Eva Schloss, a Holocaust survivor who dedicated her life to educating others about the horrors of the Nazi regime and became the posthumous stepsister of Anne Frank, has died at the age of 96.
From Childhood Playmate to Posthumous Stepsister
In 1940, an 11-year-old Eva Geiringer, who had recently arrived in Amsterdam from Vienna, played with other children in a grassy square after school. Among them was a girl named Anne Frank. Born just a month apart and living as neighbours on Merwedeplein, they were not close friends. Eva was athletic, while Anne was more interested in fashion and films.
Their names, however, would become forever linked. In 1953, Eva's mother, Fritzi, married Otto Frank, Anne's father, making Eva Anne's posthumous stepsister. This connection, which she never sought, became a powerful platform for her subsequent four decades of Holocaust education.
A Harrowing Journey of Survival
Eva was born in Vienna in 1929 to a secular Jewish family. Their comfortable life shattered after the 1938 Anschluss, when Germany annexed Austria. After her older brother, Heinz, was violently attacked at school, the family fled, eventually settling in Amsterdam.
When the Netherlands fell to the Nazis, the Geiringers went into hiding, moving seven times in two years. On Eva's 15th birthday in 1944, the Gestapo stormed their hiding place. The family was arrested, sent to Westerbork transit camp, and then transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Separated from her father and brother, Eva and her mother endured starvation, disease, and brutal treatment. Their heads were shaved, and Eva was tattooed with the number A/5272. A miraculous stroke of luck occurred when they discovered a cousin, Minni, working as a nurse in the camp hospital. Minni used her protected status to secure extra food and, critically, intervened with Josef Mengele to save Fritzi from the gas chambers.
Building a New Life and a Legacy of Education
After Auschwitz was liberated in January 1945, Eva and her mother returned to Amsterdam. They learned from the Red Cross that Heinz had died during a forced march from Auschwitz, and her father had perished just days before the war ended.
Struggling with bitterness and depression, Eva found solace in Otto Frank, who urged her not to live a life consumed by hate. He gave her the Leica camera he had used to photograph his daughters. Following his advice, she moved to London to study photography, where she met and married Zvi Schloss in 1952. They had three daughters, and Eva ran an antiques business in Edgware.
Her life as a public educator began unexpectedly in March 1986 at an Anne Frank exhibition in London. Ken Livingstone, then leader of the Greater London Council, spontaneously invited her to speak. Despite never having spoken publicly about her experiences, Eva took the microphone and found her voice.
This led to decades of tireless work. She co-founded the Anne Frank Trust UK and spoke in schools, prisons, cathedrals, and civic halls across the country. She tailored her message to each audience, telling prisoners full of hate that she understood their feelings and that survival was possible.
Eva authored several books, including 'Eva's Story' (1988) and the bestselling 'After Auschwitz' (2013). She was appointed an MBE in 2012 for her services to Holocaust education. Throughout her work, she emphasised a core lesson: "We must learn that human differences actually enrich our lives."
Eva Schloss is survived by her three daughters, Caroline, Jacky, and Sylvia, and five grandchildren. Her powerful testimony stands as an enduring call for tolerance and understanding.
