Probably they should have done so.
Probably they should have done so. And it would have been less risky for them than staying in Netherlands when they were conquered by Germans…
Yet they did not know it.
You know… those people really wanted to believe that their life will be normal
Otto Frank fought for Germany in World War I, he was even awarded with the Iron Cross….
Theoretically speaking people like him shall be exempted from Holocaust (due to him being German WW I veteran, there was a legal basis for this…). They also were highly assimilated they spoke German…
In 1933 Otto Frank was wise enough to move his family, quickly to 1933…
In Netherlands Franks were apllying for visas to USA, Cuba and Britain.
Otto got one visa for Cuba, but it is not known whether it had ever reached him. It was revoked few days after being granted (December 1 1941) due to Third Reich declaring war upon US…
But the guy wanted to live with his family…
He probably should have tried to escape Netherlands without visa - but that step was probably deemed too risky by them, then…
You see… their lives weren’t that bad until 1942.
And they almost made it.
Well Otto made it. His wife and two daughetrs weren’t so lucky… Anne and Margot Frank died just a five months before the fall of nazi Germany….
Interestingly all their Dutch helpers survived. If it happened in nazi occupied Poland they all would have been executed by the Germans.
On spot.
But in western countries nazis were less cruel than in Poland… So we have less corpses in that story…
On the other hand… that was part of their problem.
You see…
People want to believe they are safe. And if their safety is being reduced step by step, not too quickly, they do not realize when it is time to escape at all costs… Because escape itself is also risky, especially without proper documents and contacts
Can also end in death…
And you see… We know about concentration camps now…
But what they did know about them in 1940? 1941? 1942?
Well in 1942 they knew enough to try to hide themselves
And they almost succeeded in doing so…
Almost.
You see.
If you are middle-aged man with wife and two two teenage daughters…
Escape is risky. Especially if you are not used to harsh conditions and your appearence f*cking screams that you are a member of a nation that is being genocided
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