IN MY SHOES: Pleading For Help That Never Came
The New York Times
Here are a few excerpts of letters Frank sent to his college friend Nathan Straus Jr., director of the federal Housing Authority and the son of Macy’s co-owner:
From a letter dated April 30, 1941, asking for a $5,000 deposit to obtain a U.S. visa: "I would not ask if conditions here would not force me to do all I can in time to be able to avoid worse. … Perhaps you remember that we have two girls [Anne and her sister Margot]. It is for the sake of the children mainly that we have to care for. Our own fate is of less importance. … You are the only person I know that I can ask. Would it be possible for you to give a deposit in my favor?"
From a letter dated September 8 asking for help in obtaining a Cuban visa: "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."
From a letter dated October 12, 1941: "It is all much more difficult as one can imagine and is getting more complicated every day." …
The article ends with these heartbreaking paragraphs:
The last items in the file date from June 1945 to mid-1946. They include a letter from Otto Frank’s brother-in-law Julius Hollander, who was trying to locate the Franks and arrange for them to emigrate to the United States. There is also a four-line notification that "Mrs. Edith Frank died; daughters are still missing."
What follows is a letter on Feb. 2, 1946, from Hollander saying that "Otto Frank said he wants to stay in Amsterdam" and no longer wants to come to the United States.
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