King Charles has paid tribute to Anne Frank’s stepsister, Eva Schloss, who has died at the age of 96.
The king, who danced with Schloss while visiting a Jewish community centre in north London in 2022, said he and Queen Camilla had “admired her deeply” and he was “privileged and proud” to have known her.
Schloss’s death was confirmed on Saturday in a tribute to her in the Jewish News, in which her family described their “great sadness” at the loss of “our dear mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother”.
She was co-founder and honorary president of the Anne Frank Trust, of which the queen is patron.
In a statement, the king said: “My wife and I are greatly saddened to hear of the death of Eva Schloss.
“The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding and resilience through her tireless work for the Anne Frank Trust UK and for Holocaust education across the world.
“We are both privileged and proud to have known her, and we admired her deeply. May her memory be a blessing to us all.
“Charles R.”
Schloss grew up under the name Eva Geiringer in Vienna with her parents and brother.
She later lived at Merwedeplein Square in Amsterdam where she met fellow teenager Anne Frank.
As the situation in the Netherlands worsened, Schloss and her family moved from house to house for two years to evade capture but they were eventually betrayed by a Nazi sympathiser, who took them in then gave them away.
On her 15th birthday they were arrested, brutally interrogated and, in May 1944, forced on to trains to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
Schloss and her mother were subsequently separated from her father and brother.
During their three-day journey to Auschwitz, her brother Heinz told her that he and their father, Erich, had hidden 30 of his paintings under the floorboards of the attic.
The siblings’ story was the subject of an exhibition put together at the Jewish Museum in London in 2017.
Schloss later moved to England and lived in London for more than 70 years.
The Auschwitz survivor got married in 1952 to Zvi Schloss and the couple had three daughters: Jacky, Caroline and Sylvia.
When her mother, Elfriede, married Anne Frank’s father, Otto, in 1953, Schloss became Anne Frank’s stepsister.
In 2017, Schloss told the Guardian: “Anne was much more mature and grown-up than me. She attended the Montessori school and was an academic year ahead of me. I went to an ordinary local school.”
In 2021, aged 92, Schloss once again became a citizen of Austria, the country of her birth.
In their tribute, her family said: “We hope her legacy will continue to inspire through the books, films and resources she leaves behind.
“We are incredibly proud of all that Eva stood for and accomplished, but right now, we are grieving.”
Dan Green, chief executive of the Anne Frank Trust, described Schloss as “a beacon of hope and resilience”, adding: “Her unwavering commitment to challenging prejudice through Holocaust education has left an indelible mark on countless lives.
“Her legacy will continue to guide and empower young people to build a world free from hatred and discrimination.
“We at the Anne Frank Trust mourn her loss deeply and extend our heartfelt condolences to her family and friends during this difficult time.”
