WWII Home / Anne Frank Home
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In 1938, during a routine renewal of her Austrian passport, Miep discovers that it is no longer valid.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.
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