Meeting with Eva Schloss Holocaust survivor and stepsister to Anne Frank
I often speak about seeds sown in childhood and being surprised when the flower appears in adulthood.
As a young child I heard a lot about Anne Frank and her diary, my older sister had a copy of it which lay around the house. I never did get to read the book though even as a child I was taken by a young girl being killed by the Nazis and her diary being found which gave an account of the period in which she was in hiding in Amsterdam.
Around five years ago, not intentionally, while holidaying in Wassenaar we visited Amsterdam and got to visit Anne Frank’s house. There was a connection between her book being in my childhood home and now standing in the house in which she hid.
Then a week ago I got a mailshot informing me that Eva Schloss would be speaking at an event in London, the summary informed me Eva Schloss was the stepsister of Anne Frank. I must admit I was surprised, I had assumed that all the family had died in the Holocaust. I was to be reminded that her father Otto survived and later married Eva’s mother.
I thought again of the book in my childhood home and then the more recent visit to Anne Frank’s house and thought if things come together I think I must meet Eva Schloss. I didn’t book a ticket until lunchtime today as the thought stayed with me and when that happens it is a sign I should take the opportunity.
I took the opportunity and after Eva spoke for an hour I was privileged to speak with her and thank her for the hope that she gave.
The Guardian has recently featured her in the article below.
Perhaps at another time, I will write of what she shared though for the moment the reality of the Holocaust which first appeared in a book in my childhood home and then in Amsterdam came full circle with meeting with a survivor who became posthumously the stepsister of the little girl who didn’t survive though who lives on in the name of Anne Frank.
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