Miep Gies and the quest for a lasting Holocaust lesson

(JNS) — There is something about the story of the eight Jews who spent more than two years hiding in the secret annex on Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam that is irresistible to readers, as well as audiences for plays and movies. The travails of Otto Frank and his family, who were trapped in an intolerable prison with friends and a few others in an attic where they were forced to spend most of their time in silence, were immortalized by his younger daughter, Anne.

Aptly characterized by Dara Horn as “everyone’s second favorite dead Jew” in her book People Love Dead Jews, Anne has become more tha...