In my journey to discover if the Frank family truly sought political asylum in the United States, I discovered that the NY Times, Time Magazine and Reuters covered the story when documents were uncovered in 2007. Her father, Otto Frank appealed to his college friend Nathan Straus, Jr. for a $5000 bond and affadivits to help get his family into the United States. Straus was the head of the federal Housing Authority, a personal friend of Eleanor Roosevelt's and his father was a co-owner of Macy's Department Store.
In their 2007 story when the documents were uncovered the New York Times story said:
“Page by page, the papers illustrate the tortuous process for gaining entry to the United States in those days. Even with powerful connections and money, European Jews could not overcome the State Department's restrictions against refugees, said two Holocaust scholars who examined the documents.”
The New York Times Reported:
By June 1941, no one with close relatives still in Germany was allowed into the United States because of suspicions that the Nazis could use them to blackmail refugees into clandestine cooperation. That development ended the possibility of getting the Frank girls out through a children's rescue agency.
Because of the uncertainty, Otto Frank decided to try for a single visa for himself. It was granted and forwarded to him on Dec. 1. No one knows if it arrived. Ten days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States and Havana canceled the visa.
In a 2007 Time Magazine article it was reported that:
Straus and Frank's brother-in-law, Julius Hollander, regularly corresponded with two private Jewish agencies, the National Refugee Service in New York and the Boston Committee for Refugees. Straus also contacted the State Department on Frank's behalf. Hollander and his brother arranged affidavits from their employers, Jacob Hiatt of E.F. Dodge Paper Box Co. and Harry Levine of the New England Novelty Co., both of Leominster, Mass.
On 4 September 2015, Anne Frank's step-sister, Eva Schloss,, drew direct parallels between the Syrian refugee crisis and the Jewish refugee crisis of World War II:
"You must not be selfish and you must share whatever you have and help in a desperate situation. They need help from you.
"These people have had the courage to do a very difficult thing- to take your family and your whole life to another country requires bravery and strength. This is history repeating itself.
"These Syrians are valuable, educated people. These are doctors and nurses who are only too willing to help our society and they will become leaders in the community if you let them."
Anne’s mother, Edith, wrote to a friend in 1939:
"I believe that all Germany's Jews are looking around the world, but can find nowhere to go."
In closing, I am acutely aware of how important it is for us to be discerning, to distinguish fact from fiction, to not allow fear to overrule compassion and to not allow compassion to unduly endanger us.
There must be a balance so that policies do not label victims as criminals and are not so overly restrictive that their enforcement means certain death for the innocent and vulnerable.
American policy rejected admission of the Frank children to safety in the United States, leading to their deaths in a German death camp, citing the possibility that some relative of a refugee remaining in Europe might be used as a spy for the Nazi’s. As a child, she wrote a diary which has captivated generations. If the Frank family's petitions for political asylum in the United States had been approved, it is probably that they would have joined their relatives in Boston. Today she might have been a 70+ year old New England author with an even richer body of work instead of being a child who perished in a Nazi death camp.
Fear is a paralyzing force. It sometimes comes from being touched by evil. Other times it prompts us to be overreaching in our denial of refuge and kindness,
There must be a balance so that policies do not label victims as criminals and are not so overly restrictive that their enforcement means certain death for the innocent and vulnerable.
American policy rejected admission of the Frank children to safety in the United States, leading to their deaths in a German death camp, citing the possibility that some relative of a refugee remaining in Europe might be used as a spy for the Nazi’s. As a child, she wrote a diary which has captivated generations. If the Frank family's petitions for political asylum in the United States had been approved, it is probably that they would have joined their relatives in Boston. Today she might have been a 70+ year old New England author with an even richer body of work instead of being a child who perished in a Nazi death camp.
Fear is a paralyzing force. It sometimes comes from being touched by evil. Other times it prompts us to be overreaching in our denial of refuge and kindness,
When political leaders play on our fear or prejudice to gain power, inciting people to greater selfishness and hatred, as we have witnessed this year in the 2016 Presidential Election, it takes on a life force of its own. We have to be careful if we are to remain alive and we must be wary not to allow fear to rob us of active compassion if we are to remain human.
