In December 1920, due to an illness, Hermine went to the Netherlands with a group of other children to improve their health. She then lived with a foster family in Leiden and then was given the nickname Miep.

Gies, Miep, and Alison Leslie. Gold. Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987. Print.