish colleagues, including the Van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer.

---

The Escalation of Nazi Oppression

As World War II intensified, the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands brought increasing peril to Jewish residents. The hosts outline the systematic oppression and brutal enforcement of anti-Semitic laws:

Susan [33:24]: "Hitler had a strategy where he wouldn't take fault for anything. He would always find somebody else to blame... Jewish people were scapegoated."

The Dutch civil unrest, marked by a massive general strike, was brutally suppressed, with Jewish individuals bearing the brunt of the reprisals. Miep herself faced direct threats when her Austrian passport was invalidated:

Holly [43:07]: "In 1944... And Otto Frank had this great idea. Just go get the page with your picture and your name and send that and see if your uncle can get your birth certificate with that."

Despite the mounting dangers, Miep and her husband Jan worked diligently to protect their Jewish colleagues by transferring business roles to non-Jewish counterparts, thereby safeguarding their company's future.

---

The Franks' Decision to Go into Hiding

The culmination of escalating Nazi aggression led Otto Frank to make a life-altering decision. Recognizing the imminent threats, he decided to place his family in hiding. In a poignant moment, he entrusts Miep with this responsibility:

Susan [73:51]: "He said, 'do you understand the punishments you're facing?'...I know I will help you."

Miep's unwavering commitment is encapsulated in her reflection on that pivotal moment:

Susan [73:51]: "There is a look between two people once or twice in a lifetime that cannot be described by words. That look passed between us."

---

Conclusion of Part 1

As the episode concludes, Susan and Holly leave listeners on the brink of the Franks' imminent hiding, setting the stage for the next installment. The narrative arc so far has beautifully illustrated Miep Gies's transformation from a malnourished child fleeing war-torn Austria to a confident, resourceful woman integral to one of history's most enduring stories.

Holly [74:08]: "That is where we are going to leave Miep and the Franks for part one of our story. And when we come back, we will go into the details of what happened when they were forced to put their plans into action."

Listeners are left with a profound appreciation for Miep's courage and the intricate web of relationships that underpinned the safety of the Frank family during such perilous times.

---

Final Thoughts

"Miep Gies Part 1" offers a richly detailed portrayal of a woman whose quiet strength and moral fortitude made a lasting impact on history. Through thorough research and engaging storytelling, Susan and Holly bring to life the circumstances that shaped Miep's heroic actions, laying a strong foundation for the unfolding narrative in subsequent episodes.

---

Notable Quotes

• Susan [04:07]: "You cannot go out there anymore. We're done going outside. It is too dangerous."

• Susan [73:51]: "There is a look between two people once or twice in a lifetime that cannot be described by words. That look passed between us."

---

Conclusion

For those unfamiliar with Miep Gies or the historical context of Anne Frank's hiding, this episode serves as an enlightening and heartfelt introduction. It not only honors Miep's invaluable contributions but also provides listeners with a nuanced understanding of the broader societal and political forces at play during that era.

---

Stay tuned for "Miep Gies Part 2," where Susan and Holly will delve deeper into the suspenseful and heroic measures taken to shelter the Frank family.

Transcript

[Susan]

Welcome to the History Tricks, where any resemblance to a boring old history lesson is purely coincidental.

[Holly]

And here's your 30 second summary. In a land full of turbulence and of oppression, a young woman helped at great personal risk to shelter and supply the family of Anne Frank while they were in hiding from the Nazis. An act of civil disobedience that was, though illegal, the most moral of endeavors that there could ever be. The end.

[Narrator]

Be extra careful.

[Holly]

Let's talk about Miep Geese.

[Susan]

But first, let's drop her into history. In 1944, in addition to many events of World War II, W.E.B. du Bois became the first black member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Then it was called the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The first Captain America superhero movie premiered. It was a serial and Cap wasn't Steve Rogers, but his name was Grant Gardner. The first mobile electric power plant was used in Philadelphia. The movie meet me in St. Louis and the radio show Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet both debuted. Casablanca won best picture of the Year at the Academy Awards. And Bing Crosby's Swinging on a Star won best Original Song. Fannie Flagg, Linda Ellerby, Diana Ross, Alice Walker, Patti LaBelle and Stockard Channing were all born and as of this recording, are all still alive. Nazi resistor Betsy Ten Boom and Regina Jonas, the first female ordained rabbi, both died in concentration camps. And in 1944, Miep Gies picked up a collection of papers and a journal that would go down in history.

[Holly]

Hermine Santruc was born in Vienna, Austria, Hungary On February 15, 1909, the oldest of the two daughters of Karolina Santrutza and an unknown father. That spot in the records is just a blank box. He is someone, but we don't know who. Nobody does.

[Susan]

You will read things that have a name, that give a name, but I that doesn't appear to be the actual father.

[Holly]

So Hermine was raised in a home with her maternal grandparents and two of her mother's brothers in kind of a like a low income section of the city. Her mother had worked as a seamstress and as a cleaner, according to the same records that we saw. But those brothers, those uncles of Hermine disappeared when she was around five years old because of a mysterious event that was taking place in the wider world. In June, the year she was five, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian Empire, was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb. Austria declared war on Serbia a month later and triggered a series of treaties leading to widespread mobilization of troops all over Europe. How's that for oversupplication of the entirety of World War I. Russia had had to take Serbia's side. Austria. Hungary had a tiger by the tail though, because it hooked up with Germany as an ally and Germany wrung Austria out and then ditched it in Austria itself, especially the capital of Vienna. There were serious food shortages. Austria had always been an ethnically cobbled together country. We talked about that during our Empress sissy episode. And now it fracturing at the seams. And also there had been a sort of Gilded Age let them eat cakery. I mean, you know and I know that you all know that let them eat cake is not real, right? But it's a good way to say. There had been a lot of dismissing of like, oh, the poors, whatever they do, I don't care, you know, in Austria for a long time and it had been festering and it was now kind of coming home to roost. I don't know how many more metaphors I can bring.

[Susan]

Bring them all in, bring them all in into one sentence.

[Holly]

Bad stuff was a coming.

[Susan]

One of Hermine's very first memories. At about the age of five, the Austrian military was marching through the street and she got so excited that she ran out of their apartment, ran down into the street, ran through the parade, like dodging horses and soldiers and stuff, until somebody, some man picked her up and carried her home to her frantic mother who was like, you cannot go out there anymore. We're done going outside. It is too dangerous. How's that for a core memory?

[Holly]

There was widespread famine. Such malnutrition related illnesses as rickets or scurvy. Tuberculosis was stalking the city. Even during the war, the plight of Vienna's children was so apparent that the government sent tens of thousands of them out to the country for like a rest cure, little camps, nutrition camps. But of course, as soon as the children came back home, all the benefits were erased. After the war, things got even worse. With the support of the international community, parts of the Austro Hungary empire that wanted independence were supported in doing so. Therefore, in the small remnants of land left to be called Austria, with its cities and cut off from its agricultural infrastructure, the population was literally starving to death.

[Susan]

Hermine was one of those people who was suffering from all the symptoms of malnourishment. She had developed tuberculosis. She was very weak, she was very thin, her teeth were getting soft. She was in bad shape. And when her mother gave birth to Hermine's sister, Anna, a family that was already impoverished and already suffering from malnutrition became even worse. And Hermine's sit became dire. She had two options. Leave the country or unfortunately, she would pass away.

[Holly]

The world took notice of the starving children of Austria. And not only that, they took action. Over the course of the next few years, about 200,000 Austrian children were sent away to other countries to save their lives. To Italy, to Switzerland and points all over Europe. And at the age of 11, Hermine was sent away to the Netherlands. Can you imagine the desperation for the parents to resort to this? You line up in hopes that the doctor will tell you your child is accepted for this program. I mean, it's kind of a double edged sword. Like you hope they're bad enough to go away. And the doctor nods and puts a piece of string around your child's neck where there's a card with some random name on it. A random you'll never meet in a language you don't speak, who's promised to be good to your child. But you don't know. No, you don't know. It's a desperate situation.

[Susan]

I really admire it. I mean, these people were kind of inventing the wheel with this program, but they just plastered around Europe flyers with pictures of very ill children saying, our blockades caused this. It's not the children's fault. You need to step up and become a foster family just to get these children healthy so we can send them back to their families. That was the goal. Get the child healthy and then go back to Austria.

[Holly]

Hermine herself tells the story of her journey with sort of jumbled memories. She. It's kind of bewildered. She's bundled onto a train with a lot of other crying children going somewhere where? I don't know, away from mama and grandmama and grandpapa and the new baby. No, I looked up the train schedule and now it would take a train from Vienna to Leiden takes 13 hours. I literally don't know if they went the same speed. I don't know if there was war damage, that if they halted a lot of places, I don't know. But well over 13 hours likely the children were bustled out at the other end and they're all just standing there and there's a giant shuffle. All these grownups are just pushing them around and looking and like, what is going on? And some man just takes Hermina by the hand and they start walking down a random street. There's almost just dumb acceptance at this point. Like I am powerless, you know, to whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen.

[Susan]

Well, she was so sick that she slept for most of that train ride. So I imagine that all of her memories were that clouded. You know, when you're really sick with a fever and it's just like fever dreams, Nothing makes sense. That's what was happening to her. And she's just 11.

[Holly]

And Hermina doesn't understand one word of anything anyone has said to her since she left her mother. So the man is Wa, wa, wa. The train people want, like.

[Susan]

Right.

[Holly]

She doesn't understand what's going on. Nobody can really explain it to her because they don't speak her language. The man is perfectly nice, maybe, but maybe he's saying horrible things she doesn't know. And so it was with great relief when they get to a house, the door opens, it's cold outside. The door opens, it's warm inside with a light. And a lady takes her hand and sits her down and gives her a hot drink of milk and puts her to bed in. In a nice comfortable bed. There's another little girl in there, which has gotta be, you know, almost like when a rescue dog sees another dog in the house and they're like, oh, it's okay. Yeah, it's probably okay in here.

[Susan]

Right, right, right.

[Holly]

I mean, not to be too dismissive, but like that. The presence of that other little girl was a great relief to her. She slept the sleep of the greatly relieved. And at least she could, you know, sleep in a warm place. And her stomach was full. In the morning, she met her hosts, Lawrence and Johanna Nivenburg and their four children. In her autobiography, Miep refers to children peeking at her through the stair rails. But the four boys were 22, 18, 16 and 13.

[Susan]

Right.

[Holly]

I mean, they're not like. You get the impression when she writes about it that it's like little scams, you know?

[Susan]

Right.

[Holly]

Staying up late.

[Susan]

Yeah. Looking through the slats. Yeah.

[Holly]

The girl, the only girl. The girl she had seen last night was named Katharina. And Kato is what they called her Mips roommate in age mate, Papa N was a foreman at a coal plant. The two oldest boys were in the workforce. They were not wealthy people, but they were very, very, very generous.

[Susan]

Fortunately, one of those young men was studying to be a teacher, and he was learning German, so he became her translator. You know, he could speak a language a little bit, which was more than she could speak of Dutch, I'm sure.

[Holly]

There was a lot of interpretive dance around the breakfast table, you know, like pointing and gestures.

[Susan]

And they introduced to life in the Netherlands, introduced her to foods that she had never seen before. One of them, it's red with butter and Chocolate sprinkles or jimmies or shots. Whatever you call those little teeny, tiny candies that you put on cupcakes, there's.

[Holly]

If you're British, they're called hundreds and thousands.

[Susan]

Actually, I looked that up because I was like, are they called hundreds and thousands? Apparently only the colored ones are. I know. That's what I learned. I can just close my book now, that's all.

[Holly]

And I think they call them little mice, but in. In Dutch, which I don't remember what.

[Susan]

The name was, because they do look like little mice. Poops, quite honestly.

[Holly]

No. Mice poops. I didn't think about that.

[Susan]

But here's the thing. I was like. I was so intrigued by this, and we. I had. I'd gotten a wild grain bread, and I had made this ciabatta bread. So I had hot bread, and I was like, oh, I am just going to slather this with butter and put some chocolate sprinkles on it and see what we got. And it was amazing.

[Holly]

I loved it. Okay. So every year at Montessori School, they would do this international food festival, and each class had to make a food from another country. And Jet's teacher, having been there a really long time and being through this rigor roll before, always called Australia, for the reason is they have this thing called fairy bread, which is just bread with butter and those colorful sprinkles on it. So somebody Dutch must have been there at some point and brought that dish with them, because that is the one that all the littles can make, you know, and there's no heat required, right?

[Susan]

Yeah. It'll last. I wish my kids were little again so I could make this for them. That's how much I loved it. I'll tell you, I loved it so much that I went to the store and got more chocolate jimmies. I know I've called them, like, six different names. I asked a couple of my friends, I'm like, what do you call those things? I showed them a picture, and they're sprinkles or jimmies or shots. Shots.

[Holly]

I've never heard shots.

[Susan]

I think it was a regional, like, where I lived, like. So Connecticut on the Rhode island border.

[Holly]

Got it.

[Susan]

Yeah.

[Holly]

All right.

[Susan]

Rhode Island.

[Holly]

Yeah. Where they call Milkshake Academy. Yes. That's all we got to say about that. Rhode Island.

[Susan]

Exactly. Anyway, moving on.

[Holly]

More easily understood, I think, than the language was, you know, the plentiful food and the welcoming expressions. She wrote, kindness was my medicine as much as the bread, the marmalade, the good Dutch milk. And butter, cheese and chocolate. So many hands reached out to me, I didn't know which one to grab first.

[Susan]

And in no time at all, the boys were calling her their sister. That's how easily she fit in.

[Holly]

Right. And the family started to call her Meep, which seems like an exotic name to us, but is a very common nickname for several names. Mary is often called Miep. Hermine is often called Miep. It's just a name that goes like. It's almost like Margaret and Daisy. It doesn't seem to make sense, but it does.

[Susan]

Well, if you go from Maria to Miep, that kind of makes sense.

[Holly]

And her. Me. Neh.

[Susan]

Meep. Yeah, totally makes sense. Her best way for her to learn Dutch was through immersion. So they registered her in school. And although in her previous school in Vienna, she had been in what was about fifth grade, they dropped her down to third because she didn't really speak the language. But within months, months, she was fluent enough to be considered one of the best in the class, whatever that means. I can't imagine that compared to kids who grew up in the Netherlands, that she was that good. But I'd let her have her moment, I guess.

[Holly]

Well, also another reason she was put back a couple of years. You know, years of war and deprivation aren't good for your education. We know this from all the discussions about free school lunch. You know, hungry children don't learn.

[Susan]

Right.

[Holly]

And that's just how it is. And so Meep is now in the land of plenty. Plenty of food and plenty of education. So I'm very happy about that.

[Susan]

I love that this family, as she was getting more fluent in the language, she could get involved in these conversations. But every day this family would all read the newspaper and talk about it. Maybe that's because there was such a wide range of ages. You know, she's like 11 and then. And, you know, the parents and the kids are older. I don't know. I just thought that that was such a great upbringing for her.

[Holly]

Right.

[Susan]

The one thing, though, that she didn't like was ice skating. She did it once, and that was enough. You know, I think of the Netherlands. It's like Hans Brinker, right? Ice skate all winter. She did not like it.

[Holly]

You know what? I'm a library girl myself. Me, I'm not for the activities.

[Susan]

It is not the national sport of Holland, however, which is football, you know, real football, not American football.

[Holly]

Well, Meep thrived at the Nievenberg's house. You should see this picture. I hope to share with you, Mama, and And beautiful little girls with white linen dresses and big bows and their beautiful hair. Poor little me, when she was malnourished, had hair that was brittle and fell out. And now it was like luxurious. And she looks very prosperous and she's so cute. All props, all props to the Nivenburgs. But it was only supposed to be a three month adventure, you know, but it kept getting extended and extended. She's doing so well. She's so healthy. She's doing great in school. Let's wait till the end of the school year. Well, it's summer. We're gonna do this. Let's just leave it. And you know what? Mama could not provide at home and was glad for these kind people to continue to house and feed her child, who was getting along so well. And they kept in touch, right? But really, it was only supposed to be three months that she was there.

[Susan]

When Miep was 13, the family moved from this smaller village called Leiden, about half an hour outside of the city of Amsterdam, into the city of Amsterdam. They lived on the south side. Their city was to one side and to their backs was just still farmland. It must have been like a great time to be there because there's so much excitement. She loved everything. She loved the streetcars and the people and all the bicycles that were riding everywhere. She loved it.

[Holly]

She moved on to the upper school. And you know what, if she had been in Vienna when she reached this age, you know, which is kind of 8th grade ish in American terms, she might have been fully expected to leave and go to work and not go to upper school at all. That would have been absolutely common in her social class and of course in that neighborhood. I mean, she's thrilled, and I think Mama must have been thrilled too, that she had these opportunities to both experience city life and abundance and education. Yeah.

[Susan]

She knew she was being taken care of, even though she wasn't with her. Fortunately, we do know what kind of classes she took and how she was in them. She took history and geography and drawing, reading and writing and arithmetic. And if 5 is the highest grade you can get, she got fours in all of those. She only got a three and a half in Dutch and gymnastics and handicrafts. But then again, she got fives in behavior and diligence. So she's. She's a good kid. She's a smart kid. Gymnastics. Okay. Come on.

[Holly]

I think it's funny, like to get a five in diligence.

[Susan]

It's.

[Holly]

How do you.

[Susan]

You're diligent. You're. You're Persistent. You work at the. You have a problem and you work through it. Isn't that diligence?

[Holly]

No, I know, but how do you quantify diligence, I guess, is what I'm describing a word.

[Susan]

Am I defining it for you?

[Holly]

What? No, I just was wondering what, like.

[Susan]

Yeah. How hard.

[Holly]

What triggers a four? I don't.

[Susan]

Right.

[Holly]

When Meep was 16, Mama and Papa n took her back to Vienna to see her family. She hadn't seen them for five years. Gone was the sickly child they'd sent away, who was this transformed creature. Meep was glad to see her mama, of course. Grandma and Grandpa were still there. The little sister, who'd been a baby when she left, was almost 60 years old. But everything and everyone was unfamiliar. Foreign legally, of course. As a minor child, the Nievenbergs would have to leave me behind if Mama wanted her to stay. It was a source of great anxiety for Meep, actually.

[Susan]

And as the visit was running down, her mother sat down and they had a discussion. And her mother said, I think you should continue to stay with this family. Go back to Amsterdam. We'll stay in touch, but it's the best thing for you. And she was so relieved. That must have been hard, you know, loving your mom and missing your family and. But not feeling like you belong there anymore at such a young age. She's only 16.

[Holly]

I know. But on the other hand, also, you've sent your child away, and they've come back a stranger, and you want the best for them, and the best doesn't mean you.

[Susan]

Yeah, well, when you send her off looking like she did, as sick as she was and not knowing if she was going to return, in that program that took Miep from Vienna to the Netherlands, only 5 to 10% of all of those kids didn't go back home. Most of them went back home. I mean, she was so sick when she got on that train. Her mother didn't know if she was going to be able to survive even the trip, you know? So to see her thriving like she was must have made her mom feel good. My middle child just got a new cat.

[Holly]

What is his name?

[Susan]

Chester Cheeto. He's very cute. He's orange and white. I don't know. What do you call those tabby cats? I'm not a cat person. But you are.

[Holly]

I am. And as a matter of fact, did you know that cats are extremely good mathematicians? They're really good at geometry and physics. Yes. We have this big. At the House of Wood, this big stairway that, like, goes up to a landing and then swirls up again, you know, And Pete does this thing where she can leap from the center of the stairs and land on this teeny, tiny little six inch square on the banister. That's. I know. And it's like way far in the air and it gives me a heart attack. But she feels so proud of herself.

[Susan]

And you feed your cats Smalls, don't you?

[Holly]

I do. They like. And you know what is even super funny? They like the name Other Bird and it's turkey and they love Other Bird the best. That's their favorite. And the big benefit to me is their coats are so slinky and shiny now. And guess what else? The litter box is not as alarming.

[Susan]

Really?

[Holly]

Yeah. People don't walk right in the house and go, oh, oh, where are your cats?

[Susan]

Smalls is cat food that's protein packed recipes made with preservative free ingredients that you would find in your fridge. And it's delivered right to your door. So easy.

[Holly]

Smalls was started back in 2017 by a couple of guys cooking cat food in small batches for their friends. The team at Smalls is so confident that your cat will love their product that you can try it risk free. That means they'll refund you if your cat, picky as it is, won't eat their food. Your cute kitty and mine descended from ferocious desert cats who hunted live prey for food. And your cat isn't any different. They still need fresh, protein packed meals to be at their best and also to be their best. I give them this treat called Catnip and chill.

[Susan]

Hilarious.

[Holly]

And they love it. So they feel good and they feel loved. And isn't that what we all want for our little kitty cats?

[Susan]

It is for a limited time only. Because you're a History Chicks listener, you can get 35% off smalls plus an additional 50% off your first order by using our code Chicks. That's an additional 50% off when you head to smalls.com and use promo Code Chicks.

[Holly]

Again, that's promo code Chicks for an additional 50% off your first order plus free [e-mail] now, as for the Nievenbergs, there weren't ever formal adoption proceedings as far as I can tell. And in fact, Miep retained her Austrian citizenship, which will come into play later. But in all other ways, Miep was a young Dutch woman. She even had the look. She's teeny tiny with blonde hair and blue eyes. Very good fashion sense. Looks a lot like my city grandma. I Mean a lot, really. Meep herself would say she looked like the actress Norma Shearer, which I guarantee you 98% of you don't know what Norma Shearer looks like. I didn't either. And you know, google her. You can't really Google my grandma, but if I find a young picture of her, I'll post it. Okay, but yeah, the blonde, blue eyed and teeny tiny person. Upon leaving school, she got a job in the office of a textile company. And it's not unusual in this time and place for multiple generations of a family to live together. So she stayed home and contributed to the household like her older quote brothers had done. And she also sent money to her other family in Vienna when she could.

[Susan]

For six years she worked this job at the embroidery shop in the office. She had friends, she would go out dancing. I mean, she was a very young woman in a big city at a exciting time. She would make all of her own clothes based on the latest fashions. It was very important to her to look Sharp. But after six years, she was let go at the age of 24 and had no job. At that time, jobs weren't easy to come by.

[Holly]

A lot of us are experiencing that now. There were a lot of layoffs, some uncertainty. There's a lot of stress, as we might do. She activated her network. Keep an ear out for me, would you? Analog. LinkedIn, you know. Sure enough, one day the downstairs neighbor woman came to say, well, the company I do outside sales for needs a temporary office person to cover for a sick employee. I know it's not permanent, but it's something. They're very nice. I think you'll have an in because I've introduced you. If you're interested, I'll give you his card. She handed her a card and it said Otto Frank and an address.

[Susan]

And she was very interested. So the next day she got up early, she rode her bike. Now, I don't know if you've ever been to Amsterdam and there's bikes everywhere. I have a friend who lives there. And one of the scariest and most liberating things she did was learn to be brave enough to ride her bike in Amsterdam. Because they're crazy. I mean, they're crazy. There's like, this is long generations of bike riders in Amsterdam. That was me.

[Holly]

So she arrived at her interview with Opetka, which is short for Obstpectin aus dem Apfel.

[Susan]

Ooh, impressive.

[Holly]

Pectin from apples is what it stands for. It's a little bit of a abbreviation for that during the interview, she learned a lot about this Mr. Frank. Almost the first thing she did was tear down the language barrier. Mr. Frank had come from Germany to open this new branch of the company. His family wasn't even in the country yet. That's how new he was. And his Dutch was, meh. So sorry. I'm so sorry. And when Meep switched to German, it was like the light came on from here, from here in the future. I know that's when she got the job. And how weird it is if you've just heard our Wangari Maathai episode, that she also went to a job interview, and randomly, the guy's like, I don't suppose you speak German, do you? Sure enough, she did. So there's two in a row. We're randomly out of nowhere.

[Susan]

That almost feels like a sign. I know.

[Holly]

He gave her a tour and introduced her to the other workers. You know, from being in an interview, that's a really good sign. Right? Like, oh, when you meet Mr. So and so, that does this, and he explains what he does for the company and shakes your hand. I mean, you're done with the interview part, right?

[Susan]

I would think so. And then he said to her, before you can start, you must come with me to the kitchen. The kitchen?

[Holly]

Like, are we signing paperwork, or you want me to make coffee?

[Susan]

It was like, the one thing that Meep really could make at this point was coffee. She was very good at it. But no, because of the product that Opecta produced. It was pectin. It was for making jams. It was a powdered substance that you mix with hot fruit and it gels up, and that's how you make jams. So what he did was took her to the kitchen, gave her some fruit, gave her some pectin, gave her the instructions, and walked away.

[Holly]

Like, was this an audition? So this pectin was a new sort of shortcut convenience product. And Mr. Frank left her to it. And. Well, I'm an intelligent person. I can follow directions, I guess.

[Susan]

My mom always said, if you can read, you can cook.

[Holly]

Your mom?

[Susan]

My mom.

[Holly]

Your mom Susan. My mom Susan, yeah.

[Susan]

Not Meep's mom. I don't know. Maybe she said that too.

[Holly]

No, that's good. You know, I think if you can read, you can bake, as long as you're strict about it. And that's another thing about this jam. This will come up in just a second. You cannot be an artist when it comes to jam. You have to be a scientist.

[Susan]

Yeah.

[Holly]

And people were like, not quite 100 understanding that. Well, evidently, Meep did a great job because he had her making jam in that kitchen for weeks. And it was a secret Mr. Miyagi trick. And I would like to know, people of listening audience, do you understand that reference?

[Susan]

I do.

[Holly]

Do you understand what I mean by wax on, wax off? Like, the teacher teaches you a different skill by having you do something unrelated. So here she is making jam. I mean, everybody got to take jam home. It was quite awesome. Jam for everybody, because she's in there making it eight hours a day, right?

[Susan]

And he'd bring in different kinds of fruits all the time. Today let's make blueberry. Today let's make strawberry. Whatever. Whatever it was. And in those couple weeks, Meep became an expert at making jam, which was really good when she was actually put to her desk to do her job, which was to answer the phones and help home cooks who were having trouble making jam make jam. She was the complaint in information desk.

[Holly]

So these housewives would call, having tried to improvise and add a little flair. And it was Meep's job to talk them down because they wasted all this money on fruit. Figure out, you know, with her experience from these weeks of constant jam making, what they might have done wrong. Be diplomatic. See if you can talk them off the edge. See if you can reclaim the product. If not, send them a little bit of free stuff. Have them try again. Call me if you need me. I'm the butterball answer line. You know, that's exactly what I was thinking, too, type of thing. But, see, you do not, with this new product, want housewives walking around slagging off your product. Because word of mouth among the very people who might be enticed to buy your product is just not good at this stage. Meep had a lot on her. She had to keep it, you know, she had to keep it going in a positive direction.

[Susan]

Well, the product was sold at, like, almost like pampered chef parties. There was a lot of products that Mrs. Blick sold this way, but that's.

[Holly]

The downstairs neighbor, in case we didn't say her name earlier. The one that got her this job.

[Susan]

Yeah. So it was like a. Like a home party. So if you have one person in there going, yeah, I tried it. It just didn't work. That's gonna blow the whole party.

[Holly]

I will say. Sometimes I read one review of a product on Amazon that has a good point to it, and I was like, oh, I didn't think about that.

[Susan]

Oh, you know, I write reviews for Amazon, right?

[Holly]

Woo. There you Go.

[Susan]

Yeah, I like to try out the products. I like to give a good review if it earns it and a bad review if it doesn't. I could have written Ren with those, one of those reviews you were reading.

[Holly]

That's true. Ultimately she was so good at her job and you know, the customer base got a little better at understanding what they were doing. Also she was given some additional typing and bookkeeping jobs and some invoicing. That's like level two. They became a little family in the office. And soon Mr. Frank was calling her me just like everyone else. Although she did not return the favor and call him Otto, he was still Mr. Frank. Yeah, we're not too crazy. I mean, we have to be a little bit formal with our boss. But Mr. Frank's family finally arrived from Germany, which was a great relief to Mr. Frank because back in Germany things were getting hot. They were getting chaotic and very dangerous. There was a large wave of German Jewish immigrants flooding into Amsterdam. Herr Hitler as Chancellor had begun consolidating power. He made Germany a one party state. He dismissed all the Jewish government workers and anyone suspected of disapproving of the Nazi party. Books that were written by Jewish authors, left wing authors, pacifists, were all burned in public, having been removed from libraries, schools and bookstores. Police could now arbitrarily search houses sees people they suspected as undesirable. The very first concentration camp, Dachau was opened to house the Nazis political opponents. Hitler passed the Enabling act allowing him to enact laws without interference from the legislature. The Jewish population in Germany was scapegoated. For all economic insecurity Germany faced. There was a government led boycott of Jewish businesses. Jewish immigrants who had legally obtained citizenship were stripped suddenly of their rights.

[Susan]

Knuckler hadn't been necessarily elected. He had run for president and lost to Paul van Hindenburg who had been in office for years. And Paul van Hindenburg was pressured by the wealthy people who were followers of Hitler to appoint him as chancellor. And then he died so Hitler could just step right in to the position. He did all this so fast. That's the thing that always blows my mind. He kind of had this strategy where, you know, he wouldn't take fault for anything. He would always find somebody else to blame another. You know, the Jewish people, the political opponents, gay people, black people, handicapped people, they were all the problems of the country were their fault. And just blame that group of people for anything bad that happened. And the thing that he did really well is take any opportunity to create chaos. So people just couldn't pay attention to what was going on.

[Holly]

And all of Europe was watching the developments with varying degrees of interest or concern. Those in the OPEC TO office were in deep and I would call it catastrophizing, you know, if it that weren't real realitizing, which is not even a word. And between a rock and a hard place. They were seeing what was happening. They were understanding the canaries in the coal mine and really understanding what was going on and how dangerous it was. The sick employee Meep was replacing was coming back. Remember her? Everyone was very sad, including Meep. But no, no, Meep, we love you. We need you. There's enough work for all of us now because everybody's been doing such a good job. The outside salesmen are selling and like we're marketing and you're assuaging the fears of the housewives. And we're all doing great and there's enough work for everyone. You know, you can stay too. Don't worry.

[Susan]

This woman was not of like mind with all the other people that were working at Opecta. She would just throw up comments about negative things about Jewish people, Just like things that she had read in propaganda or listened to on her news programs. This woman was a member of the Nazi organization that was forming in the Netherlands, very similar to the ones that were in Germany. And she was just spewing party lines all day. And finally Mieba had enough and she told her, you know, our boss is Jewish. And the woman was like, oh, yes, I know, but Mr. Frank is a gentleman.

[Holly]

Like what? I mean, she is full of bad energy. She brought it into the office and there was an angry atmosphere of political disagreement in the office at all times. It was not awesome. You know, theoretically you're supposed to get along with people in the office, but isn't it hard to get along when one of you does not respect the right to be human of the other one? Yeah, I mean, ugh, right? You know, Ms. Heel was her name. She's a heel.

[Susan]

Yeah.

[Holly]

After a few weeks of this, you know, she really did destroy the familial. Like everyone used to be so happy to come to work, you know, it was awesome. We'd make our super strong coffee and we'd like chitty chitty chat chat. We'd all sit at our desks and work away and look up and laugh at someone's little joke or look out the window. It was great. Everyone loved being there. It was a happy atmosphere. Ms. Heal came in and it was like.

[Susan]

Sucked all the happy out of the air. Well, I guess it's a good thing that she missed work for a few days. And then a letter was delivered that said that she could no longer work due to a mental illness. So she'd gotten her doctor to write her a letter so she could quit her job.

[Holly]

Well, the trash took itself out is what I say. Her absence actually was key to later events being possible. I'll tell you that. If Ms. Heal had still been there, none of the rest of this would have ever been able to happen. So she's gone. The atmosphere comes back. We can give you a link to this. Meep was in a promo video on how to use their products. I don't know, like, just, you know, your average training video in the kitchen, how to cook. It's so neat to have subjects that are so recent that you can have some video.

[Susan]

Definitely. So Meep's life was pretty good. She was working. She had a personal life. She would go to a dance club that she belonged in. She was very proud that she was one of the first women in Amsterdam to learn not only the Charleston and the two step, but also the tango and the slow foxtrot, which should not be confused with the fast foxtrot.

[Holly]

The tango is saucy.

[Susan]

It definitely was. She was meeting men. She dated several. Or as she put it, quote, kept company with several young men while she.

[Holly]

Began keeping company with a certain young man, a handsome young man from her old job at the textile factory, a man named Jan Gies. Technically, he was still married but separated.

[Susan]

Right.

[Holly]

He worked for the Dutch social services now, and he'd come pick Meep up for lunch to go for a walk. And he fit right in as a member of the family. It's almost like when your work is really tight and you bring in a stranger, Everyone has to approve of them or it's not going anywhere. Yeah, well, they did. Like, Mr. Graham used to come see me at work, and people used to come out of offices on other floors to come say hi and shoot the breeze. And I'm like, I work here. Like, you're not even that happy to see me as you are to see Mr. Graham and his crock pot of gumbo or whatever he has with him. So awesome.

[Susan]

Meep said of their relationship that their mutual attraction was magnetic. That's as saucy as the tango.

[Holly]

Well, the young couple became frequent visitors to the Frank house, and a very strong closeness developed between them and the Franks. Over their tea and coffee and. And cakes, they talked politics. Over in Germany, things had unbelievably gotten worse. Jews had been kicked out of the armed forces. Jewish doctors could no longer practice medicine. Jews were no longer considered German citizens. The Franks had made the right decision to leave when they did. So I got online and watched the finale of a show. I can't even spoil it for you, but I'm just like, what just happened? And so I sat there for a while and then I tried to cancel because I was done. There's no maliciousness. I tried to cancel the service because I'm simply all done and there's literally no way to do it. I was chasing it all around, the hither and the yawn. Luckily, I have Rocket Money to help me. Just like me, you sign up for something for a particular reason. You forget about it after the trial period ends and then you're charged, you know, forever, forever and ever and ever. The subscriptions are there, but your mind is not there. You're not using them anymore. 85% of people have at least one paid subscription going unused each month. Thanks to Rocket Money. You and I can see all of them in one place and just cancel the ones you're not using anymore.

[Susan]

I was able to recently go through and clear out a whole bunch of subscriptions because Rocket Money can tell you that. They can say, you subscribe to this and pay it every month. Do you want to keep doing that? And you can say, no. You can either go and cancel it yourself or they'll do it for you.

[Holly]

Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. You'll know exactly where your money is going.

[Susan]

Rocket Money's dashboard gives you a clear view of all of your expenses across all of your accounts. You can get alerts if bills are increasing in price. Oh, you know how that happens. Or if there's unusual spending activity on something, they will send you an alert.

[Holly]

Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of 500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year. When using all the app's premium features.

[Susan]

You can cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket money. Go to Rocketmoney.com Historychicks today.

[Holly]

That's Rocketmoney.com Historychicks Rocketmoney.com Historychicks On March 13, 1938, Hitler took over Austria in a move he called the Anschluss or joining. And of course, all of Germany's anti Semitic laws moved in Also, there were large scale forced labor movements and seizure of German property all over Austria. Miep, remember, had an Austrian passport. And as a matter of formality, every year she stopped in at the police department, the headquarters, and got her passport, you know, checked and her visa renewed. And it had been all routine until this year.

[Susan]

This year, when she went to get her visa renewed, her Austrian passport was taken away and replaced by a German one. And not only did it say she was German, there was a swastika stamped on her passport.

[Holly]

And right afterward came calling a brand new friend, blonde, blue eyed, ringing the doorbell. I got your address from the German Consulate, inviting her to join the new Nazi Girls Club. For people like us, you know, won't.

[Susan]

It be a gas? You'll get a pin and all the German girls are in it. We're even going to go on a trip to Germany to have fellowship with our Aryan sisters. Doesn't that sound amazing?

[Holly]

Meep, let her have it. How can you support a man like that? How do you support all of the atrocities he's perpetuating? And there was hostile silence from her visitor, who could not believe she had the audacity. And Miep shut the door in her face. Out in the wider world, Germany has taken over the Sudetenland, which is, let's call it West Czechoslovakia, not to put. I mean, it's not what it is, but like, that's where it is. And he did that with the permission of a lot of who would become the Allies in the future. They were trying to pacify him. Look, if you can have just this, you're gonna be cool, right? Like you're gonna stop there? Sure, sure, I'm gonna stop there. But Italy enacted their own anti Jewish laws. And Poland refuses to take the 17, 000 Jews that Germany has expelled. There is a refugee crisis. And then came the horrors of Kristallnacht. The Night of the Broken Glass. It took place in Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland. 7,500 Jewish shops were looted, burned and destroyed. 200 synagogues were destroyed. 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps. And there were, I'm sorry to say, innumerable cases of violence against women and children. The same Jews who had been targeted for all of this violence were charged with its destruction, arrested and ordered to pay exorbitant fines. Two days later, all Jewish businesses had to be legally transferred to Aryan owners, and I quote, Aryan owners. And all Jewish children in Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland were expelled from school. The cruelty was almost unimaginable. And the Netherlands shared a border with Germany, and they still do.

[Susan]

Otto Frank started another division of his company. This one is a spice division. Specific spices for sausage. And his expert spice mixer was a man named Herman Van Pels.

[Holly]

Mr. Van Pels was sort of a family friend. Their papas had once been business partners. He was a Dutch Jewish man who had moved to Germany and met and married his lovely German Jewish wife. And he had just fled here from that tumultuous place with his own family and found safe haven and a. Like a pretty exciting job in the office. And he. They called him a spice savant. Like, okey dokey. I'm like, you know what? I'm glad. I'm glad he found a nice home with his good skills. Yeah.

[Susan]

Well, those dinners that Meep and Jan had been going to kind of expanded to include more people, including the Van Pels and including a dentist named Fritz Pfeffer and his wife, slash girlfriend. Long story, but she was not Jewish. She was German. Her name was Carlotta Coletta. And they couldn't get married for various reasons. After the war, they would be technically married with a retroactive wedding date of about this time in our story. Like I said, it's a long story. But Dr. Pfeffer and Carlotta also joined those Frank dinners where they just sat down and they talked about everything, as.

[Holly]

Well as some other middle class slash professional class refugees who were all watching with horror the ever worsening situation in the neighboring countries. Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia the year Miep turned 30. And then he took over Poland. That is officially, according to world history, the taking over of Poland is what officially began World War II. But you've been hearing me and his little march of taking this and taking that and enacting these laws. And, you know, so these countries experienced the trauma of war before the official beginning of World War II. But we're in it now because shortly afterward, England and France declared war on Germany. Now, if you were to look at a map, Germany's gathering all of its neighbors up, gobbling them up, maybe even. And tiny, tiny Netherlands is like on the top left, Queen Wilhelmina was quick to declare neutrality. But look at the map. Look at the map. It's very scary. Someone tried to kill Hitler. In Germany, a carpenter named Jorg Elser planted a bomb under a podium where Hitler was to give a speech, which ended up being the speech shorter than everyone expected, unfortunately. So Hitler was already gone when it exploded. And plenty of people were devastated that this hadn't worked. Meep actually in her autobiography, was very surprised at herself about her. She called it her growing hate. You know, feeling that way about someone so despicable became part of millions of lives. You know, if. If only it had worked. They thought, you know, this could all be over.

[Susan]

Yeah.

[Holly]

There were upwards of 42 attempts on Hitler's life, all unsuccessful over the course of the late 30s and mid-40s. You know, time travelers, get your crap together if that's you going back. None of you had been successful.

[Susan]

I'm like, what are you saying? Well, that's like.

[Holly]

People always say, I'm gonna time travel and go kill Hitler. Well, like, 42 of you didn't do it. That's right, is all I'm saying. So get your crap together, do a little more research, and you're gonna go back. And you know what? Here's a time travel conundrum. What if one of them exists, A. And then B, what if one of them is successful? Does my sentence automatically change? Oh, what I just said, because they.

[Susan]

Yeah.

[Holly]

This whole story hit it out of the park. Yeah. Like, what happens then to the rest of what I say? I don't know.

[Susan]

Hmm. I don't know. I mean, part of the story would still exist, right? The Nazi party had worked for a very long time to get years, slowly putting people into parliament, indoctrinating the citizenry, finding a dynamic figure to actually lead the party. That guy Hitler. He had even served time in prison for an attempted coup, so that part would all still exist. But if those time travelers had been successful, would the Nazi party have folded? Or was there someone else in the wings who could have stepped in for Hitler? There's so many questions, and I completely.

[Holly]

Forgot your original point that time travelers need to get their crap together. They do it well. Things were getting serious in a different way for Miep and Yan. Gis. They were looking for an apartment together, but it's tough to do in a time when so many people had moved there. You know, you had to be quick, you had to be lucky. And Yan had begun the long process of. I guess, not divorce, I think, but annulment, technicality. So they couldn't officially marry yet. But we're all in our 30s, you know, we're past the age of even chaperones, you know, so people can lump their judgment. You know, we're just gonna cohabitate and then handle the paperwork afterward, Maybe so. Well, Anyway, Hitler annexed Denmark and Norway, and somehow some people in the Netherlands were still oblivious. I don't know how that could be, but somehow they were. And just life went on. Life went on. Well, that's just like quote politics. That has nothing to do with me. He's literally taking, he's going everywhere.

[Susan]

Do they not see the map? Propaganda was so strong that people were hearing what he wanted them to hear. Like, oh, he's just taking people who need to go. They're all criminals, you know. And boy, oh boy. Those dinners at the Frank's house around this time were getting heated.

[Holly]

Life and business were going on as usual in the Netherlands. And in fact, even with Mr. Frank's own company, business prospered so well they had to move to larger offices. But on Friday, May 10, 1940, it was the Netherlands inevitable turn at last. The Luftwaffe had employed massive paratrooper drops to seize key strategic locations in the Netherlands. News came over the radio that Queen Wilhelmina and her family were in exile. They were on a boat to England addressing you from the water.

[Susan]

Nazi soldiers began appearing all over Amsterdam and life did kind of continue to go on. But now there was huge chunks of time at the office where they all sat listening to a radio following what was going on because they knew what was coming. And here it is.

[Holly]

After about a week of fighting, Germany bombed the city of Rotterdam nearly to the ground and then threatened to do the same in Amsterdam and Utrecht. And they had also destroyed the dikes holding the water back of parts of this low lying country. And there was now widespread flooding and destruction. To prevent further losses, the Netherlands capitulated. And Miep now lived in a German occupied country. There was great mistrust among the populace. Who could you trust among your neighbors? Who among the friendly faces at the neighborhood market or at your church secretly had a heart to support a brutal dictator? It was impossible to know and it.

[Susan]

Was probably really hard to keep up with all the new laws and rules that were instigated. Of course, the movie theaters started showing movies in German. And not only were they the movies, but they were the propaganda films. And listening to BBC radio and listening to anything that wasn't German radio was forbidden, although our people still did it, because that's the only place they're going to get any accurate information. The Dutch government that was in exile in London began nightly broadcasts on the BBC in a what is called Radio Orange. It's a nod to the royal family who was from the house of. In English it would be Orange Nassau. But that was the only way every night that they could hear accurate information about what was going on.

[Holly]

In fact, that color orange became a widespread sort of unspoken protest People would plant or carry orange flowers as a signal to each other of their solidarity, you know, under occupation. It was a ruse that went on for quite a long time until the Germans began to cotton on and forbid it. Not tulips, which would have required a lot of forethought. You know, you have to know in the fall, you're gonna need them in the spring, which is why I have no tulips today. But marigolds, mostly. Marigolds in window boxes and buttonholes everywhere. Until, of course, you started to get in trouble for that. It was sort of curious, despite their almost unique spiciness and level of resistance, that the non Jewish population of the Netherlands got away with things for a while. It was the Nazi philosophy that the non Jewish part of the Netherlands were in fact Aryan brethren who should be assimilated into the German philosophy rather than intimidated or punished. At least here at the outset. Not so for the Jewish population. The occupier's eagle eye immediately began to focus upon them.

[Susan]

Jewish people had to register with a alien officer. Nothing was going to happen to you. We just need to know that you're here kind of thing.

[Holly]

There was one ray of light. Mr. Frank had found a place for Miep and Jan to live together. Though the reason for the room's availability will break your hearts. A Jewish family nearby learned that their married daughter and her family were getting ready to flee to England. They had freaked out. They had an opportunity. They're gonna go. Their dad, Grandpa that lived in this house, was heartbroken and, you know, grief stricken. He decided he was going to go try to find them, to say goodbye, hand them some money, give them a hug, wish them well, kiss everybody's face. Missed connections meant that the daughter and her family couldn't get on their boat and returned back. They had to go home. But Grandpa ended up trapped on a boat to England. And this lady, the lady who had the rooms to rent a Mrs. Stoppelman, didn't know if she would ever see any of her family again. And now she had no income and now she was renting rooms. This is a sad way to start their pseudo married life. But they had to seize the opportunity and so they moved in. In the wider world, Luxembourg fell. That was almost inevitable. It's very, very small. And Belgium fell. Now, we've already had beef with the Belgian royal family on this very podcast during the Wangari Maathai episode in which this Leopold's great uncle Leopold II held the Congo as his personal fiefdom and killed hundreds of thousands of People. Now, this Leopold that we are currently talking about, Leopold III is not as directly venal, but he was very problematic. Too much to cover here. We'll provide you a link. But evidently he was trying to get the Nazis to let him keep part of Belgium as his personal fiefdom in charge for complete surrender of the rest of Belgium with no fighting. So he's equality. He's very quality person.

[Susan]

Yeah.

[Holly]

It's madness. It's madness. And you know what? Some say King Edward VIII of England would have done the same. And that's why Wallis Simpson was deployed, as an excuse to get him out. I, I, I. So many former subjects, so much speculation.

[Susan]

Just last week on the conversation with Ann Seba, we talked about Wallis Simpson and Anne said as a British person, she thought that she was quoting someone else, but that there should be a statue of Wallis Simpson in every village because Wallis Simpson saved them from having a bad king and got them a much better one.

[Holly]

She gets all the blame and I think she was a tool of some very savvy politicians. As you may know, we are headed off to Paris in a very, very short time.

[Susan]

I'm ready. I'm so excited. But vacation season is really here and this year I am actually treating myself to luxe upgrades with Quince's high quality travel essentials that are all at fair prices. I just ordered a six pack of compression cubes. They're made of a recycled water bottle. Love that. And they have a mesh top so you can see what's inside. Other compression cubes that I've gotten in the past always came in three packs. This set comes in six. Six different sizes. Yes. Very excited. Gonna be so organized.

[Holly]

I always take too many shoes, so that'll be nice for me too. A little more room for shoes. All Quince Items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. How do they do it? By partnering directly with top factories, they cut the cost of the middleman and pass the savings on to us. And most importantly to me, Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes.

[Susan]

All of their items are reasonably priced. They have lightweight European linen clothing from $30, washable silk tops, comfy lounge sets, luggage, purses, jewelry. Quints has a lot of items in there.

[Holly]

For your next trip, treat yourself to the luxe upgrades you deserve from quince. Go to quince.com chicks for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order.

[Susan]

That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com chicks to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com chicks.

[Holly]

France fell to the Nazis. Speaking of politicians, the Nazi flag flew off of the Eiffel Tower. The Netherlands themselves were weirdly calm for a while as the airplanes carrying bombs to England went out daily like a swarm of angry bees. But for the Jewish population and they'd seen it happen in other countries and now it was here. The Jewish civil service workers, teachers, postmen were forced out. Books were removed from libraries and schools, edited textbooks replaced the existing ones. Any business with even one Jewish partner had to register and this included Opetka. The Jewish population was provoked into defending itself in order for the crackdown to happen. The Jewish quarter was isolated and many men were sent to Mauthausen concentration camp where unfortunately Susan and I and some of our listeners have been. And that is a grim location that was already gathering its horrifying reputation as a death camp. In response to these crackdowns, I mean 10 points. 10 points for Gryffindor. I'm calling them Gryffindor. The Dutch people performed a three day general strike in which 300,000 Dutch people took part. Transportation came to a halt. All deliveries came to a halt, all stores closed. The Jewish population of course, though thanking them, feeling supported for all the love etc, were terrified that they'd be the ones to pay for this disobedience. And sure enough, yes, they arrested and executed the organizers of the strike. They fired the entire city council. The Germans began shipping Dutch supplies back to Germany. All that good milk and butter and cheese and chocolate went back to Germany on the train. They nominated a very cruel man to head the police force. But the Jewish people were right. The crackdown really did fall, for the most part, on the Jewish population's head.

[Susan]

One day Miep was issued a summons. She had to appear at the German consulate. She was terrified. And she and Jan both went, but only she was allowed to go into the office. She was instructed to hand over her passport. And then it got to the reason why she was there. Is it true that you declined membership into the Nazi Girls Club? And she was honest. So they took her Austrian slash now German passport invalidated it, drew a big giant X on it and gave her three months to return to Vienna, her.

[Holly]

Only option because she went back to the regular police that had been so nice to her all those years of renewing the visa. Like what can you do about this? And he's like, this is beyond me. We're, we're in an occupied country now. I don't have any power. He goes, you have two options as far as I'm concerned. You have two options. You can either go back to that guy. You seem like you would cry very prettily. Gross. And, you know, cry and say that you just didn't know your mind and, like, the girl was mean to you and you shouldn't have said no, and you really want to join. She's like, absolutely not. Not doing that. He goes, well, then your only option, if you want to stay, then is to marry a Dutch man. Well, I would love to marry a Dutch man. That's been my whole plan. But I have two obstacles. John needs to be free. Number one.

[Susan]

Yeah.

[Holly]

And that paperwork is crawling through. I think the Catholic Church just crawling through there. It's very slow process. You also need your birth certificate to get married. And in this time of war, with everything in a tumult, I don't think it's gonna get here in three months. I don't think you're gonna be able to get your birth certificate.

[Susan]

To make it even more complicated, her mother and her sister had both died. So all she had left in Vienna to help her out was an uncle. So she wrote to him, and she said, can you get this for me? And he tried and tried and tried. Finally, the only thing he said is, I need your passport to get your birth certificate and send it to you. Well, she couldn't send her passport because it was invalidated. There was a huge X on it. So Otto Frank had this great idea. Just go get the page with your picture and your name and the German stamp on it and send that and see if your uncle can get your birth certificate with that.

[Holly]

And then if they ask you, well, I really need the whole passport. You. You just tell them, well, I cannot be walking around here without my passport. In these times, you have to have the passport on you at all times, right? Like, so I only can send you a copy. Just lie. Don't send them the whole thing. Okay. Well, it was just. It was worth a shot, you know? It was worth a shot. Meanwhile, Hitler took Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and regulations were tightening on the Jewish population. They were not allowed to go to hotels, movie theaters, libraries, swimming pools, parks even. They were not allowed to own radios. They were not allowed to practice as dentists or doctors. A big J was added to their IDs. You see, they'd all registered obediently, didn't they? And now they had to go get J's put on their IDs. Jan's release from his first marriage Came through unbelievably. So there's one obstacle down. And then off in Austria, the uncle was running from office to office. And it was the SEP field I've talked about. The most powerful force in the universe had covered the entire office. Somebody else's problem. It's somebody else's problem. Office to office he went. And finally he was being chit chatty with a lady behind the counter. Oh, I love Amsterdam. It's so pretty there. And he, like, rode that train. Well, you just tell your niece to enjoy her her Dutch husband and, you know, someday I'll visit there. It's so pretty. Have a nice day. Got the birth certificate, sent it as fast as he could. So Miep opened an envelope from her uncle, and out from the envelope fell her birth certificate. The wedding was on. On July 16, 1941, Miep and Jan went to the courthouse to get married to city hall. They were very stressed out. The birth certificate had come, but there was a rule that the non native bride or groom, whoever it is, had to present their passport to the authorities. And Map's passport had that big black X on it. So what she's facing right now, instead of getting married, she could very well be deported from there in her wedding clothes.

[Susan]

The courthouse. They went into the office where the ceremony was gonna take place and were asked to present their documents. And Meep was just a nervous wreck. She thought the worst was gonna happen. So she passed over her passport, and the gentleman behind the counter opened it and kind of just looked at her and was talking to her like he didn't even really see it. He didn't see that big giant X. He just saw her and was talking to Jan and that was it.

[Holly]

He very clearly, purposely had vague eyes like, la, la, la, la. I do know this is a person who's playing the game right for them. Right. I really appreciate it.

[Susan]

Yeah. And you know what? At this time and in this place, they had to be cautious, of course. I mean, she had every reason to be nervous, but there were so many people that were like this guy, you just couldn't tell. They didn't wear it on their shirt sleeve, you know.

[Holly]

Well, Meep is now legally Dutch. And photos of this event, which we will put on our Pinterest board, if not on our website. All the Franks came. The whole office came. You know, it's a big family. This might be some of the last happy photos of the Franks, especially Anne and Margo, that we have available to us.

[Susan]

And the Franks threw them a party. Meep's parents threw them a party. It was very much a moment of normal, you know, just a breathing moment of yes. This is what life used to feel like. We got excited about marriages and weddings and just being together and celebrating.

[Holly]

Later that summer, bank accounts of Jewish people were frozen. And the children, including Anne and Margot, were taken, thrown, expelled out of school.

[Susan]

And to be counted as someone that was Jewish, they had to register again. And even if you had just one grandparent that was Jewish, regardless of what you were practicing, you were considered Jewish enough that you had to register as Jewish.

[Holly]

Mr. Frank saw the writing on the wall. If individuals had to register, surely the already registered businesses are going to come in for some additional scrutiny and maybe even seizure. So his friend Victor Coogler, who had been working in the office, would take over as managing director. Then Jan Gies, Miep's husband, was asked to be nominally the head of the Spice Division on paper. Instead of Mr. Van Pels. The Jewish owners would be, quote, replaced by the Christian men. And therefore the business would be safe from that inevitable seizure that was quite obviously coming down the road. Both men were very, very happy to help.

[Susan]

Otto Frank was so forward thinking. I mean, he got them out of Germany, you know, before the rush. I mean, even though they couldn't get places like the United States wouldn't accept the Franks. But they got out ahead of the curve, I think the big wave and doing something like this, something else. He's just so forward thinking.

[Holly]

America joined the war, of course, after Pearl harbor. And this, I mean, it's great news, but it didn't acutely help the Jewish people of the Netherlands. You know, there were sweeps now of the countryside that kind of forced rural Jews into the city for easier identification and pickup.

[Susan]

When those Jewish people from the countryside were forced into the city, they were only allowed to take a small number of their possessions. Essentially just had to hand the keys to their homes over to the police and move into Amsterdam. They had to leave everything, everything behind.

[Holly]

Among them, the married daughter of their landlady. So welcome back. She's tried many times to get away, and now she's back in the city.

[Susan]

When Mrs. Stoppelman's daughter came to live with them, it wasn't just the daughter. It was the husband and two small children, ages 5 and 3. And this apartment where they're all living, it's just four rooms. Meep and Jan have two, and Mrs. Stoppelman had two. But now people are sleeping in the living room. There's no room for anybody else, but they're all just packed in there because they had nowhere else to go.

[Holly]

Another forward thinker, Mr. Kleemon, the bookkeeper in the office, and of course another loyal friend, had an idea that an unused sort of awkwardly placed set of rooms at the back of the company premises should be got ready as kind of a hidey hole just in case. Better, better to have it and not need it than to really want it and not have set it up, you know. And Mr. Frank agreed. They kept it on the low, low. Both of those men saw the wisdom of this for months. The bolt hole was slowly and secretly furnished and supplied under everyone's nose. Meep didn't even know it was happening. In the spring of 1942, an edict came down. All Jewish people are to attach a six point yellow star the size of an adult person's hand over their heart on all their clothing. This of course made it easy for the authorities to identify anyone without having to stop and ask for paperwork. Ominous, ominous, ominous.

[Susan]

Further, anyone that was caught assisting any Jewish people in any way could be arrested. And execution wasn't out of the question if that happened.

[Holly]

Forced into unemployment by all the anti Jewish regulations, Jewish men began to be swept up and sent to, quote, work camps. To refuse to go was to be sent to Mauthausen, a name that had already begun to strike fear into every heart. One day in the office, Mr. Frank took Miep aside and said, Mrs. Frank and I and the girls are going to go into hiding. We are preparing now. And he said, miep, would you help us? Would you help keep us alive when we are in hiding? And Miep, with no hesitation, said she would. And he said, do you understand the punishments? The punishments you're facing? Definitely imprisonment and, and possibly death. I know I will help you.

[Susan]

She said later in her memoir, that moment just really stuck out in her memories. And she said, there is a look between two people once or twice in a lifetime that cannot be described by words. That look passed between us.

[Holly]

That is where we are going to leave Miep and the Franks for part one of our story. And when we come back, we will go into the details of what happened when they were forced to put their plans into action. Thanks for listening.

[Susan]

Bye.

[Holly]

If you learned something today, please tell a few friends about us or leave a review for us on Apple, podcasts, on Spotify or wherever you find your podcasts. Also, even though I think we've decided that after part two we are going to put the Anne Frank episode in the feed again, maybe you should go back and listen to that. Episode, either now or after both parts of Meep's story are out. At the very least, why not look up Norma Shearer so you have a mental picture of what Meep looks like by her own admission. It's not just me. And I will have a Pinterest board for Meep out, and there is one currently there for Anne Frank as I speak. The song at the end is by Kylie Daly, and it's called Softly to Myself. And if you know Anne Frank's story and how it turns out and Miep's role in what happened, some of the lyrics really might hit you. They did hit me, specifically the second verse, which goes like this. I am buried beneath the sand there's no way to speak or reach out my hand watching the paper slowly unfold Bracing for news that I can't bear to hold it's something. We'll be back in a couple of weeks with the end of Miep's story, and until then, Susan and I send our best thoughts out to all of you. Hugs to every one of our friends, wherever you may be, and we'll see you next time.

[Narrator]

I'm hushing the dog on the chain I'm winding up stones on the edge of the bank Rally the troops for another afraid I sing the song softly to myself I sing this softly to myself I'm buried beneath the sand there's no way to speak or reach out my hand Watching the paper slowly unfold Bracing for news that I can't bear to hold While I'm singing this song to myself I sing this softly to myself Tore up my jeans on the fence this iron road I cannot bend but my walking is lighter When I walk with a friend I sing softly to myself I sing this softly to myself I'm waking up early again Sitting alone and listening There is no separation from you in the end I say softly to myself I sing softly to myself.