It was 76 years ago, July 6 1942, that the family of world famous Jewish diarist Anne Frank went into hiding in Amsterdam.

(Dr. Otto Frank holds the Golden Pan award, given for the sale of one million copies of the famous paperback The Diary of Anne Frank in London on June 14, 1971. Dave Caulkin AP file)

And all these years later, there is research to suggest that her family attempted to immigrate to the United States and later also to Cuba, but their efforts were thwarted by America’s restrictive immigration policy and the outbreak of World War II.

Curators at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam say documents indicate that Anne’s father Otto tried twice to get his family the needed papers to go to the United States and later also appears to have applied for a visa to Cuba.

The Frank family’s escape efforts were in vain. After the family was in hiding for two years, they were discovered and deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. Only Otto Frank survived the Holocaust.