Eva Schloss

Eva Schloss is the stepsister and playmate of World War II Diarist Anne Frank. She was born in Vienna, Austria in 1929, 84 years now.

In 1938, shortly after Hitler annexed Austria, her family immigrated to Belgium and then moved to Holland. But the hard time just begin. In 1942, Germans invaded Holland then Eva’s family had no choice but hiding. In May 1944, they were betrayed by friends and then captured and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. In 1945 Russian Army liberated them but just Eva and her mother left while her brother and father died.

After leaving Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp several months later, Eva and her mother moved to Amsterdam where Eva finished her studies and then went to London and found a job as a photographer. She married Zvi Schloss in 1952 and her mother married Anne Frank’s father Otto Frank, just 1 year later.

Eva Schloss is Anne’s stepsister and playmate. These 2 families kept good relationships during that time and after the war, Schloss’ mother married to Anne Frank’s father. Eva said Otto Frank helped them a lot after the war, because of his relentless optimism; it became the key reason for Eva’s family to cope with the post-war years.

Eva Schloss talked about Anne as long as 40 years later when Eva was invited to Anne Frank’s exhibition. She said she never looked back that’s why she remained silent for so long time. That’s when she started to let the public know more about Anne.

Eva Schloss pubilshed her first book named “Eva’s Story” in 1988 as a memoir of her Holocaust and her stepsister. She was then more and more involved into Holocaust education. She is a Trustee of the Anne Frank Educational Trust, U.K and received an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Northumbria, Newcastle, England. She was awarded an MBE, a top British honor, in 2012