First Look: A Small Light Portrays the Heroic Woman Who Hid Anne Frank's Family — and Preserved Her Story

Disney+

To mark the start of Hanukkah PEOPLE has an exclusive First Look at National Geographic's upcoming limited series A Small Light.

The photo shows Miep Gies (Bel Powley), her husband Jan (Joe Cole), Anne Frank (Billie Boullet) and her family — including dad Otto (Liev Schreiber), sister Margot (Ashley Brooke) and mom Edith (Amira Casar) — the van Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer (Noah Taylor) celebrating the Festival of Lights while hiding away in the secret annex.

Over eight episodes, A Small Light tells the story of Miep, the Dutch woman who played a vital role in hiding the Frank family during the Holocaust. She didn't hesitate when asked by her boss Otto to hide him and his family from the Nazis during World War II.

For the next two years, Miep, Jan and several other brave community members watched over the eight people hiding in the annex. Miep ultimately found Anne's diary and preserved it so that she and Otto could later share it with the world.

RELATED: Miep Gies (1909-2010) Saved Anne Frank's Words

Werner Baum/picture alliance/Getty

The series title A Small Light comes from something Miep said late in her life: "I don't like being called a hero because no one should ever think you have to be special to help others. Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can turn on a small light in a dark room."

Miep, born Hermine Santrouschitz to an underprivileged family in Vienna, headed to the Netherlands at 11 years old to live with a foster family under better conditions. Miep stayed in the Netherlands to begin her career, meeting her future husband Jan at her first job before accepting an opportunity with Otto.

RELATED: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall Delivers Powerful Speech on Impact of Anne Frank's Diary

Universal History Archive/UIG/Shutterstock

Miep and Jan ended up protecting the Franks, the van Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer by bringing them food and books to the annex. When Dutch officers raided the annex, arresting the eight people in hiding, Miep held onto Anne's diary and papers; she eventually handed them over to Otto after the war ended.

Miep received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, along with the Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan. In 1995, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands knighted Miep in the Order of Orange-Nassau. Miep died in January 2010, just one month shy of her 101st birthday.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

A Small Light premieres this spring on National Geographic and Disney+.