In reaction to ”The woman who hid Anne Frank has died at the age of 100”, by Nir Chason (Ha’aretz, Jan 13, 2010).
Both Miep Gies and her husband Ian, were heroes. Amidst a tangible risk to their own lives, they hid Anne Frank and her family.
Gies’ death at the age of 100 is a painful reminder to the fact that Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved scores of Hungarian Jews, was three years her junior, so that if he were still alive, he would be 97 years old.
Other rescuers, such as Irena Sendler Z’l and Sir Nicholas Winton have lived a long life and stress the need to keep on struggling for Raoul Wallenberg, who was abducted by the Soviet forces 65 years ago (On Jan 17th., the wolrd will mark the anniversary of his disappearance).
It is true that a Russian-Swedish commission of inquiry was set up to investigate the circumstances of his abuction but its findings were inconclusive, to say the least.
Heroes like Wallenberg, Winton, Gies and many other thousands of rescuers, whose feats we, at the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, thoroughly research, document and divulge, represent the other side of the coin. Their deeds prove that few stood up against the Nazi monster. Our duty is to instill their legacies in the young generations.
Danny Rainer
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
