How Miep Gies rescued Anne Frank's diary from the secret annex

After Anne Frank was arrested, Miep Gies found her diary. The pages lay on the floor, inside the secret annex where the Frank family had hidden for more than two years.

Miep Gies kept Anne's diary inside her desk drawer. She did not read it. She simply preserved it, waiting through the uncertain years of war.

Waiting for Otto Frank's return

Miep waited until Otto Frank returned. He was the only member of the Frank family to survive the concentration camps. When he came back to Amsterdam, Miep Gies handed him Anne Frank's diary and papers.

Publishing Anne's story

Otto published Anne's diary, so her story reached the world. What might have been lost forever on the floor of an empty hiding place became one of the most widely read books in history. Miep's quiet act of preservation ensured that Anne's voice would not be silenced by those who had taken her life.