One Of History’s Most Famous Accounts Might Never Have Been Written But For A Twist Of Fate
Posted February 15, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Her story is one of the most famous documents about one of mankind’s darkest hours.
And if history had turned out differently, she might never have had to write it.
Newly released documents show Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank, desperately tried to get his family out of the Nazi-infested Netherlands and onto safer ground in the U.S.
Anne Frank’s “Diary of a Young Girl”, a collection of personal observations the teen made as she was hiding out from the ruthless enemy, has become one of the strongest and most personal testaments to the terrors of the Holocaust.
But papers unveiled by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research show her dad sent letters to family and friends in America, pleading with them to help cover the costs of the hoped for immigration.
“I would not ask if conditions here would not force me to do all I can in time to be able to avoid worse,” Otto wrote in April 1941. “It is for the sake of the children mainly that we have to care for. Our own fate is of less importance.”
The documents outline Frank’s plan to get his wife, daughter and mother-in-law to either the U.S. or Cuba.
But his escape never had a chance. Because he had relatives living in Germany, he was ineligible to come to the United States under their existing laws. And the Nazis were clamping down on allowing anyone to avoid their clutches.
He almost made it to Cuba, but the visa was cancelled in December 1941 after the U.S. declared war on Germany.
“I know that it will be impossible for us all to leave even if most of the money is refundable, but Edith [his wife] urges me to leave alone or with the children,” a second letter reads.
When all efforts to escape failed, he took his family into hiding. They were discovered two years later and sent to concentration camps, where most died.
His father made it through the nightmare and returned to the Amsterdam secret annex in 1945. Two years later, he published Anne’s now famous diary. It has since sold 75 million copies.
Sign up for a del.icio.us account here to save your bookmarks for free online.
