Jan indicated in the last episode of A Small Light that he would like to take on a more commanding position within the Resistance. Willem revealed the bombs and grenades he had been keeping hidden in the club and said that the Resistance had a significant strategy. Miep began to see less of Jan as his assistance to the Resistance increased. He was hardly home and mainly too exhausted to engage Miep in meaningful discussion. We see how Miep and Jan’s marriage is impacted by sociopolitical circumstances in episode 5 of A Small Light. Miep was forced to question whether their marriage, which had been a convenience marriage to begin with, had lost all love.
Warning: Spoilers
Why Did Miep And Jan Get Married?
During the occupation, the Nazis confiscated Miep’s passport. Miep had only three months to flee the country as the Nazis had also targeted immigrants in addition to Jews. Otto Frank encouraged Miep to marry her Dutch fiancé in order to keep living in the Netherlands because she was going to lose everything she had worked so hard to accumulate over the years. An hour south of Amsterdam, at his friend’s farm where he was assisting with the harvest, Miep met Jan. When Miep proposed to Jan, he was in the middle of spreading manure on the field to fertilize it. Jan felt that the circumstances surrounding the proposal were a little disappointing. He had been thinking about making a significant gesture soon after divorcing his former partner, and a proposal in the manure field was not what he had in mind. By popping the question to him, Miep cheered up Jan, and what initially seemed like an awkward setting for a proposal became a priceless memory. One of Anne’s favorite memories was of Miep and Jan’s wedding. She admired their union and dreamed of the day when she, too, would discover genuine love like Miep. Because Anne was ignorant of life’s complexity, she believed that Miep’s “happiest day” actually consisted of anxiety and terror. Miep was concerned that a Nazi would interrupt the wedding and compel her to flee the country. But she was fortunate that everything went as planned and that she was able to wed the man she loved.
Miep pondered whether her marriage was merely motivated by convenience as she described the specifics of her nuptials. She missed the period when she and her spouse could talk about every little aspect of their lives because he was largely away. Miep was dissatisfied with her predicament, so she made the decision to shield Anne from heartache and prod her to be more practical. Although she eventually recognized that, as a young child trapped in an annex, her intricate fantasies were all she had to survive, at a time when the anguish of reality was too much to bear, having faith in fairytale love could not be harmful.
Was Jan Involved In The Bombing At The Civil Registry Office?
Jan collaborated with the Resistance to design the Civil Registry Office. The Nazis’ ability to recognize Jews was something the Resistance was determined to eradicate. Jan wanted to assist with the plans but go farther. Jan consented to Willem’s request to kill a Nazi officer inside a hotel. He gathered his confidence and leveled his gun at the police despite his trembling from fear. He eventually learned that the man in question was a Resistance member and that it was all simply a test. Jan was frequently reminded by Willem that choosing life and family over being a martyr was not necessarily wrong. No matter how hard he tried, he thought that Jan would always feel the sorrow of not doing enough.
Cas agreed to see Miep the following morning after seeing Jan and Willem at the bar. He was aware of their major plans because his partner was a member of the Resistance. He understood that Miep had grown distant from her family as a result of the secrets she was compelled to hide. Cas merely want for Miep to exercise caution. Jan’s drawer had a gun, and Miep sought an explanation from him whether he was involved in the grand scheme. Jan acknowledged that his involvement was more than just moving papers about and that it might even be fatal. Despite her willingness to sacrifice for the cause, Miep was not prepared to part ways with her spouse. Jan refused to stay despite her request for him to. That evening, the Civil Registry Office was bombed, and Miep was there in a flash. The next two days were spent by Miep in a complete fog because Jan was nowhere to be found. A letter addressed Shit Field was delivered to Miep at her workplace at the conclusion of episode 5 of A Small Light. Miep went to the location where she had once proposed to Jan after realizing it was he who had contacted her. Jan was still here and had made the decision not to participate in the attack. Jan may have been slightly killed by the notion of losing Miep for good. He understood that part of his responsibility as Miep’s husband was to be there for her.
Who Was Kuno? Why Did Max And The Nurses Seek Shelter?
Mrs. Stoppelman was accompanied to Hilversum by Jan. In exchange, the person who committed to conceal Mrs. Stoppelman hoped Jan could assist in concealing her son Kuno. Due to his refusal to certify his allegiance to the local Nazi party, Kuno had run into difficulty. Jan and Miep were content to accept Kuno and his girlfriend even though they were looking forward to living alone in their apartment. But later, when Jan and Miep met their Nazi neighbor, they realized that even the smallest act of negligence may result in trouble. They had to embrace the task of hiding Kuno, and when the Omnia Trust stormed into their apartment, they recognized that things were only going to get worse. As the trust’s members looked over the residence, Kuno moved from one room to the next. Even though Kuno was relieved to be unharmed, he found it difficult to get over his anxiety.
After the members of the Omnia Trust had left, there was a subsequent knock on the door. At the Jewish Council, Max Stoppelman and two nurses, Liesje and Betje, entered their flat. The Nazis took the nursery’s occupants and sent them to the Westerbork transit camp. When there remained silence after Liesje and Betje had locked themselves in a closet, they contacted Max. Betje desired to surrender and travel to Westerbork with the kids. She felt betrayed and wanted to support the kids through everything, but Liesje restrained her. Jan agreed to assist them in getting to Max’s hiding place, which was outside the city. Max was recommended by Jan to spend the night at their home with Stella. When Jan confided in her in secret that they had no chance of leaving the city, Miep felt burdened with duty. It implied that they would have to provide housing for four extra individuals.
Miep thought there was no way they could pull it off with the Omnia Trust breaking into the house and the new NSB Officer living next door. Even though it would cause him additional difficulties, Jan wanted to take his chance. As the new guests were asked to remain silent, Kuno became progressively sicker. Fortunately, there were two nurses in the house, albeit they were concerned about his symptoms. Miep had to go to her office to check on the Franks and Van Pels because she had five guests staying at her home. She observed Edith rapidly losing her sense of reality. She had started to lose things more easily and yearned to return to her regular life outside of the annex. But Miep was too busy to attend to her needs. She had to make sure they were quiet and bring them food and the radio she had left at home. When Anne and Peter dropped a bag of beans and made a loud noise, her worst nightmare came true. She discovered Tony Ahlers was at the office after leaving the annex. He promised Miep cash in exchange for details about the Franks. Miep questioned whether Tony was aware that she was keeping them secret. In the meantime, Miep discovered that the potato supplier, Gerrit, was aware of her secret. He did, however, back Miep. He took extra care to deliver the bulk orders covertly. Miep was unsure of how to feel about Gerrit, but she was worried that things might be spiraling out of control.
Who Informed The Nazi Officer About The Frank Family?
Miep, Johannes, and Victor came to the conclusion that the Franks and Ven Pals were no longer safe in the secret annex. More others took notice, and every small error they made supported the Nazis’ misgivings. They couldn’t help but think that if the potato vendor knew about the hiding place, Tony Ahlers of the NSB had to have previously learned about it. No one could be trusted any longer. Additionally, they did not have many options; moving eight of them to a different area was nearly impossible, and entirely confining them meant that they would lose what little remaining freedom they had. Miep quickly became distracted after getting a phone call. When she got home, Kuno was in a bad state. He felt better after vomiting blood, but the Nazi next door had heard him scream. In order to explain the noise, Jan feigned to be hurt.
Miep had grown weary of feeling anxious all the time. She felt that rather than saving lives, she was actually putting them at risk. Jan was aware that anything they could do to safeguard the people they knew would be important given the circumstances outside. After talking to Bram, Jan managed to smuggle the four Jews out of his home. They were stopped by a Nazi officer as they were moving down an alley. Jan commanded the four to cease trying to flee. In order to make the ambush seem plausible, officers Baars and Borst staged it while working with Bram to rescue Jews. Miep was steadily losing control of herself in the meantime. The Franks and Van Pels’ increasing carelessness angered her, but happily the information they supplied made her feel better. In the darkest of times, Miep gained some hope as the Allies touched down in France. When the office door suddenly knocked, Miep opened it to see Gerrit standing there. He asked Miep to distribute the extra strawberries that he had brought in from one of his vendors, further suggesting that he already knew the truth. Making strawberry jam was a way for the family to commemorate the arrival of the Allies. Even though the news was reassuring, Miep understood that she wouldn’t truly feel at ease until everything was over.
A Small Light’s sixth episode concludes with Miep arriving at the secret annex the following morning with the grocery list. As she sat down at her desk, she saw a bean on the floor. When she went to pick it up, a Nazi officer appeared out of nowhere and ordered her to stop while brandishing a rifle at the back of her head. There isn’t enough hard evidence to determine who betrayed the Frank family. There are many different theories on the informant, but (supposedly) there is strong evidence that identifies Arnold Van den Bergh as a member of the Jewish Council. He possessed a list of potential hiding places, and it’s thought he turned the information in to defend his family. Others say that the Nazis discovered the hidden annex by accident, while some contend that a warehouse worker alerted the Nazis. It will be intriguing to see which idea A Small Light ultimately chooses to highlight.
