By Jeffrey Catalano
Assistant Editor
On Monday, February 16, and Monday, February 23, Mayerson JCC invites you to watch the final two parts of its miniseries screening event, “Jewish Documentary Series: A Small Light.” The miniseries being spotlighted by this event, “A Small Light,” is a biographical war drama series that was released in 2023.
This series, set during WWII, tells the true story of Miep Gies, a secretary who helped her Jewish employer, Otto Frank, his family and other Jewish refugees go into hiding after Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Otto Frank was the father of Anne Frank, who authored one of the most famous accounts of WWII and Nazi occupation, “The Diary of a Young Girl.”
Frank was only 13 when she began her now iconic diary, and she kept it for over two years, between 1942 and 1944. Her diary entries stopped shortly before her family’s hiding place in the Netherlands was discovered by the Gestapo. They were all arrested and sent to concentration camps.
Otto Frank was the only member of the Frank family who survived Nazi persecution and extermination. Anne, and another one of his daughters, Margot, both died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, more than likely of typhus. Anne Frank’s diary was saved by Otto’s secretary, Miep Gies, and we largely have her to thank for the existence of “The Diary of a Young Girl.” Otto Frank published his daughter’s diary to fulfill her wish of always wanting to be an author. First published in 1947, Frank’s diary has sold more than 30 million copies and has been translated into over 70 languages.
Miep Gies has been formally awarded a number of times over the years for her part in helping the Frank family, but the greatest honor she received was probably when she was awarded the “Righteous Among Nations” honorific.
This title is used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from Nazi persecution and extermination. Other recipients of this honor include Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg. Gies earned this award in 1972. She died in 2010 at the age of 100.
“A Small Light” was very well received by critics upon release. Should you want to catch the rest of “A Small Light,” this unforgettable series about the heroism and altruism of Miep Gies, you can see it at the JCC.
