{{Short description|Holocaust survivor (1929–2026)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = | honorific_suffix = MBE | image = Eva Schloss 5 (4x5 cropped).jpg | image_size = | alt = Head shot of Schloss smiling | caption = Schloss in 2010 | birth_name = Eva Geiringer | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1929|5|11}} | birth_place = Vienna, Austria | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2026|1|3|1929|5|11}} | death_place = London, England | death_cause = | citizenship = {{ubl|Austria|United Kingdom}} | alma_mater = University of Amsterdam | occupation = Memoirist | years_active = | employer = | known_for = Holocaust survivor | spouse = {{marriage|Zvi Schloss|1952|2016|reason=died}} | children = 3 | parents = Erich Geiringer (father)<br/>Elfriede Geiringer (mother)<br/>Otto Frank (stepfather) | relatives = Heinz Geiringer (brother) <br> Margot Frank (posthumous stepsister) <br> Anne Frank (posthumous stepsister) | website = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20191215140533/https://www.evaschloss.com/|evaschloss.com}} }}
'''Eva Schloss''' ({{nee|'''Geiringer'''}}; 11 May 1929 – 3 January 2026) was an Austrian Holocaust survivor, memoirist, and the stepdaughter of Otto Frank, the father of Margot and diarist Anne Frank. She spoke widely about her family's experiences during the Holocaust and participated in the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive, recording interactive video testimony for use in educational programmes.
==Early life== Eva Geiringer was born on 11 May 1929 in Vienna to a Jewish family.<ref>{{cite news |date=4 January 2026 |title=In memoriam – Eva Schloss-Geiringer |url=https://www.annefrank.org/en/about-us/news-and-press/news/2026/1/4/in-memoriam-eva-schloss-geiringer/ |work=Anne Frank House |access-date=4 January 2026}}</ref> She had an older brother, Heinz, born in 1926. Following the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938, the family left Vienna, first for Belgium and later for the Netherlands.<ref name="Geifman"/> In Amsterdam, they lived in a nearby apartment block to the Frank family—Otto and Edith Frank and their daughters, Margot and Anne – the latter also born 1929.<ref name="BBCOBIT" />
In 1942, both families went into hiding to escape the escalating persecution of Jews in the Netherlands.<ref name="Geifman" /> In May 1944, the Geiringers were betrayed by a double agent in the Dutch underground and arrested. They were deported to Auschwitz‑Birkenau, where Geiringer's father and brother died. She and her mother survived and were liberated by Soviet forces in 1945.<ref name="Geifman" />
After the war, they returned to Amsterdam. During this period, Geiringer and her mother renewed their acquaintance with Otto Frank, who was grieving the loss of his wife and daughters and coming to terms with the discovery of Anne's diary. In November 1953, Geiringer's mother, Elfriede (1905–1998), married Otto.<ref name="Geifman" />
== Post-war life and death == After the war, Geiringer resumed her education and later studied art history at the University of Amsterdam. She subsequently travelled to England, where she spent a year studying photography. During that period, she met Zvi Schloss, a Jewish refugee from Germany whose father had been imprisoned in Dachau and who had previously lived in Mandatory Palestine. They married soon afterwards, settled in England, and later became British citizens.<ref name=Austria>{{cite news |first=Sam |last=Francis |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-57518071 |title=Eva Schloss: 'Why I took Austrian citizenship aged 92' |publisher=BBC News |date=22 June 2021 |access-date=22 June 2021 }}</ref>
The couple had three daughters and made their home in London. Zvi died in 2016.<ref name="Austria" /><ref name="G 2013/apr/06">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/06/eva-schloss-anne-frank-stepsister |title=I've been haunted by Anne Frank's memory for so long |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Nick |last=Duerden |date=6 April 2013 |access-date=4 January 2026}}</ref>
In June 2021, Schloss became a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Austria, reclaiming Austrian citizenship as an act of reconciliation with her country of birth.<ref name=Austria/>
Schloss died in London on 3 January 2026, aged 96.<ref>{{cite web |title=In memoriam – Eva Schloss-Geiringer |url=https://www.annefrank.org/en/about-us/news-and-press/news/2026/1/4/in-memoriam-eva-schloss-geiringer/ |website=Anne Frank House |access-date=4 January 2026 |date=4 January 2026}}</ref> In a tribute, King Charles III said that he and Queen Camilla were "privileged and proud to have known her" and that they "admired her deeply".<ref name="BBCOBIT">{{cite news |last=Mackintosh |first=Thomas |date=4 January 2026 |title=Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss dies aged 96 as King leads tributes |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y45yxjn5ro |access-date=4 January 2026 |publisher=BBC News}}</ref>
==Outreach== thumb|Schloss with her mother in 1989
Schloss did not speak publicly about her experiences in Auschwitz‑Birkenau until after Otto's death in 1980. Having witnessed her stepfather's dedication to preserving Anne's memory, she felt a responsibility to continue that work.<ref name="G 2013/apr/06"/> She began sharing her family's experiences of the Holocaust at schools and universities,<ref name="af.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.annefrank.org.uk/bbcdrama/interviews-information/eva-schloss |title=Eva Schloss |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311132546/http://www.annefrank.org.uk/bbcdrama/interviews-information/eva-schloss|archive-date=11 March 2011|publisher=Anne Frank Trust UK}}</ref><ref name="Geifman">{{cite web |url=http://www.augustana.edu/x8973.xml |title=Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss to present Geifman Lecture in Holocaust Studies |publisher=Augustana College |date=5 May 2008 |access-date=9 August 2009 |last=Beattie|first=Kamy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111130546/http://www.augustana.edu/x8973.xml |archive-date=11 January 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and later became a co-founder of The Anne Frank Trust UK.<ref name=Austria/><ref name="af.org"/> Her story as a young Jewish girl persecuted under Nazism was also depicted in James Still's play ''And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Still |first=James |author-link=James Still (playwright) |year=1999 |title=And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank |url=http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/p64/And-Then-They-Came-for-Me:-Remembering-the-World-of-Anne-Frank/product_info.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928085013/http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/p64/And-Then-They-Came-for-Me:-Remembering-the-World-of-Anne-Frank/product_info.html |archive-date=28 September 2011 |url-status=dead |location=Woodstock, IL |publisher=Dramatic Publishing |isbn=0871299771 |oclc=44407330 |access-date=5 January 2025}} At the [https://archive.org/details/andthentheycamef0000stil/mode/2up Internet Archive] {{registration required}}.</ref><ref name="Geifman"/>
As part of wider efforts to preserve survivors' testimonies for future generations, Schloss participated in the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive. She recorded extensive interviews using holographic technology, enabling museum visitors to ask questions and receive recorded responses from her interactive hologram.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-42458023/auschwitz-survivor-eva-schloss-recorded-in-virtual-reality |title=Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss recorded in virtual reality |date=22 December 2017 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=26 December 2017}}</ref>
In March 2019, during a book tour in Orange County, California, United States, Schloss met with a group of students, parents, and staff from Newport Harbor High School. The visit followed the circulation of photographs showing local students giving Nazi salutes beside a swastika made from drinking cups at a party. Schloss spoke to them about her experiences during the Holocaust, when she had been close to their age, to help them understand the implications of the imagery they had used.<ref name="LAT 2019-03-07">{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-newport-nazi-party-anne-frank-20190307-story.html |title=O.C. teens involved in swastika party meet with Anne Frank's stepsister |last=Langhorne|first=Daniel |date=7 March 2019 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=9 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/stepsister-of-anne-frank-speaks-to-teens-who-played-nazi-themed-beer-pong/ |title=Stepsister of Anne Frank speaks to teens who played Nazi-themed beer pong |date=8 March 2019 |work=The Times of Israel |agency=Associated Press |access-date=10 March 2019}}</ref>
==Honours== Schloss received an honorary doctorate from Northumbria University in 2001.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1454237.stm |title=Auschwitz survivor receives degree |publisher=BBC News |date=24 July 2001 |access-date=4 January 2026}}</ref> She was appointed an MBE in the 2013 New Year's Honours,<ref name="mbe">{{cite news |date=3 January 2013 |title=Eva Schloss, Otto Frank's stepdaughter, awarded MBE in New Year's Honours |url=http://www.annefrank.org/en/News/News/2012/January/Eva-Schloss-Otto-Franks-stepdaughter-awarded-MBE-in-New-Years-Honours/ |access-date=9 November 2013 |publisher=Anne Frank Foundation}}</ref> and was later awarded the Medal for Services to the Republic of Austria when she resumed Austrian citizenship in 2021.<ref name=Austria/>
==Works== * ''Eva's Story: A Survivor's Tale, by the Stepsister of Anne Frank'' (1988), {{ISBN|978-0-9523716-9-4}}<ref name="G 2013/apr/06"/> * ''The Promise'' (2006), {{ISBN|978-0-14-132081-6}}<ref name="G 2013/apr/06"/> * ''After Auschwitz: My Memories of Otto and Anne Frank'' (2013), {{ISBN|978-1-4712-4433-9}}<ref name="G 2013/apr/06"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20131018013703/http://www.evaschloss.com/evaslife.htm Eva Schloss website] * [https://www.thejc.com/news/eva-schloss-is-using-her-experience-of-auschwitz-and-the-nazis-to-fight-knife-crime-urhae846 Candice Krieger: "Eva Schloss is using her experience of Auschwitz and the Nazis to fight knife crime"], ''The Jewish Chronicle'', 28 August 2008. * {{IMDb name| 1982271}}
{{Anne Frank}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schloss, Eva}} Category:1929 births Category:2026 deaths Category:20th-century Austrian women writers Category:20th-century Austrian writers Category:21st-century Austrian women writers Category:Anne Frank Category:Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Category:Austrian Jews Category:British Jews Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Category:Writers from London Category:Writers from Vienna