In Memoriam: Miep Gies

Miep Gies was the last to survive the Frank Family story. Here she sits at her old desk and reflects on the past (in Dutch).

More in English about Miep Gies.

The funeral service for Miep Gies will be held at the PC Hooft Uitvaartverzorging crematory, Berkhouterweg 26 in Hoorn, the Netherlands. Those wishing to pay their respects to Ms. Gies may do so on Saturday, 16 January, from 16:45 to 17:45.
The cremation ceremony will take place on Monday, 18 January at 14:30.

Once more I wish I was in my Bloemgracht house and able to pay my personal respects to Miep Gies.

Anne Frank material returns to Prinsengracht

Prinsengracht Panaroma

Anne Frank's writings will be returned to the museum, perhaps, in part, to commemorate her birthday, June 12. If she had survived, she would be 80 years old tomorrow.

Yesterday, the day of the shooting at the Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC which resulted in the death of a guard, was also a day when Janet Langhart Cohen's play, "Anne and Emmett" was to be performed to an invitation only audience.

It is unclear when the performance will be rescheduled.

"Hello Kitty" Anne Frank Remembered

Prinsengracht, Anne Frank Museum

In this documentary, part 3, "Hello Kitty," Mieps Gies walks into the green grocer off the Rozengracht that once sold me my own greens and crates of plums and pears.

The documentary is well done, the translation good and seemingly accurate, and the facts presented in a human voice, that of Mieps Gies.

Once More...Anne Frank

Another post on the Fountain Pen Network brought me to the movie based on Melissa Mueller's book. I have read the book, hadn't seen the film and although I so want to see it in its entirety, I find myself on this nearly Spring day in tears at each episode.

I so wonder what sort of man Otto Frank was, the sole survivor of the Frank family. Was he indeed such a loving father, encouraging dear Anne to "think for myself."

And although much of the backdrop appears realistic, the warehouse on Prinsengracht is portrayed too wide, too spacious, just too unlike the houses on the canal. And the achterhuis (the back house) is also seemingly more spacious.

Beppi & Jose, two of my dearest friends, lived aan de overkant (across the street) in a very similar converted warehouse, Beppi on the ground floor, Jose at the attic and after not living in Amsterdam for 30-odd years, if I close my eyes for one single moment, I am back on the Canals, sipping coffee with Beppi at the Stedelijk, making dinners at Jose's place, buying flowers at the Market, standing on line for ages to buy wonderful Saturday bread and singing Hop Paardje Hop to the children as we take our bicycle ride.

Hop Paardje Hop (a Dutch children's song)

I believe, on reflection, the years I lived in Amsterdam were among my happiest.

Memories!

100 years old: Mies Giep

Mies Giep is celebrating her 100th birthday and not accepting interviews, according to the Anne Frank Museum.

Unabridged: Anne Frank Journal

The Dutch Government did a thorough job of analyzing Anne Frank's journal, down to the ink she used, but no mention is made of the name of her lost fountain pen.

And another young Dutch woman whose diary was discovered ...also used a fountain pen.

Early German Fountain Pens

My German is not good enough to participate on the Pen Exchange but the few articles in English are quite informative.

The article on "What would grandmother's pen be worth" is most telling in my inquiry about Anne Frank's pen.

Apparently the Pelikan 100 was a very established pen in the 30s.

Aachen and the 1930s

As I polish and clean and think of travelling again, I come full circle back to Anne Frank's fountain pen. Her grandmother lived in Aachen in the 30s and it was her grandmother who gifted Anne her pen.

Aachen is the most western city in Germany and near both the Belgian and Netherlands borders. I believe one must fly into Maastricht to get to Aachen.

While pondering, I had a memory of sitting on a terrace in Zurich with my own adopted grandmother, the matriarch of a large Jewish Dutch family, and only one of two family members to survive the war. Fortuitously, and with some clever guile, she and one of her two sons escaped Holland before it was over-run by the Nazis. Her other son, the older of the two, stayed to fight in the resistance and perished.

I can see her lovely, soft face, thick grey hair pulled back in a chignon and twinkling grey eyes smiling over our tea, but concentrated and recounting the past that separated her from the Netherlands, her lost son and brought her to a June day more than twenty years later.

If I focus, perhaps I'll be able to capture something magical from those wonderful days and evenings we shared together and also touch the store-house of her knowledge and intuit what she would have given me or Miriam had she thought to give either of us a fountain pen.

Not rich but affluent, price would not have been an issue, but surely practicality. Colour and comfort would dictate to a large extent what she might have chosen, and most of all she would have selected a fountain pen that she hoped Miriam and I would cherish.

Each time I see a fountain pen offered on the 'bay from this period in history I bid $18.00 and wonder if somehow handling a Soennecken, Geha or Pelikan circa 1930s will reveal to me the secret.