Desperate letters: newly discovered letters written by Anne Frank's father, Otto, chronicle his anguished efforts to get his family into the United States.

On April 30, 1941, Anne Frank's father, Otto, wrote to his close American college friend Nathan Straus Jr. begging for help in getting the Franks out of German-occupied Amsterdam and into the United States.

"I would not ask if conditions here would not force me to do all I can in time to be able to avoid worse," Frank wrote in a letter that is part of a 78-page stack of newly discovered documents. "Perhaps you remember that we have two girls. It is for the sake of the children mainly that we have to care for. Our own fate is of less importance."

World War II was under way, and the Nazis were rounding up European Jews to be sent to concentration camps. In 1933, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis came to power in Germany, Frank moved his family from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. But by 1941, the Germans had occupied the Netherlands.

Frank needed a $5,000 deposit to obtain a visa and Straus--director of the Federal Housing Authority, a friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and the son of one of the owners of Macy's--had money and connections. "You are the only person I know that I can ask," Frank wrote. "Would it be possible for you to give a deposit in my favor?"

That letter begins a correspondence--unknown until now--revealing the Frank family's desperate efforts to escape to the U.S. or Cuba. The papers had been sitting in a New Jersey warehouse for nearly 30 years before they were discovered in 2005. (Due to privacy and copyright issues, the papers weren't released until February of this year.)

Each page adds a layer of sorrow as the tortuous process for gaining entry to the U.S.--involving sponsors, large sums of money, affidavits, and proof of how an immigrant's entry would benefit America--is laid out.

Ultimately, neither connections nor money were enough to enable the Franks--and most other European Jews--to enter the United States. Immigration laws passed by Congress in the 1920s severely limited the number of Jewish immigrants, and the State Department tightened its restrictions on all immigration due to the war.

By June 1941, no one with close relatives in Germany was allowed into the U.S. because of concerns that the Nazis could use those relatives to blackmail refugees into being spies or saboteurs. This closed off the possibility of getting Anne and her sister, Margot, out through a children's rescue agency, or having Otto Frank emigrate first in the hope that the rest of his family could follow later.

INTO HIDING

A month later, after Germany closed American consulates throughout its territories, Frank tried to obtain a Cuban visa--a risky, expensive, and often corrupt process. It was granted and sent to Otto Frank on December 1. Ten days later, just after Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S., and Cuba canceled the visa.

In 1942, the Franks were forced into hiding. With four other Jews, they moved into the "secret annex"--an attic in Otto Frank's office building in Amsterdam. Two years later, they were discovered by the Germans and arrested. Anne, 15, Margot, 19, and their mother, Edith, all died in concentration camps. Otto Frank survived Auschwitz. A friend of the family found Anne's diaries in the secret annex and gave them to Otto Frank after the war. The Diary of a Young Girl, published in 1947, is now a literary and historical landmark that personalizes the Holocaust's immeasurable loss.

The last items among the recently discovered papers 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 U.S. There is also a 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.

As partial atonement for having denied entry to the Frank family, Representative Steve Israel of New York wants the U.S. to grant honorary citizenship to Anne Frank. Only six other people have ever received this honor. But some of Anne's relatives are unenthusiastic. "I cannot see the point," says Bernd Elias, a first cousin who is president of the Anne Frank Foundation in Switzerland. "She saw herself as Dutch. That is the country she wanted to be a citizen of."

Patricia Cohen is an assistant culture editor for The New York Times; additional reporting by Paul Vitello of The Times

LESSON PLAN 2: INTERNATIONAL

ANNE FRANK: DESPERATE LETTERS

BACKGROUND

Newly discovered papers reveal Otto Frank's anguished attempts to get his family, including daughter Anne, out of Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. But American immigration quotas, and a complex process for gaining entry to the U.S., kept the Franks and many other European Jews from escaping the Nazis.

CRITICAL THINKING

* One aspect of the Franks' story not mentioned in the article was the heroism of friends who helped keep the family hidden for two years. Those who hid Jews during the German occupation faced execution or prison if found out.

* Ask students to imagine themselves in such a situation. Would they risk death to hide innocents from the authorities?

DEBATE

* Have students take sides on the question of whether or not the stated concern of U.S. officials--about possible spies among the refugees--was a legitimate reason to keep people like the Frank family out of the United States.

* After students conclude their debate, tell them that many historians attribute the refusal to accept refugees to anti-Semitism in the U.S. At the time, allowing Jews to enter the U.S. was deemed to be a political risk.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

* Does the U.S. have a moral obligation to admit people who are the victims of war? If not, what restrictions should apply?

WRITING PROMPT

* Post 9/11 security concerns have led the U.S. government to limit Iraqi immigrants to the U.S. to about 500 so far. Have students write essays comparing these restrictions to those Otto Frank faced. Are today's concerns different?

FAST FACT

[right arrow] Had she [wed, Anne Frank would be 77, about the same age as the grandparents of high school students in 2007.

WEB WATCH

www.annefrank.org Web site of the Anne Frank House and Museum.

QUIZ 2 > INTERNATIONAL

1. Amsterdam, in 1941, was not the first place where the Frank family had encountered the Nazis. Eight years earlier, Otto Frank and his family

a had nearly been arrested by the Gestapo, a Nazi secret-police organization.

b fled Poland when the Nazi threat appeared.

c fled Germany after Hitler's rise to power.

d had neighbors who joined the Nazi Party.

2. Frank was in desperate need of a $5,000 deposit to

a pay off the Germans to allow him to escape.

b obtain a visa.

c pay back a loan.

d buy plane tickets for his family.

3. Otto Frank's plans to escape to the United States with his family were further complicated by -- laws passed in the 1920s, which severely limited the admission of Jews.

4. By June 1941, no one with close relatives in Germany was allowed into the U.S. because

a there were concerns that most Germans were Nazis.

b American workers feared that the refugees would take their jobs.

c of fears the Nazis could threaten their relatives and blackmail refugees into spying for Germany.

d the U.S. was already sheltering thousands of refugees.

5. Otto Frank did finally manage to obtain a visa to Cuba, but it was canceled 10 days later because

a Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.

b he could not demonstrate that he was financially independent.

c tightened traveling restrictions to the West included the revoking of many visas.

d he had provided false information on his visa application.

IN-DEPTH QUESTIONS

1. If you were a member of Congress, what argument would you make for--or against--granting honorary American citizenship to Anne Frank?

2. In 2005, the U.S. accepted 53,000 refugees, far more than any other country. What do you think might account for this dramatic shift in U.S. refugee policy, from exclusion to inclusion?

ANSWER KEY

1. [c] fled Germany after Hitler's rise to power.

2. [b] obtain a visa.

3. immigration

4. [c] of fears the Nazis could threaten their relatives and blackmail, refugees into spying for Germany.

5. [a] Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.