Eva Schloss (1929–2026)

After Auschwitz is all about the life Eva, her brother Heinz, her parents and other relatives lived before and after the Holocaust. In Vienna they were happy and participated in work, school, friendships, community until the nazis invaded. Things went bad quickly. For Eva being rejected by friends and neighbors she had grown up with hurt the most. Fortunately, her parents did everything they could to keep Eva and Heinz motivated, distracted, protected and comforted. Because Heinz was more show more intellectual than Eva, he was able to keep busy painting, writing, and learning. Eva was into being outdoors and doing sports but as a Jew she was restricted and had to keep a very low profile. She describes her irritability and anger because of this.

After Auschwitz is different than other Holocaust memoirs. I found it to be more honest and transparent about her life, and about her parents, and brother, and her stepfather, Otto Frank. In her book no one is perfect; okay, maybe Eva does describe Heinz, her older brother as kind, smart, outstanding and immensely talented. She discusses possible affairs her parents may have had with others which shocked me. I wasn't expecting that level of openness.

She mentions names I never heard of: Vienna's Mayor Karl Lueger who did lots of good for the city, but when life was harsh the Jews were handy scapegoats. George von Schonerer promoted 'Germany for Germans;' he felt Jews, Slavs and Czechs were inferiors. hitler was motivated and compelled by these antisemitic tropes. In 1934 Engelbert Dollfuss set up a fascist regime and tried protecting Jews from anti-Semitism but nazis killed him and took over Vienna, allowing Germany to march in and take control.

Soon after Eva and her family arrived in Belgium Justice Minister Charles de Bus du Warnaffe revoked welcome to Jews, saying that all of Europe had a problem with Jews. He outrageously considered Jews dishonorable!! I also didn't know that the nazis bombed Haifa because they wanted oil and access to the Nile Delta.

Eva goes on to write about how their lives changed drastically because they had to relocate many times in order to stay ahead of the nazis. They needed to learn the language of each new country, and had to deal with poor housing, little food, and being separated for long periods of time. Eventually their luck runs out, and they are betrayed to the nazis who capture them sending them to the unfathomable hell of Auschwitz. Eva and Mutti took care of each other, and fortunately their friend, Minni, a nurse, helped save their lives a few times when they became sick.

Eva describes the end of the war when the nazis increased their rate of murder of Jews in an attempt to remove any witnesses to their brutality and greed, war crimes and genocide of millions. It was at this time that Pappy and Heinz were taken out of Auschwitz along with thousands of others on a forced march which deliberately ended with the deaths of starving, freezing, sick, weak men and women.

Russian soldiers free Eva and her mother, feed them and house them until they could travel back to Amsterdam. They slowly try to recreate their lives but are devastated to learn what happened to Pappy and Heinz and many others. Despite Eva's depression, Mutti pushes her to engage in life. The two avoid talking about their immense loss and grief. They move forward finding jobs, and husbands, and purpose.

Eva becomes a wife, a photographer, a mother, and slowly regains her confidence. She loves spending time with her mother now married to Anne Frank's father, Otto. Mutti and Otto are very loving and supportive of Eva and her young, energetic daughters. But the Franks are also busy with the details of publishing Anne's diary and opening a museum house in her honor. And answering thousands of letter from people around the globe. Eva admits to being frustrated that her mother is deeply in love with Otto, as well fully committed to his work bringing his daughter's words to life, and to millions of readers. Didn't Mutti love Pappy as deeply?

Over time Eva commits her time and effort to the Anne Frank endeavors, the diary, the house museum, plays as well as speaking engagement around the world. She also helps to care for her mother after Otto dies from cancer.

A heartbreaking, moving and extraordinary memoir. show less

Moving and sad about Eva Schloss' happy and fulfilling life with her mother, father, and older brother Heinz in Vienna; as well as a loving and talented extended family. But then hitler invades many countries establishing anti-Jewish policies and laws. The family loses their income and must move to Brussels and Amsterdam to survive.

Life for Jews and other maligned groups becomes painfully difficult each day. Some are fortunate to be able to leave Europe behind, and sail to England or the show more US. Many families go into hiding where their movements are limited. Eva and her family hide with friendly non-Jews but young Eva suffers from the restrictions, insufficient food, and lack of friends and physical activity.

At age 15 she and her family are tragically captured by the nazis and taken to Auschwitz where they do anything they can to survive. The prisoners help each other as much as possible. Eva's mother gives Eva her own food to keep Eva alive. But then its Eva's turn to help her mother survive. They both do.

Among the 6m Jews murdered by the nazis were Eva's kind, smart optimistic father, and incredibly curious, gifted and loving brother. Such an enormous waste of brilliant lives.

Eva's mother goes on to marry Otto Frank, Anne Frank's father. After many years Eva finds her voice and tells the world about her experiences.

Excellent read. show less

This is one of those books that everyone should read. It is not enjoyable obviously due to the subject matter, but it is so important that everyone knows what happened so as to prevent it happening again.

Eva fled to Amsterdam with her family when the Germans invaded Austria, living on the same estate as Anne Frank and her family. Although she knew Anne, I believe they did not know each other well. The story follows Eva and her mother as they go into hiding separately from her brother and show more father. It goes on to follow the betrayal of their hiding places which resulted in them being sent to Auschwitz when Eva was 15. Eva was fortunate in that, despite a couple of short periods, she was not separated from her mother. Eva was also lucky in some respects as she had a cousin who was working as a nurse in the camp. This saved her mother from the gas chamber and ultimately helped the pair of them survive (barely) until the liberation of the camp. The story does not, however, finish there, but follows the pair as they are transported from the camp, eventually finding their way back to their home in Amsterdam. Sadly, Eva's father and brother did not survive.

Whilst at Auschwitz, Eva and her mother realised that Otto Frank was also there. After they had returned to Amsterdam, Otto and Eva's mother became friends through sharing their experiences together. They eventually married, making Eva the posthumous step-sister of Anne Frank. show less

This is the autobiography of Eva Schloss, a young Austrian Jew who knew Anne Frank in Amsterdam after they all ended up there in the late 1930s. She survived Auschwitz with her mother Fritzi; her father Erich and brother Heinz died in Mauthausen after being forcibly marched there after Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army in January 1945. After the war they returned to Amsterdam, where her mother married Otto Frank in 1953, while she had moved to London. Only a small proportion of the show more book deals with her horrific experiences in Auschwitz; the bulk of it deals with her post-war life, her and her mother's attempts to build a new life, while coping with the psychological stress and depression of coming to terms with the fact that Erich and Heinz would never return. Latterly, since the 1980s, Eva was one of the founders and has been an ongoing inspirational light of the Anne Frank Trust, which campaigns against all forms of prejudice by working with schools, prisons and others. Hers is an example of a life dedicated to trying to ensure that such horrors are not repeated, whatever the underlying prejudice in a particular incidence. show less