Anne Frank's Family Tried Immigrating To The US Continuously

Anne Frank's family were desperate to escape the Nazi persecution and flee to the US before they went into hiding in 1942. The findings are a result of the new research that was published this week. However, they never made it far enough through the process because of a combination of factors such as World War II bombing, Nazi Rule and American bias against Jewish refugees. The research was jointly published by authors Rebecca Erbelding and Gertjan Broek. US did not have a specific refugee policy till World War II and those who wanted to move had to go through same process as other immigrants.

 Other families that were willing to relocate were Otto Frank and Hermann van Pels. They applied to immigrate in the late 1930s while they were living in the Netherlands. The van Pels family were hiding in the same Amsterdam attic as the Franks. Both the families were German nationals at the time. There was a huge waiting list and the process required documents that were difficult to obtain for persecuted Jewish people.

 There is no evidence that either of the families were denied visas after applying. However, there is a letter from Otto Frank (Anne Frank's father) that proves that they applied for the US immigration as early as 1938. A lot of Jewish families were trying to flee to US at that time.

By: Neha Maheshwari

Content: https://www.history.com/news/anne-frank-family-immigration-america-holocaust