Eva Schloss, an Auschwitz survivor who devoted her life to Holocaust education and remembrance, and the step-sister of famed diarist Anne Frank, passed away on Sunday at the age of 96, her foundation announced. Her death marks the loss of a powerful voice who spent decades educating younger generations about the horrors of genocide and the importance of peace.

Her family expressed “great sadness” at the passing of a “remarkable woman — an Auschwitz survivor, a devoted Holocaust educator, tireless in her work for remembrance, understanding and peace”.

A life shaped by the Holocaust

Born Eva Geiringer in Austria in 1929, Schloss was a teenager when Nazi Germany invaded her homeland. Her Jewish family fled first to Belgium and later to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where they lived opposite the home of Anne Frank.

Eva and Anne were the same age and often played together as children. From 1942 onwards, both families were forced into hiding. In 1944, Eva, her parents and her brother were betrayed by a Nazi sympathiser and arrested on her fifteenth birthday. They were deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp in May that year.

Eva survived the camp alongside her mother, Elfriede, but her father and brother were murdered during the Holocaust.

New life and lasting mission

After liberation in 1945, Eva moved to London to study, where she met her future husband, Zvi Schloss. Her mother later married Otto Frank, making Eva Anne Frank’s step-sister.

Settling in the United Kingdom, Eva Schloss became a British citizen and went on to raise three daughters. In 1990, she co-founded the Anne Frank Trust UK to educate young people about the Holocaust and challenge prejudice.

She authored several books and travelled worldwide sharing her testimony, becoming one of the most respected voices in Holocaust education.

Tributes from royalty and beyond

Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla, patron of the Anne Frank Trust UK, said they were “greatly saddened” by her death, calling it a privilege to have known her.

Eva Schloss was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2013 for her services to Holocaust education.