Eva Schloss, Anne Frank’s Stepsister and Tireless Holocaust Witness, Dies at 96
Eva Schloss, 96, Anne Frank’s stepsister and Auschwitz survivor who spent decades warning the world against forgetting, has died in London.
A Voice That Refused to Be Silenced
London—When Eva Schloss slipped away quietly in her sleep this week, the world lost one of its last living links to Anne Frank. At 96, the Holocaust survivor and stepsister to the most famous diarist of the 20th century had spent seven decades turning memory into warning, pain into purpose.
From Vienna to Auschwitz
Born Eva Geiringer in 1929, her childhood was upended by the Anschluss. The family fled first to Belgium, then Amsterdam, where she befriended a bookish girl named Anne. Both families were forced into hiding; both were betrayed. Eva and her mother survived Auschwitz—her father and brother did not. In 1953, her mother married Otto Frank, welding the two fractured families together.
“We promised each other that whoever survived would tell the story. I kept that promise every single day.”
—Eva Schloss, 2019 interview
Seventy Years on the Global Stage
Reluctant at first, Schloss began speaking publicly in 1986. She logged more than 1,000 talks across 30 countries, addressed the United Nations, and helped found the Anne Frank Trust UK. Her memoir, After Auschwitz, has been translated into 22 languages.
- First public talk: 1986, North London Collegiate School
- Countries visited for education tours: 32
- Schools addressed annually: 120+ at peak
- Honorary doctorates: 4
The Final Chapter
Despite failing health, Schloss finished a last set of student Zoom calls in March. According to her daughter, Karen, she joked, “I’m on overtime—Anne would have laughed.” She died Monday at her London home, surrounded by three generations.
Survivors are thinning; hatred is not. In the week of Schloss’s death, the UK reported a 25-percent spike in antisemitic incidents. Her parting plea, repeated in every appearance: “Don’t be a bystander.”
What Happens When Memory Has No Mouth?
With Schloss’s passing, only two of Anne Frank’s childhood acquaintances remain alive. Holocaust educators now face a future without first-hand witnesses, relying on recordings, holograms, and the moral imagination of those who never smelled the smoke.
Yet her final message, posted on Instagram just weeks ago, insists on continuity: “You are the witnesses now. Speak loudly—because I cannot forever.”