Miep Gies was born on February 15, 1909 in Vienna, Austria. However, once she was old enough, her parents sent her to live in the Netherlands with a foster family. She then finished school at the age of 18 and worked in the office of a textile (fabric) company until she was 24. After she worked there for a while, she married a Dutch man named Jan Gies and became close friends with his friend Otto Frank and his family. As the war went on, the Franks decided to go into hiding because the Nazis were taking other Jews to concentration camps. Miep said she would be their helper by getting them food using illegal ration cards that her husband had collected. A ration card was a stamp or card issued by the government allowing the holder of the card to get food or other needs that were in short supply during wartime or other emergency situations. While they were there, Anne Frank, Otto's daughter, wrote in a journal that was given to her about how she felt and what part of the war was going on. Along with a few others, Miep was able to keep the Franks safe for two years by hiding them n a secret room above Otto's office building but they were found by the Nazis and were sent to different camps. She returned to the offices and found Anne's diaries and gave them back to Otto who was the only one who survived. In 1987, she published a memoir titled Anne Frank Remembered which describes her life and what she wrote in the journal. Miep Gies died on January 11, 2010 after falling in a nursing home just before her 101st birthday.