Ob' uaric

Obituaries from page 57

BENJAMIN WETTENSTEIN, 93, of Oak Park,

died Jan. 23, 2010.
He was a past president of Abner Wolf,
Wholesale Food Distributors. He was also a
proud veteran of World War II, a member of
B'nai B'rith Perfection Lodge F&AM, Shriners
and a longtime member of Congregation Beth
Shalom.
Mr. Wettenstein is survived by his son and
daughter-in-law, Gary and Miriam Wettenstein
of West Bloomfield; son and partner, David
Wettenstein and Chantal Chauzy of Sherman
Oaks, Calif.; grandchildren, Rachel and Zachary
Wettenstein; sister, Dorothea "Dotty" Schwartz
of Boca Raton, Fla.; loving companion, Sara
Garelick; devoted caretaker, Steven Selik; many
loving nieces, nephews and cousins.
He was the beloved husband of the late
Roselyn Wettenstein; beloved father of the
late Theodore Wettenstein; brother of the late
Theodore Wettenstein.
Interment Adat Shalom Memorial Park in
Livonia. Contributions may be made to the
National Neurofibromatosis Foundation, Inc.,
95 Pine Street, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10005,
(800) 323-7938, www.neurofibromatosis.org .

Who Is A Hero?

Rabbi Steven Burg

Orthodox Union

M

iep Gies died Jan. 11 at age
100 and people say,"Who?"
Anne Frank is a house-
hold name. You can read the book Anne
Frank The Diary of a
Young Girl. You can watch
the film The Diary of Anne
Frank You can even visit
the Anne Frank House in
Amsterdam.
If it weren't for Miep
Gies, however, no one
would ever have heard of Miep Gies
Anne Frank.
Miep Gies was Otto Frank's secretary.
In the spring of 1942, he asked for her
help in concealing his family from the
Nazis — help she did not hesitate to
provide even though being discovered
could have meant her own execution.

For more than two years, she helped
conceal the Franks, the Van Pels fam-
ily and Fritz Pfeffer. Her role included
ensuring that the eight people crammed
in the tiny attic remained fed, despite
wartime rationing. (What the Franks
didn't know was that Miep and her hus-
band, Jan, were concealing
yet another person, in their
own home.)
After the Franks were
arrested by the Gestapo
in August 1944, Miep and
Jo Kleiman (who also
assisted in concealing the
families) gathered Anne's
diary pages for safekeeping
before the secret annex became inac-
cessible to them. Anne and her sister
Margot died in Bergen-Belsen, but their
father survived. The diary was returned
to Otto Frank, who had it published.
And the rest is history.

Despite her courageous acts, Miep
was known for her modesty. She didn't
read Anne's diary when she rescued it;
Otto Frank was only able to persuade
her to do so when the diary entered its
second printing. Miep did not allow
her own story to be told until 1987.
In an obituary in Time magazine,
Elie Wiesel quoted Miep as not consid-
ering herself a hero. Rather, she felt she
just did what needed doing. This atti-
tude is part of what makes her a hero.
The entire Jewish people — the
entire world — owes Miep Gies a tre-
mendous debt of gratitude, for both
her actions and her example.
Anne Frank famously wrote, "Despite
everything, I believe that people are
really good at heart" If you knew Miep
Gies, you'd feel that way, too. O

Rabbi Steven Burg is managing director of
the New York City-based Orthodox Union.

How do I explain death
to my children?

o f do I . teii my daughter th
that I r grarkimo (13, rig?

Is my son old enough to attend his grandpa's funeral?

IV- hat do children understand abou t death?

Read David fechneris Nog for his six-part series on explaining death t kids.

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58

January 28 ' 2010

JN

Obituaries