70 Years Ago

At the moment, I am reading Anne Frank Remembered. It is the memoir written by Miep Gies, one of the handful of non-Jews who cared for and protected the Frank family and the others that hid in the annex where Anne wrote her diary. It is a heart-rending, but uplifting remembrance of a woman who loved her friends and literally risked her life to keep them safe.

I don't recall reading much about World War II, especially prior to Pearl Harbor, that wasn't written with an American point of view. Reading Miep's book, I can only imagine just how terrifying living in Europe was at the time. She watched the rise of Hitler's Nazi Germany and the invasions of Austria, Poland, and eventually her adopted home of Holland.

Seventy years ago today, The German army invaded Holland. It is 70 years past, and yet the lessons haven't been learned. It is 70 years ago, and the scars have not healed. It's been 70 years and there are still open wounds.

The idea that time can heal the hurts, doesn't fit this story. Reading her testimony of what she experienced makes me want to believe that the human race is better than I had once thought. And that in a pinch, we'd want to help each other--like Miep and her husband did--particularly in the face of tyranny and oppression like that faced by the European Jews in the 1940s.

We can hope that in 70 more years her voice and courage will still be as strong an example as they are today. What an amazing woman of courage and strength.