Otto Frank sought help from his college friend Nathan Strauss Jr, the son of the owner of Macy's, to get a US visa, but the US State Department turned him and his family down.
He later tried got the family a visa for Cuba, but after Germany declared war on the USA, the visa was canceled.
Remember that the next time your awful relatives complain about illegal immigrants. Tell them what Simon Wiesenthal Elie Wiesel said: "No human being is illegal."
If her father had sought help sooner, "Anne Frank could be a 77-year-old woman living in Boston today, a writer. That is what the YIVO's documents suggest," said Richard Breitman, a professor at American University.
However, Otto Frank decided to try to escape just as the Nazis were making it more difficult to leave and the United States was making it more difficult to enter, Breitman said.
Cuba issued Otto Frank a visa on December 1, 1941, according to the documents, but it was canceled 10 days later when Germany declared war on the United States.
Anne Frank's family sought U.S. visa, letters show [Tom Hals/Reuters]
(Image: vespa with stenciled Anne Frank, Amsterdam, Mike Seidman, CC-BY)
