Holocaust, Eva Schloss dies at 96: stepsister of Anne Frank

London (United Kingdom), Jan. 5 (LaPresse/AP) – Eva Schloss has died. A survivor of Auschwitz and stepsister of Anne Frank, the diarist and tireless advocate on the horrors of the Holocaust, she passed away at the age of 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, announced her death on Saturday in London, where she lived. King Charles III of England said he felt “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, co-founder of the charity that helps young people fight prejudice. “The horrors she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend, yet she dedicated 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 Holocaust education worldwide,” the King said. Born Eva Geiringer in Vienna in 1929, Schloss fled with her family to Amsterdam after Austria’s annexation by Nazi Germany. She became friends with another Jewish girl of the same age, Anne Frank, whose diary would become one of the most famous chronicles of the Holocaust. Like the Franks, Eva’s family spent two years in hiding to avoid capture after the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. They were eventually betrayed, arrested, and sent to the Auschwitz extermination camp. Schloss and her mother, Fritzi, survived until the camp was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945.