Eva Schloss, Anne Frank's Stepsister and Holocaust Survivor, Dies at 96

Eva Schloss, a Holocaust survivor, educator and stepsister of diarist Anne Frank, has died at age 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, which she founded, announced that she passed away Friday, January 3, in London.

Her family expressed "great sadness" over the loss of "an extraordinary woman: an Auschwitz survivor, a dedicated Holocaust educator, who worked tirelessly for memory, understanding and peace."

Schloss was born Eva Geiringer in Austria in 1929. Following the Nazi annexation of Austria (the Anschluss), her family fled to Belgium and eventually settled in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The fates of Eva and Anne Frank were linked even before the war. The Geiringer family lived across from the Frank family home, and the two girls, who were the same age, often played together.

In 1942, as persecution intensified, both families were forced into hiding. While Anne Frank's story was documented in her diary that became a global symbol, Schloss's family experienced a similar yet different tragedy. Two years after going into hiding, on Eva's 15th birthday, the family was betrayed by a Nazi collaborator and sent to Auschwitz death camp in May 1944.

Eva and her mother, Elfriede, managed to survive the hell and were liberated by the Soviet Army in 1945. Her father and brother, from whom she was separated in the camp, did not survive. Anne Frank herself perished in Bergen-Belsen camp in 1945.

After the war, Eva and her mother returned to the Netherlands. There they met Otto Frank, Anne's father, who also returned from Auschwitz as a widower who had lost both his daughters. The connection between the families, which began with good neighborliness in Amsterdam, became a close family bond when Elfriede and Otto married in 1953, making Eva the stepsister of the late Anne.

Otto Frank encouraged young Eva to pursue photography. In 1952 she moved to London to study, where she met her husband, Zvi Schloss, and raised a family.

For many years, Schloss worked to preserve Holocaust memory. She was a co-founder of the Anne Frank Trust in 1990, wrote numerous books, and lectured worldwide about her experiences. In 2013 she was awarded the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her work.

Her death prompted responses from the British royal family. King Charles III, who danced with Schloss at a Holocaust Memorial Day event in 2022, and his wife Queen Camilla, who serves as patron of the Trust, issued a statement of mourning: "We both had the privilege and were proud to have known her and admired her deeply."

Gillian Walnes, vice president of the Trust, summarized her work: "Even in her 90s she spoke with tireless passion, sometimes giving multiple lectures a day, including in prisons and schools. Eva's legacy continues to live in the lives of the people she touched and in the history she preserved with such great courage."

Schloss dedicated decades of her life to Holocaust education and fighting prejudice, ensuring that the stories of those who perished, including her childhood friend Anne Frank, would never be forgotten.