Memorial Page for Eva Schloss (née Eva Geiringer)

Eva Schloss, born Eva Geiringer (11 May 1929 in Vienna; died 3 January 2026 in London), was an Austrian-British witness, author and educator. She survived Auschwitz, became Anne Frank's stepsister after the war through her mother's marriage to Otto Frank, and later spoke for decades to young people about persecution, antisemitism and responsibility.

Vienna, flight and Amsterdam

Eva Geiringer was born in Vienna. After Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany, her Jewish family was in immediate danger. After several moves, she arrived in Amsterdam in February 1940 with her parents Erich and Elfriede, known as Fritzi, and her brother Heinz. At Merwedeplein the family lived opposite the Frank family. Eva knew Anne Frank from the neighbourhood; the two girls were almost the same age and played with other children on the square.

Hiding, betrayal and Auschwitz

In 1942 the Geiringer family went into hiding after Heinz was ordered to report for work in Germany. They lived underground for two years. A Dutch nurse who collaborated with the Nazis betrayed the family. On 11 May 1944, Eva's fifteenth birthday, she was deported to Auschwitz. Eva and her mother survived; her father Erich and her brother Heinz were murdered.

After liberation

On 27 January 1945 Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet army. Eva and Fritzi returned to the Netherlands after a long journey and also met Otto Frank again, who had survived as well. Otto Frank became a close friend to Eva and later her stepfather. With his Leica camera she went to London to study photography. There she met Zvi Schloss, whom she married in 1952. In 1953 Fritzi Geiringer married Otto Frank.

Silence and public testimony

For many years Schloss hardly spoke publicly about Auschwitz. Only in the 1980s did she begin to tell her story regularly. An Anne Frank exhibition in London became a turning point. Afterward she spoke in schools, universities, prisons and at international events. In 1990 she was one of the co-founders of the Anne Frank Trust UK. Her testimony was closely tied to education: remembrance of the past and work against antisemitism, racism and dehumanization in the present.

Books, testimony and Heinz Geiringer

Schloss published memoirs including Eva's Story and later After Auschwitz. In 1996 she gave a video testimony for the USC Shoah Foundation. Eva's Promise also brought her brother Heinz into focus. During the persecution he had hidden paintings and poems; after the war Eva fulfilled the promise to recover those works. She later donated thirty paintings by Heinz to the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam.

Farewell

Eva Schloss died in London on 3 January 2026 at the age of 96. The Anne Frank House and the Anne Frank Trust UK remembered her decades of work in education and against prejudice. Her life remains connected with Anne Frank, but it also carries a voice of its own: that of a woman who was silent for a long time and later used her experience to bring historical knowledge and human responsibility close to young people.