Eva Schloss Geiringer, stepdaughter of Anne Frank’s father, dead at age 96

Eva Schloss-Geiringer, the stepdaughter of Otto Frank and a Holocaust survivor, died Saturday at age 96 in her London home, the Anne Frank Foundation reported Sunday. Schloss-Geiringer survived Auschwitz and spent decades sharing her experiences from World War II with schools and communities worldwide.

Schloss-Geiringer was born in 1929 in Austria. Her family fled the country after Hitler annexed Austria in 1938 and moved to the Netherlands in 1940, settling at Merwedeplein in Amsterdam, across from Anne Frank’s home. The family fled into hiding in 1942, but a nurse working with the German occupiers betrayed them. On her fifteenth birthday in May 1944, Schloss-Geiringer and her family were deported to Auschwitz. Her father and brother were killed during the war.

After Auschwitz was liberated in January 1945, Schloss-Geiringer and her mother returned to the Netherlands. During the journey, they met Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father, who had lost his entire family in the Holocaust.

Frank encouraged Schloss-Geiringer to pursue photography and gave her his Leica camera. She later moved to London to study photography, where she met her husband, Zvi Schloss. They married in 1952. Zvi Schloss died nine years ago. Otto Frank married Schloss-Geiringer’s mother the following year, becoming her stepfather.

Schloss-Geiringer remained silent about her experiences for decades. In 1988, she spoke publicly for the first time when the Anne Frank exhibition traveled to London. She explained, “I spoke about it for the first time in 1988 when the Anne Frank exhibition came to London,” adding that she realized the world had “not learned any lessons from the war about persecution, racism, and intolerance, which still existed.”

In the following years, Schloss-Geiringer traveled globally to recount her story to schools, universities, and even prisons. The Anne Frank Foundation noted, “She did this in an openhearted and fearless way. Eva Schloss-Geiringer has meant a great deal to the Anne Frank Foundation. We could always rely on her.”

At age 88, Schloss-Geiringer returned to Amsterdam to commemorate Anne Frank’s 88th birthday, sharing her story with students at the Amsterdams Lyceum, her former school. She also spoke to students in California after a video surfaced showing pupils performing a Nazi salute and drinking from cups arranged in the shape of a swastika. After she told them about her experiences in Auschwitz, the students apologized. Schloss-Geiringer later said, “I think they learned a life lesson.”

British King Charles paid tribute on Instagram, writing, “My wife and I are deeply saddened by the passing of Eva Schloss. She remained committed to overcoming hatred and prejudice despite the terrible experiences she endured.”