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Holocaust survivor shares story
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .As Eva Schloss shared her life story during an Oct. 19 discussion at Boardman Barnes and Noble, she shared photos documenting her life and experiences. She displayed a photo of a hiding place she and her family used as they attempted to escape Nazi capture.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss discussed her experiences during an Oct. 19 presentation at Boardman Barnes and Noble, and stressed that our current generation has the power to create a better world than the one in which she grew up.
By SARAH FOOR
Holocaust survivor and author Eva Schloss visited Boardman Barnes and Noble on the evening of Oct. 19 to share her story with a crowd of educators as well as readers young and old.
Based on her book “Eva’s Story,” Schloss shared the tale of her life, beginning with her birth in Austria and her family’s moves to Belgium and to Holland in 1938 as their feared for their lives on the cusp of World War II.
Schloss and her family found a temporary safe haven in Amsterdam, where they met Otto Frank and his family, including his young daughter, Anne Frank.
Schloss shared with the crowd how life changed when Germany invaded Holland in 1942 and hordes of Jewish families went into hiding.
“It was a scary place, because no one could be trusted. To go into hiding, you have to not exist to the outside world while still being very much alive. As a child, I was full of energy and vigor, and staying inside in complete silence was very difficult. But it became so much harder in the years that followed,” Schloss shared.
The survivor then shared how her family was discovered and sent to Auchwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where she would eventually lose her father and brother and fear for months that she had lost her mother.
“We survived because we never gave up hope, but much of it was also pure luck – a fact that I still find disturbing. Survival meant finding the one scrap of food to keep you going of having a guard who wasn’t too evil that day,” Schloss said.
Schloss and her mother were freed by Russian liberators and happily reunited. In the years that followed, Schloss’s mother found happiness with Otto Frank, making Schloss the posthumous step-sister of Anne Frank.
Schloss said she shares her story in hopes that history won’t repeat itself.
“I’ve been telling my story for 20 years now, so that this generation of children can lead us into a better future. I think that strong kids, strong families and great guidance can save us from so many of the evils in the world,” Schloss stated.