‘This hatred has to stop.’ A survivor’s story

Mrs. Eva Schloss turned 90 years old this year. The story of what happened to her as a young girl betrays the likeliness of that longevity.

Schloss, born Eva Geiringer, was the happy child of a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria in 1938 when Nazi Germany invaded. After a series of disturbing events, including her first experiences of antisemitism, she and her family fled, first to Belgium then to the Netherlands.

The Geiringers found temporary relief in Amsterdam, where a young girl named Anne Frank befriended Eva.

In 1942, both girls and their families went into hiding. Both were betrayed, captured and sent to death camps. This recording contains the story of Eva’s experience there.

Schloss has told her story over a thousand times. It invites reflection, anger and disbelief concerning the human potential for extreme cruelty. It also invites hope, resistance to hate and the challenge to make a better world.

We present recordings from numerous gatherings on Speakers Forum. This one has the unique quality of nearly silencing everyone in attendance. Even the interviewer fell quiet. That is a tribute to the storyteller, but also the effect of the awful nature of her tale.

Schloss has devoted her life to holocaust education, global peace and the memory of Anne Frank. She is the author of “Eva's Story: A Survivor's Tale by the Stepsister of Anne Frank” and “After Auschwitz.”

Chabad at University of Washington hosted this event. Schloss spoke with UW President Ana Mari Cauce on November 5 at the Husky Union Building. KUOW’s Jennie Cecil Moore recorded the event.