“I am not a hero,” insisted Miep Gies. “I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary.” It was Mrs. Geis’s habit to deflect accolades for defying Nazi occupiers of Amsterdam by helping to hide Anne Frank, her family and three other doomed Jews in a secret annex to the business office of Anne’s father, Otto Frank.

But to accept that self-description would be to overlook the remarkable selflessness and courage Mrs. Gies demonstrated, an example so powerful that it continues to inspire nearly 70 years later.

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Mrs. Gies, who died on Monday at age 100, was a trusted employee of Otto Frank in 1942. His family went into hiding that year in unused rooms that were hidden behind a movable bookcase, seeking to avoid the fate of thousands of Dutch Jews being deported to concentration camps. Asked by Mr. Frank to help hide them, and to bring them food and supplies, she readily agreed, even though it meant risking her life.