WWII Home / Anne Frank Home
 
During the 1930s, Miep, Otto, and the other members
of the office often discuss the dangerous events developing in Germany and Austria. Miep strongly
disagrees with the policies of Hitler and the Nazis.In 1938, during a routine renewal of her Austrian passport, Miep discovers that it is no longer valid. It is replaced with a German passport bearing the Nazi swastika. Shortly afterward, she is invited to join a Nazi-affiliated women's organization. She tells the woman who is urging her to become a member that she will not join the club when the Germans are doing such awful things to the Jews in Germany. The Germans invade Holland in 1940. Miep is summoned to the German consulate, where she is informed that because her passport is invalid, she will have to return to Austria. The only way to prevent this is to become a Dutch citizen. On July 16, 1941, Miep Santrouschitz marries her boyfriend, Jan Gies, thus becoming a Dutch citizen. 
What was it like to live in a Nazi-occupied country?
Find out by reading Miep's interview with students.
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