Research suggests the family of Anne Frank, the world famous Jewish diarist who died in the Holocaust, 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.

The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum said Friday that documents indicate Anne's father Otto tried twice to collect the papers needed to obtain visas for the United States. He later also appears to have applied for a visa to Cuba.

However, the Frank family's escape efforts were all in vain. Eventually they went into hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam on July 6, 1942 — exactly 76 years ago.