Eva Schloss, Auschwitz Survivor and Anne Frank’s Stepsister, Dies at 96

Eva Schloss, an Auschwitz survivor who dedicated her life to Holocaust education and remembrance and later became the stepsister of Anne Frank, died Saturday, January 3, in London at the age of 96. Her death was confirmed by the Anne Frank Trust UK and the Anne Frank House.

Schloss was among the last generation of survivors able to speak firsthand about the Nazi death camps, and for decades she worked to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust remained a living moral responsibility rather than a distant historical memory.

Born Eva Geiringer in Vienna in May 1929, she was still a child when Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938. Her Jewish family fled first to Belgium and later to Amsterdam, arriving in 1940. They settled near the Frank family, and Eva and Anne Frank, the same age, played together as children before the Nazi grip on Jewish life forced both families into hiding.

In 1942, as deportations intensified, the Geiringer family went into hiding. Two years later, they were betrayed by a Nazi sympathizer. On Eva’s 15th birthdayת she, her parents Elfriede and Erich, and her brother Heinz were arrested and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Eva and her mother survived. Her father and brother were murdered in the camps. Anne Frank was later killed in Bergen-Belsen in early 1945.

After Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet army in January 1945, Eva and her mother returned to the Netherlands. There they met Otto Frank, Anne’s father and the sole survivor of his immediate family. Otto encouraged Eva to pursue photography, a path that eventually brought her to London in 1952, where she met her future husband, Zvi Schloss. The following year, Elfriede married Otto Frank, making Eva Anne Frank’s posthumous stepsister.

Schloss remained largely silent about her experiences for more than four decades. She later explained that she first spoke publicly in 1988, when an exhibition dedicated to Anne Frank came to London. “I was far from politics,” she said, recalling her realization that the world had failed to learn from the Holocaust and that racism, intolerance and persecution persisted. From that point on, she committed herself to speaking out.

In 1990, she co-founded the Anne Frank Trust UK, later serving as its honorary president. Well into her 90s, Schloss spoke with what colleagues described as tireless passion, often giving several talks a day in schools, universities and prisons across Britain and abroad. In later years, she also confronted antisemitism, including meeting American teenagers photographed making Nazi salutes in 2019 and supporting a campaign in 2020 urging social media platforms to remove Holocaust denial.

Schloss authored several books, including Eva’s Story, After Auschwitz and The Promise. She also fulfilled a promise to preserve her brother Heinz’s creative legacy, donating his paintings to Amsterdam’s Dutch Resistance Museum. In 2013, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to Holocaust education. In 2021, at age 92, she regained Austrian citizenship, the country she had fled as a child.

Tributes poured in following her death. Her family said they mourned a “remarkable woman: an Auschwitz survivor, a devoted Holocaust educator, tireless in her work for remembrance, understanding and peace.”

Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla said they were “greatly saddened” by her death. “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, promoting kindness, courage, understanding and resilience through her tireless work for the Anne Frank Trust UK and for Holocaust education across the world,” the King said. “We are both privileged and proud to have known her and we admired her deeply. May her memory be a blessing to us all.”

Gillian Walnes, vice president of the Trust, said, “Into her 90s, she spoke with tireless passion, often giving several talks a day, including in prisons and schools.”

Dan Green, chief executive of the Trust, described Schloss as “a beacon of hope and resilience,” adding, “Her unwavering commitment to challenging prejudice through Holocaust education has left an indelible mark on countless lives. Her legacy will continue to guide and empower young people to build a world free from hatred and discrimination.”

Eva Schloss died nine years after her husband. She is survived by her daughters, grandchildren and extended family.