1939 approached. None of the Dutch people knew what was going to happen, we all assumed we’d be invaded, but none of us were ever sure. I was invited, with Miep, to Mr Frank’s house to share a meal with his family. It was the first time I’d ever met his family. He introduced them one by one: his wife Edith had a square face, big forehead and dressed very elegantly, his daughter Margot wore round circular glasses and dressed formally in a skirt with an ironed top and his daughter Anne wore a formal skirt with an ironed lace top with a small necklace reading, “Nederland (Holland)” on. They looked very nice, and we left promptly around 6:30pm. Life was hard – rationing was introduced on 4 August 1939.
On Thursday, 8 June 1939, Miep stayed after work and typed up a letter requesting the Dutch nationality to the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina. She sent it off the next day on the way to work. It was very powerful of Miep to do so, and I admired her for doing it. It takes courage, determination and energy to do something as admirable as she did – I’m proud to be her husband. She didn’t receive a response until July 1940, when something unexpected happened.
On Saturday, 2 September 1939, Queen Wilhelmina declared on Dutch Radio that World War II had officially begun that day. Naturally, I felt worried to the core, grabbed my bicycle and cycled to Gaaspstraat 25 where Miep lived with her adoptive family. I announced the news to her family, they were all shocked at the news I had delivered. I stayed for an hour, and then returned home.
The shortages increased and increased, making it virtually impossible to find anything. We had to squeeze families into anywhere we could, and still that was difficult to do. 1940 came, and still it was hard with the severe shortages. On 11 May 1940, the Nazis flew over Amsterdam and bombed a bit of the commercial parts of Amsterdam. We had been invaded by the Germans, it was HELL!
Miep and I began looking for our own apartment and to start a life together, but we simply lacked the money to get married. Meanwhile, the housing was VERY restricted. Some Jews had to set sail for other countries, Netherlands simply lacked space for any more Jewish refugees. In October, Mr Frank located us rooms to rent from a Jewish landlady at 25 Hunzestraat, and we took it. We had no delay in moving in.
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My Story: Jan Gies
Ficción GeneralJan Gies was born in 1905, married to Miep Santruschitz in 1941 and helped to conceal Anne Frank and the other 7 occupants in hiding at 263 Prinsengracht. He is seen a heroin, as his own wife Miep. Here's his story :). P.S. This is emotional, pleas...
