> At a Glance
> – Eva Schloss, Auschwitz survivor and Anne Frank’s stepsister, died Saturday in London at 96
> – After decades of silence, she spent 40 years teaching students worldwide about the Holocaust
> – King Charles III praised her lifelong fight against hatred and prejudice
> – Why it matters: Her story links two of the most recognized voices of the Holocaust, ensuring its lessons reach new generations
The woman who shared a family bond with Anne Frank and later carried her legacy into classrooms, prisons, and parliaments has died. Eva Schloss, who survived Auschwitz and spent nearly four decades educating millions about Nazi atrocities, passed away Saturday in London.
From Playmate to Survivor
Born Eva Geiringer in Vienna in 1929, she fled to Amsterdam after Hitler annexed Austria. There she befriended Anne Frank, a girl her age whose diary would later move the world. When Nazi troops occupied the Netherlands, both families went into hiding; both were betrayed.
- The Geiringers spent two years concealed before arrest
- Deported to Auschwitz in 1944
- Only Eva and her mother Fritzi lived to see the camp’s liberation
Her father Erich and brother Heinz perished inside the death camp.
A New Family, Then a New Mission
Post-war life brought reunion and reinvention. Eva settled in Britain, married fellow refugee Zvi Schloss, and raised three daughters. In 1953 her mother married Otto Frank, making Eva the stepsister of the already-iconic diarist she had once played beside in Amsterdam.
For decades she refused to speak of her experiences. “I was silent for years, first because I wasn’t allowed to speak. Then I repressed it. I was angry with the world,” she told the Associated Press in 2004.
Everything changed after a 1986 Anne Frank exhibition in London. Schloss began crisscrossing the globe, sharing her testimony in:
- Schools and universities
- Prisons and youth detention centers
- International conferences and parliaments
- Books such as Eva’s Story
Battling Hatred into Her 90s
Even past 90 she confronted rising antisemitism head-on. In 2019 she flew to California after high-school students were photographed giving Nazi salutes. A year later she joined a campaign pressuring Facebook to delete Holocaust-denial content.
> “We must never forget the terrible consequences of treating people as ‘other,'” Schloss warned in 2024. “We need to live together with our differences. The only way to achieve this is through education, and the younger we start the better.”
King Charles III remembered her as someone who turned unimaginable suffering into a lifetime of education:
> “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice.”
Key Takeaways
- Eva Schloss survived Auschwitz and became honorary president of the Anne Frank Trust UK
- She lectured on five continents, authored books, and met thousands of students
- Her family hopes her writings and films will keep inspiring future generations
- Schloss is survived by three daughters, plus grandchildren and great-grandchildren
Her voice, once silenced by trauma, ultimately reached millions, ensuring the past is neither forgotten nor repeated.
