Miep Gies celebrated her 100th birthday on February 15 (thanks to NeoNeocon for posting about that). In addition to hiding a young Jewish student in their Amsterdam apartment, Miep and Jan Gies and their helpers (Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Bep and Johan Voskuijl) provided food and a link to the world to eight others hiding from the Gestapo: Otto, Edith, Margot and Anne Frank, Herman, Auguste and Peter Van Pels, and Dr. Fritz Pfeffer (Miep's elderly dentist).
After these hiders were betrayed by persons unknown, Mrs. Gies found the diary of a young girl in the secret annex. She put the diary away for safekeeping, unread. No betrayal here, no reading someone else's diary.
Otto Frank was the only Holocaust survivor of the eight. The others died at Nazi death camps. Anne Frank, of course, lives on because of her diary. Her diary lives because of Miep Gies.
After these hiders were betrayed by persons unknown, Mrs. Gies found the diary of a young girl in the secret annex. She put the diary away for safekeeping, unread. No betrayal here, no reading someone else's diary.
Otto Frank was the only Holocaust survivor of the eight. The others died at Nazi death camps. Anne Frank, of course, lives on because of her diary. Her diary lives because of Miep Gies.