Holocaust Survivor and Anne Frank Stepsister Eva Schloss Dies at 96

Eva Schloss, a Holocaust survivor who became the posthumous stepsister of diarist Anne Frank and dedicated her life to educating the world about the horrors of the genocide, has died. She was 96.

Her death was confirmed by the Anne Frank Trust UK, an educational charity she supported [42086]. Schloss passed away on Sunday, according to announcements from her foundation and family [41722][41612].

Born in Vienna in 1929, Schloss fled with her family to Amsterdam after the Nazi annexation of Austria. There, she befriended a young girl named Anne Frank [42086][41505]. In 1942, after Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands, both families went into hiding to escape persecution [42086].

They were discovered in 1944 and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Schloss and her mother survived the camp's brutal conditions, but her father and brother did not [42086]. Anne Frank died in the Bergen-Belsen camp in 1945 [42086].

After the war, Schloss’s mother, Elfriede Geiringer, married Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank, in 1953 [41722]. This union made Eva the stepsister of the young diarist whose writings would become one of the most poignant accounts of the Holocaust [41989].

Schloss dedicated her later decades to ensuring the memories of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis were not forgotten. She authored three books and became a renowned public speaker, traveling the world to share her personal story [42086][41722]. She urged tolerance and warned new generations about the dangers of hatred and antisemitism [41989].

Britain's King Charles III led tributes, stating he was "privileged and proud" to have known Schloss, whom he and Queen Camilla "admired deeply" [41505][41514]. The King had met and danced with Schloss at a London event in 2022 [41612].

Her family remembered her as a "remarkable woman" whose tireless work promoted "remembrance, understanding and peace" [41722][41612].