Shame on Refugee Border Closers

This film (by World Jewish Relief) and song (Suitcase by Joe Purdy) poignantly reminds us of the importance of accepting refugees. American xenophobes are the worst, the worst! Imagine what they would expect from the rest of the world if something dreadful happened to America.

With refugees at the center of debate this week, the plight of European Jews fleeing Nazi Germany during the ’30s and ’40s springs to mind as a parallel to our current crisis. Now, it has come to attention that Anne Frank’s own family was among those denied the necessary papers that would have allowed them access to the United States.

According to documents released in 2007 by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Anne Frank’s father sought money in order to secure a visa to the US. That visa request which was ultimately denied. Otto Frank and his family, including Anne, then decided to go into hiding in 1942 after Margot Frank received an order to report to one of the “work camps.”