Emigration from Europe
Between 1933 and 1941, about 280,000 Jews fled Nazi Germany and 130,000 fled Hitler-annexed Austria. Many sought refuge in neighbouring countries. For many, however, this was just a stopover on the way to safer places.
The ultimate destination of many refugees was the United States; there were also those who left for South Africa, Palestine and Latin America. But emigration could not be taken for granted. Those who wanted to leave entered a bureaucratic mill of countless forms for exit permits, transit permits, entry visas, court declarations and sureties. The queues waiting at aid organisations, consulates, embassies and travel agencies were endless. Rules were constantly changing and emigration countries were making high financial demands. As anti-Jewish measures and threats of war increased, panic to get away grew. In the end, only a relatively small group managed to flee the persecution of Jews in Europe.[1]
The Frank, Van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer families also made attempts to get away from Europe. Otto Frank tried to set up a business in England as early as 1937 and applied for a visa at the American consulate in Rotterdam in 1938. Both attempts came to nothing. When World War II broke out in 1939, it became even more difficult to flee. After the German invasion in 1940, the Frank family tried to go to the United States again in 1941. They were helped by American friends and Julius and Walter Holländer, Edith's brothers, who had already managed to flee to the United States. This was all to be in vain.[2]
The Van Pels family was not lucky either. Despite their Dutch citizenship, they did not feel safe in the Netherlands. In 1939, they applied for visas at the US consulate in Rotterdam. They ended up on a waiting list that was already so long that their chances were slim.[2] Their attempt to move on failed, although some relatives of Hermann van Pels and Auguste Röttgen did manage to emigrate to North America, South America and other overseas destinations.
Fritz Pfeffer's immigration card states that he wanted to go to Australia, but he also tried to go to Aruba. He also applied for emigration to Chile. But he too failed to get away from the Netherlands.
On 25 November 1941, all German Jews living abroad lost their nationality and thus became stateless. As a result, emigration became impossible.
Footnotes
- ^ Gertjan Broek, The (im)possibilities of escaping. Jewish emigration 1933 – 1942, Website Anne Frank House.
- a, b Rebecca Erbelding & Gertjan Broek, German bombs and US bureaucrats: how escape lines from Europe were cut off, Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2018.
Digital files (1)
German bombs and US bureaucrats: how escape lines from Europe were cut off
Samen met het United States Holocaust Memorial Museum onderzocht de Anne Frank Stichting de emigratiepogingen (1938-1941) van de families Frank en Van Pels naar de Verenigde Staten. Door Nederlands en Amerikaans archiefonderzoek te combineren, ontstond een beter inzicht in de achtergronden van deze mislukte pogingen. Ook laat het onderzoek de spanning tussen de immigratiepolitiek van de Verenigde Staten en het humanitaire vluchtelingenvraagstuk van die tijd zien.
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