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Archive: A Historic Evening with Eva Schloss, Stepsister of Anne Frank — Transcript

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0:06Hello everyone.
0:07Um my name is Alex. I'm a senior here at
0:10the University of Washington and my
0:12grandmother was a Holocaust survivor.
0:15After being liberated from
0:17Bergen-Belsen, she immigrated to New
0:19York City to start a new life.
0:22Rabbi Mendel
0:23asked me to open the evening and to give
0:25my perspective on how this tragedy that
0:28happened all the way back in the 1940s
0:31still holds so much significance for us
0:33today.
0:34Before I do that, I'd like to thank
0:36Rabbi Mendel and Miriam for all their
0:38support with Chabad here at the
0:40University of Washington.
0:42Chabad hosts many events for us from
0:45dinners every Shabbat dinners every
0:47Friday to celebrating the other Jewish
0:49holidays.
0:50Chabad is my home away from home. It's a
0:53welcoming place for me for anything.
0:56From moral support to a place to hang
0:58out to delicious food.
1:00I believe that Chabad is important
1:03because it helps us continue our Jewish
1:05culture despite the troubles of our
1:07times.
1:09Today
1:10a lot of hate still exists.
1:13And evil still targets us. Still in
1:16Hitler's name.
1:17And the very best thing that we can do
1:20is to still be here.
1:22And we will be here.
1:24And we will be proudly Jewish.
1:27Chabad makes this possible for people
1:29like myself here at the University of
1:30Washington.
1:33Next, I would like to touch on why I
1:35feel it's so important for us to host
1:36this event and the reason that I think
1:39all of you came here today.
1:41I'm sure most of us have heard the
1:42quote, "Those who cannot remember the
1:44past are condemned to repeat it."
1:47But this rings true in our world every
1:49day.
1:51Many people dismiss the Holocaust as the
1:53nadir of humanity.
1:55But in doing so, we're turning our backs
1:58on the inhumanities of our modern day.
2:02The Holocaust is a critical piece of
2:03history because it teaches us about the
2:06atrocities that we, human beings, are
2:09capable of, not just 75 years ago, but
2:12now.
2:14We can never assume that history cannot
2:16repeat itself. We must always be
2:18cognizant of current events and can
2:21never become complacent with today's
2:23news.
2:24Unfortunately, many parallels to the
2:27Holocaust still exist today.
2:29Recently, we've seen an increase in hate
2:31crimes, including a significant rise in
2:34anti-Semitism.
2:36So, to be here and be part of this event
2:39of human history
2:40helps us prepare to make our future a
2:42better place.
2:44My grandmother always looked at me,
2:46smiled, and proudly proclaimed, "Here's
2:48proof that Hitler lost."
2:51So, I say this,
2:52you being here tonight,
2:55celebrating tolerance,
2:56acceptance, and the humanity that we all
2:59share
3:00is proof that Hitler did, in fact, lose.
3:04Evil has no chance as long as we're here
3:07together.
3:09Thank you all for coming and thank you
3:11for having me speak to you.
3:13I'd like to thank and call up to the
3:14stage tonight's presenting sponsor,
3:16Michelle Barnett of Stay Pineapple.
3:19Thank you.
3:30Wow, there's a lot of people here and
3:32this is phenomenal. I'd like to extend a
3:34very, very warm welcome and a big thank
3:37you to everyone for coming tonight. Stay
3:40Pineapple Hotels is so honored to have
3:44partnered with the University of
3:45Washington in this what is promising to
3:48be an extraordinary evening and a
3:50wonderful conversation.
3:53I thought I would share a really quick
3:54story with you all. I wouldn't want to
3:56bore you, so I think that it sort of is
3:59reflective of why
4:01conversations like this evening hold
4:04such power for my family and for our
4:06company because awareness raising that
4:10is what we must do. That's our
4:12responsibility. So, on a lighter note,
4:15in 2013,
4:17I had a little boy who was born in 2000
4:20who in 2013 was going to have a bar
4:21mitzvah. We started arranging his bar
4:24mitzvah and we thought, "Well, what if
4:27we had it at the Western Wall in
4:28Jerusalem? Wouldn't that be special?"
4:30So, planned a trip, off we went in May
4:33of 2013.
4:34And we had a wonderful time. For those
4:36of you that have or from Israel, have
4:38been to Israel, you know what an
4:40extraordinary trip it always is, always
4:42different. Max had never been, so we had
4:46a great time. We went and we
4:48uh had the ceremony. It was phenomenal.
4:50It was a beautiful moment. Family was
4:52there and then we went and we floated in
4:55the Dead Sea. Actually, Max pushed me
4:57over to make sure that you could float
4:59before he went in.
5:01But, you know, that's what you are when
5:03you're 13. And then, actually, karma
5:06came back because Max wrote a camel
5:08named Mazel who spit at him. So, it was
5:11all good. We played on the beach. We ate
5:14falafel. We had a wonderful time. And
5:16then, on the itinerary of the 2-week
5:18trip, came in came up Yad Vashem.
5:22It was time to go visit the Holocaust
5:24Museum.
5:25So, we got there and I have been through
5:27it before as well as my family had
5:30except Max had not. So, we're halfway
5:32through the museum and for those of you
5:34that know the museum, you know how
5:35somber and
5:38powerful is I guess the best word for
5:40it. About half back couple hours in and
5:43there's no Max.
5:45And I can't find Max.
5:47So, I look all over the museum and I go
5:50back in the corner and there is this
5:53man-child
5:55wide-eyed and wet-eyed.
5:59And he stared at me and I think at that
6:00point he was only 6 ft, wasn't 6 3 yet.
6:05And he said, "Mom, how could this have
6:06happened?"
6:09And I stared at him and I I said, "I
6:12don't know.
6:13I I I I don't know.
6:16But we have a responsibility to be here
6:19and for you to tell your children and
6:21the children beyond that.
6:23But I don't have any answers for you,
6:25love. And in that moment, I think truly
6:28the right of passage a boy became a man
6:32and his heart broke.
6:33We finished the museum and as most of
6:36you in your mind's eye who have been
6:38there or if you haven't been there, make
6:40a trip.
6:41Close your eyes and as you leave Yad
6:43Vashem, you had there's an austere wall,
6:46sort of cement. I can see it in my mind.
6:49And on that wall is it the letters are
6:51the words never forget
6:54never again.
6:57And Max and I stood there and we read
6:58that.
7:00And it was really really powerful. Here
7:03was this child who had grown up in Sam
7:06Amash with the Holocaust as a
7:08conversation around a Jewish table.
7:11Uh he'd gone to wonderful schools. He'd
7:13learned about it in the pages of books.
7:15Nothing
7:17was as searing as being immersed in it.
7:20So, that's why we're so pleased and so
7:23honored to be here tonight and to
7:25support this community event, to work
7:28with the university and work with Ava
7:30and allow us this treasure
7:33to immerse ourselves and hear the story
7:36so that never we never forget
7:39and never again to anyone.
7:42So, on that note, I'm going to introduce
7:45Rabbi
7:46and it's my pleasure to introduce Rabbi
7:49Mendel Weingarten, the co-director of
7:52Chabad. My New York Jewish friends will
7:54be so proud of me for saying Chabad like
7:55that. Uh the organization the
7:58organization um hosting tonight's event
8:00and commonly referred to as the home
8:03away from home for every Jewish Husky.
8:07Rabbi?
8:27Wow.
8:28Wow.
8:30To fill this room
8:32was a dream
8:34and a vision
8:36that we took on 5 months ago.
8:39Eva,
8:40what you see here tonight
8:42is in your honor, to your credit, and
8:45you absolutely deserve it.
8:55We did not get here on our own,
8:58nor could we have.
9:00A huge thank you goes to the heroes of
9:03tonight.
9:04Let's hear it for the University of
9:06Washington student body.
9:14Each and every one of our sponsors, Stay
9:17Pineapple, Volvo Cars Seattle, Volvo
9:20Cars Bellevue, BECU, Wells Fargo, WSECU,
9:26the McGill family and the Restivo
9:29family.
9:36Please join me in welcoming the provost
9:39of the University of Washington, Dr.
9:41Mark Richards, and his wife, Dr. Sarah
9:43Nurnberg.
9:50The earliest fans and supporters of
9:52Chabad University of Washington are here
9:54with us tonight. Please recognize Rabbi
9:57and Mrs. Levetan and the representing
9:59Chabad Shluchim from throughout the city
10:01and state.
10:08I knew it was a stretch
10:10when I invited President Cauce to lead
10:13tonight's conversation.
10:15Let me publicly state,
10:17I am so happy and proud that you
10:20accepted this honor and worked the
10:22miracles it took to fit this into your
10:24very tight schedule.
10:33A timely and relevant story.
10:36In September of 2003,
10:39the Polish government
10:41held an event
10:42to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the
10:46Polish Air Force.
10:48They invited many countries, Israel
10:51among them,
10:52to send contingents of jets from their
10:55own air forces
10:57to take part in the festivities.
11:00As a precondition to their
11:02participation,
11:03the Israeli Air Force insisted
11:06that their contingent's itinerary
11:08include a flyover above the Auschwitz
11:11concentration camps.
11:14Upon hearing this demand,
11:16the Polish curators of the Auschwitz
11:18Museum vehemently objected.
11:21What?
11:23Send these loud, deafening military
11:25aircraft over Auschwitz?
11:28This is totally inappropriate,
11:30disrespectful, and irreverent.
11:33It's disturbance of the peace and quiet
11:36of this very solemn place.
11:38You can't make this stuff up.
11:40The Polish authorities telling Israel
11:43what the appropriate manner is for
11:45paying tribute to the memory of the 6
11:47million.
11:49The Israelis were determined and the
11:51Poles relented.
11:53On that incredible day,
11:55a contingent of Israeli F-15 fighter
11:59jets,
12:00each of them piloted by children and
12:02grandchildren of Holocaust survivors,
12:06took off
12:07towards the sacred, haunted, and
12:10dreadful resting place
12:11of their parents and grandparents.
12:15In the cockpits,
12:16these crew members carried with them
12:19the names of all those recorded,
12:22murdered at Auschwitz.
12:25The jets, proudly displaying the blue
12:28star of David,
12:29flew towards the concentration camps as
12:32slowly as possible,
12:34following the railroad tracks leading
12:36into the camps and crematoriums.
12:39And then peeled away with a tremendous
12:41roar.
12:43No,
12:44it was not a quiet tribute to the
12:46millions who perished, nor was it meant
12:49to be.
12:50In the words of the Israeli ambassador
12:52to Poland, Shevah Weiss,
12:54"This quiet had to be disturbed, and it
12:57had to be disturbed by the roar of
12:59Israeli F-15 fighter jets."
13:03Today,
13:04once again,
13:05the world is being filled with hatred,
13:09animosity, and brutality.
13:12In living memory of the Holocaust,
13:15anti-Semitism is sharply on the rise.
13:20Silence is not an option.
13:23The deafening silence of passivity must
13:26be broken with a roar of moral courage.
13:30I must speak up. You must raise your
13:33voice, and together we must take a
13:36stance.
13:38This is what President Cauce does.
13:42This is what Eva Schloss does.
13:44And this, my friends, is what we must
13:47do.
13:57Please join me in welcoming University
14:00of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce
14:04and the star of tonight's evening,
14:08Eva Schloss, champion of Holocaust
14:12education.
14:40I just want I just want to very briefly
14:43say what a great pleasure it is to
14:45welcome you all to what really is a
14:48once-in-a-lifetime event.
14:50Before we begin, I want to thank Rabbi
14:52Mendel Weingarten and Miriam Weingarten
14:55and Habad UW who made this event
14:57possible, as well as our event sponsors
15:00including Michelle Barnett of State of
15:03State Pineapple. And I've stayed with
15:05them in San Francisco. They're a great
15:06great chain.
15:08Um
15:10I also want to thank all the student
15:12volunteers, especially the student in
15:14charge, Levi Men, for his tireless work
15:18to make this event a success.
15:25Our great public university is driven by
15:27our mission of impact to leave the world
15:31better than we found it. You know that
15:34I'm a very, very optimistic person. And
15:37usually when you hear me talk, it's
15:40about how we can build on our common
15:43humanity. And that is absolutely what
15:47I'm about, what this university is
15:49about, what Eva is about, but we also
15:53need to be a convener of some
15:56conversations that are quite frankly
15:59difficult. And that's part of our
16:01mission as well.
16:03And we must as a university, as
16:07individuals, as a society, we must
16:11confront the unimaginable horror of the
16:14Holocaust if we are to prevent it from
16:17happening again. Let's not one moment
16:20forget that this could happen again if
16:24we are not vigilant.
16:27By telling her story, Eva has inspired
16:30countless people to work for a more
16:32tolerant, inclusive world. And I hope
16:35that all of you will take a piece of
16:37that inspiration, that we'll all take
16:39that with us tonight.
16:41Her life story is both painful and
16:45powerful. And I know on that I speak for
16:48all of us when I say how grateful the UW
16:51is to get to hear her story and learn
16:54from her life's journey. Her message,
16:57quite frankly, is more important now
17:00than it has ever been, at least in my
17:02lifetime. So, Eva, thank you so much for
17:05being here tonight.
17:13Thank you very much.
17:19Mr. Chancellor again.
17:21Oh, dear.
17:22So, people
17:24um No, it's on still.
17:26It's on. Okay. Yeah, I think it's okay.
17:27Can you all hear me?
17:29Yes.
17:30Well, thank you very, very much for
17:31coming, everybody. Um I hope we'll have
17:35a good debate and um I'll tell you my
17:38story. And um yes, it is um like I've
17:42heard, it is very, very important not to
17:44forget and not to repeat this. So, can
17:47you tell us a little bit about your
17:48story and why it's so important to you
17:51to be telling it now?
17:55Oh.
17:56Um
17:58Well, um I was brought up in Vienna, a
18:01beautiful city, a beautiful country,
18:04and um in a lovely family. And this is
18:08really what gave me the basis of a good
18:11um
18:12um
18:13uh life.
18:15And um but suddenly, all this collapsed
18:19when in 1938,
18:21the Nazis, without any warning, um
18:24occupied Austria.
18:26Um we had many Christian friends. You
18:29know, at that time, you didn't kind of
18:32ask what what what nationality have you,
18:35where you come from. Um Austria used to
18:38be a big, big empire. It lost all this
18:41in the First World War. And so, there
18:44was a big mixture of people living in
18:46Vienna.
18:47The emperor, Franz Joseph, he actually
18:51encouraged Jewish people to come to
18:54Vienna. So, there was highly cultured
18:57country with a lot of um art and uh
19:01theater and um all kind of
19:04new art systems were uh developed in the
19:07Western um before it was as there. Um it
19:11was really one of the most cultured
19:14country in Europe.
19:16And, um,
19:17the Nazis were going to destroy all
19:19this.
19:20Um, in Austria, you had to have uh
19:23religious education in school. In
19:26America, you don't have that. So, um,
19:28the Jewish children were called out in
19:31the from their class and we went into a
19:33different classroom. We had um
19:36Bible stories, a little bit of Hebrew,
19:39some Hebrew songs, but as well the
19:41festivals we learned. And, um,
19:44so we went home to our parents and
19:46wanted um to to celebrate all those uh
19:50wonderful festivals as well. So, school
19:52teaching the children, we really got our
19:56parents more interested again in the
19:58religion. And, um,
20:01so everybody knew in school um who was a
20:04Jew. And as soon as the Nazis had come
20:07in, I experienced for the very first
20:10time anti-Semitism.
20:12My brother, too, he was 12 years old. He
20:15came home the next day after the Nazis
20:18had come in.
20:20And, um, his clothes were torn. His bla-
20:23his face was full of blood. He looked
20:26terrible.
20:27And when my parents questioned him,
20:29"What on earth has happened to you?" He
20:32said, "My own friends did that and the
20:34teachers just watched it happening."
20:38Um, me, too. My best friend was a
20:40Catholic girl on the way home and
20:42usually stopped off there to play. But
20:45the next day, the um when I got there, I
20:49could see the mother looked very very
20:51cross at me.
20:52And, um,
20:54I didn't feel guilty because we hadn't a
20:56quarrel. And the mother said, "We never
20:59want to see you here again." And she
21:01slammed the door in my face.
21:03I went crying home and I said to my
21:06mother, "We didn't have a quarrel. Why
21:09is all this happening?" And my mother
21:11explained, "For Jewish people, life is
21:14going to be very, very difficult from
21:16now on."
21:18Now, the other terrible, terrible thing
21:20was by um 1938,
21:24the world in general had closed the
21:27doors for Jewish immigration.
21:30Um from Germany um
21:32before that in 19 for 32 that is 33 34
21:36when it started to be a bit dicey for
21:39Jewish people, it was still possible to
21:42find a new home somewhere in the world.
21:45Um Otto Frank and his father, who later
21:49became my stepfather,
21:51um always told us and our children when
21:54he heard in the street there was a very
21:58famous Nazi song, "When Jewish blood
22:01drips from our knives,
22:03things is going to get good again."
22:06He said, "When I heard this singing, I
22:08realized this is not a country where I
22:11want to bring up my family."
22:13So, he was able to get out still to
22:15Holland in 1933
22:18to Amsterdam.
22:20Um
22:21so, we were actually very, very lucky
22:24that eventually we could leave as well.
22:27My father had business connections in
22:29Holland. He had inherited a shoe factory
22:33from his parents, his father.
22:36And um in Holland in the south was a big
22:39shoe industry, and he had been export
22:42and he had business there. So, somehow,
22:45of course, you know, I didn't know all
22:47this till much later, he was able to get
22:50out. And he said, "As soon I'm ready to
22:53find some accommodation for you, my
22:56mother, my brother, and me, um I'll send
22:59for you." But by that time, when it was
23:02I think it was several weeks later, the
23:05borders were closed as well.
23:08Eventually,
23:09we are able to escape to Belgium and
23:12there as well,
23:15French-speaking, I was 10 years old
23:18never heard about French. So, I was put
23:21in a classroom.
23:23People looked at me as if I was dropped
23:25down from the moon.
23:27And
23:28nobody wanted to speak to me and I lost
23:31all my my certainty. I was a very
23:36happy child, but I got very very
23:39miserable, you know, I could I didn't
23:41know what was going on. I had no
23:43friends. We lived in a little boarding
23:46house. We didn't have much money. It was
23:48really a big big shock.
23:51And but you know, children adapt and
23:53eventually learn the language and it was
23:56my 10th birthday and I wanted a little
23:59birthday party. In Vienna, I had always
24:01lovely birthday parties
24:03and the landlady where we had two rooms
24:06said yes, you can invite five girls and
24:09I did and the day of my birthday, all
24:13those children brought a note from their
24:15parents, they are not allowed to come to
24:17my party.
24:19Again, I cried again and
24:22my mother said well, obviously they
24:24don't want to mix with Jewish refugees.
24:28So, you know,
24:29and unfortunately, this reminds me very
24:33very much on now again, there are
24:35millions millions and millions refugees
24:39trying to escape from war torn
24:43countries with their family.
24:46Their houses disappeared, their towns,
24:48their villages been bombed. There are no
24:50hospital for the children who have been
24:53maimed and they try to find a new home
24:56and again the world closes gates to
24:58them.
24:59So, in this respect, the world has not
25:02really learned anything.
25:04Well, that's a lot of why you're here.
25:07I don't You've already shared some very
25:10difficult experiences,
25:12um but I think part of what we'd like to
25:14hear a little bit about was the camp and
25:17what that was like and how you survived.
25:20Well, it was not immediately, of course,
25:23the camp. So, um we lived in Belgium and
25:26father uh lived in Amsterdam in Holland
25:29and um the war was starting already in
25:311940. Hitler had already conquered um
25:35Czechoslovakia and went into Poland and
25:38the Second World War was had started and
25:41my father was desperate to get a visa
25:44for us to come to Amsterdam.
25:47And in February 1940,
25:50we got a visiting visa to stay for 3
25:53months in Amsterdam. My father hired a
25:55furnished apartment because we couldn't
25:58bring anything out of Austria on the
26:00Meidlinger Platz. This was a sort of a
26:03triangle with a little skyscraper in the
26:07middle and some
26:09um German refugees had settled there.
26:12And
26:13and if you live in apartments, they are
26:17no yards for children to play. So, they
26:19came out um
26:21after school and we played on this open
26:24um place and one day a little girl came
26:27to me, introduced herself, very well
26:29brought up. Her name was Anne Frank.
26:33We were both 11 years old
26:36and um
26:37she uh realized that I didn't speak much
26:40Dutch and um she took me up to her
26:42family and that is how I met Otto Frank,
26:45her sister and her mother and we became
26:48friends, but through my experience, I
26:51was still shy, but she was very
26:53outgoing. She was a big chatterbox. Her
26:57nickname was Mrs. Quack Quack.
27:01She had to stay behind in school very
27:03often, write 100 lines, I'm not going to
27:06talk so much in class,
27:08but she just couldn't help it. And when
27:12I told her I had an older brother, she
27:15said, "When can I come and meet him?"
27:17Because she was already very interested
27:20in boys which was 11 years old.
27:23So, you know, life seemed good again. I
27:26got a bicycle and the Dutch children
27:29were very welcoming and
27:31I thought, "Well, we like it here." But
27:34again, it didn't last very long because
27:37in May at night we heard
27:40airplanes and we put on the radio and
27:43the newsreader said, "Terrible news.
27:47The Germans are trying to invade our
27:50country, but we are going to defend it
27:52ourselves." Well, this little country
27:55had no chance against the might of the
27:58Germans. And as well, the war had
28:00changed. They landed behind the
28:03army with parachutes, thousands of
28:06parachutes
28:08landed and they started to conquer the
28:10country and it was the first time in
28:13that war that a civilian city had been
28:16bombed. Rotterdam,
28:1910,000 casualties and the warning went
28:22out, "If they are not going to
28:24capitulate, we are going to bomb all
28:26your city."
28:28So, the second bad thing was that the
28:31royal family escaped
28:34and that was very discouraging of course
28:36for the people. They went first to
28:38England and later to Canada.
28:41And you know, you had to make very very
28:43quick decisions. The bell and the
28:45afterwards the Nazis went into Belgium
28:48and the Belgium king decided he would
28:51cooperate with the Nazis, thinking he
28:53can help his population. After the war,
28:57he had to abdecate because he was
29:00considered a traitor.
29:02So, whatever measures you took, it was
29:05the wrong decision. It was a really,
29:07really difficult. We still tried to
29:09escape to England, but there was no ship
29:11left. So, we realized we'll see what
29:14happens. And at first, nothing really
29:17happened. So, the Germans wanted to be
29:20not um the enemy, but the Dutch, of
29:23course, are very proud people, didn't
29:25want to be occupied. And in all the
29:27occupied countries, that's where was
29:29very, very important, they formed a
29:31movement called the resistance.
29:34And they did all kind of things. They
29:36shot particularly bad Nazis. They blew
29:39up trains. They printed ration cards.
29:42They had their own newspaper. They
29:44helped the pilots who were shot down,
29:47Allied pilots. And all kind of wonderful
29:50things they did, but they were, of
29:52course, in danger as well.
29:54And then we had to wear the Jewish star.
29:57And then people started to be arrested
29:59and disappeared.
30:01After 2 years living in fear, especially
30:05my father and my brother, um they went
30:08after the young men. Um
30:11about 10,000 young people got a notice
30:14to be deported to Germany to work in
30:18German factories.
30:20Well, by that time, in 1942, already in
30:23Germany, most Jews had been deported.
30:27So, why do they invite more Jews?
30:31Um so, my father called us together and
30:34he said to Hans, "You're not going. We
30:36are going to go into hiding."
30:39And I questioned that. What do you mean
30:41hiding? Adults don't go hiding.
30:44And my father explained I found some
30:47wonderful people who are going to offer
30:50their home to us and keep us safe. But I
30:54couldn't find a house or people who were
30:57going to take in four people because the
31:00apartments are quite small in Holland.
31:02So
31:03we are going to split up again. I will
31:06go with my mother and Heinz will go with
31:09him.
31:10And I started to cry. I was 13 years
31:13old. I didn't want to be separated. I
31:15was very very close to my brother and my
31:18father.
31:19And my father explained if we are in two
31:22different places the chance the two of
31:26us will survive is bigger.
31:29So survive.
31:32So I think this was the first time when
31:35I realized it was a matter of life and
31:37death.
31:38So this is pretty scary.
31:41So this is what happened. And that was
31:44the same time Anne's sister Margot got
31:47this call-up notice as well and they
31:49went into hiding
31:51in Otto Frank's office. And I'm sure
31:53some of you have been there and seen
31:56where that happened. So quite a bit
31:58different from our situation because
32:01they were there were eight people and I
32:04was just with my mother. We had to sit
32:06the whole day like you and me sit here.
32:10And we took our lunch. We were not
32:12allowed to move around while the people
32:14were out at work in case neighbors would
32:16hear footsteps then they might think
32:18they're burglars. So we had to sit
32:21still. And I was a very sporty child,
32:23very lively. Not easy for a young
32:26teenager. to sit. Can you imagine day in
32:29day out? And the very worst thing was
32:33the Nazis knew that
32:36not not all those people who had the
32:39call-up notice had appeared. So, where
32:41are those people?" And they really
32:44wanted to get every two.
32:47So, they did house searches.
32:49So, at night there was a knock on the
32:51door,
32:52and people had to open
32:54and let the people of the Nazis search
32:57search their homes.
32:59So, in all the different hiding places
33:01where we were, we had a hiding place
33:04within the hiding place.
33:06Meaning that the people from the
33:08resistance against those wonderful
33:10people came, looked over the apartment,
33:14and built a false partition with a
33:18trapdoor, sometimes under the
33:20floorboard, sometimes in a wardrobe. So,
33:23when the knock came, we quickly went
33:26there.
33:27But, um,
33:29the a story, for instance, bits around
33:32that in another home there's well the
33:34same thing was happening. The Nazis
33:36came. It was always at night. And, um,
33:39people were quickly going into their
33:41hiding place, but the beds were still
33:44warm.
33:45So, they realized there were people. So,
33:47they demolished the whole apartment till
33:50they found the people. And the host
33:53people, of course, were taken away as
33:55well.
33:56So, when people hear this story, they
33:59said, "You know, I can't take the
34:00tension any longer. You have to move to
34:03somewhere else." So, we moved perhaps
34:05seven times in the two years we were at
34:08hiding.
34:09So, with the Frank it was different
34:11because they were in Otto Frank's
34:13office, so they were relatively safe.
34:16There were no house searches there.
34:18Um,
34:20in, um, in May 1944,
34:24so after 2 years, my father and my
34:27brother were in the country,
34:29and, uh, he phoned my mother. We were on
34:32the in touch by phone, and he said the
34:34woman where they are staying is
34:36blackmailing them for more money.
34:39And if you can't earn any money, you
34:42know, my father couldn't go to work, our
34:44savings had disappeared,
34:46and he said, "Well, if the war still
34:48lasts much longer, she's going to throw
34:51us out anyway.
34:53So, can you please find another place
34:56for us because we were
34:59resistant.
35:00And
35:01it was already
35:03It was already difficult to find
35:06new good places. Um can't you hear it?
35:11Yeah, it's okay. And um
35:14so, it took my mother a few weeks, and
35:16eventually a Dutch nurse came forward
35:19and said she knows a good place.
35:22And
35:24Should we
35:25Can't hear?
35:29It's too loud.
35:33You can always
35:34If not, I can get it online.
35:36He said not not here. Can't you hear?
35:38No, it's got back again. Okay, thank
35:41you.
35:42Um
35:43So, um
35:45this nurse said she knows a good hiding
35:47place, and so my father and brother
35:49escaped in the morning still when it was
35:51dark, um to go to Amsterdam, and met
35:55this nurse, took her took They took them
35:57to a nice home, and as I was so
36:00miserable those 2 years,
36:02um and it was very near where we were
36:04staying, my parents had decided we would
36:07visit them, my brother and my father,
36:10which we did on that Sunday. And on
36:13Tuesday, it was my 15th birthday, and
36:16our host had saved up an egg for me for
36:19my breakfast, and we were sitting down
36:22to breakfast, and there was a knock on
36:24the the
36:25They I the door because daytime was
36:28always safe, and the Nazis stormed in.
36:32And they right away went for us, my
36:34mother and me, and took us away.
36:37And we had no idea what has happened.
36:41And they said took us to the Gestapo
36:43headquarters, and um interrogated me,
36:47and they beat me up. They wanted to know
36:49who had helped us, and so on. Really, I
36:52was in shock. I just lost my language. I
36:56couldn't speak.
36:57And they really beat me very hard, and
37:00then they realized um I wouldn't speak.
37:03So, they took me and shoved me in a
37:04little room, and they found my father
37:07and brother. And it turned out that this
37:10nurse was a double agent.
37:12She really worked for the Nazis, but
37:15pretended that she was a member of the
37:17resistance.
37:19This nurse betrayed in the same house
37:22over 200 people,
37:25and may mainly those people never made
37:28it.
37:29Um children, young people, she took in
37:32everybody, and betrayed them.
37:36And after the war, my mother was at her
37:38court case, she only got 4 years.
37:42But um anyway, we were taken to a
37:45holding camp, and um on the Friday, we
37:48were already put on transport.
37:51Um they of course they never said where
37:53you were going, but Holland is the most
37:56western country, so east is bad news.
38:00So, um you might have seen the
38:02transportation
38:04of those transports. Um I call it cattle
38:08truck, or good train, or even a
38:10container.
38:11They were just those metal um
38:14trains with um
38:16just the boards in it,
38:18and a little slit of air,
38:20and two buckets they put in, one for
38:23toilets, about 80 people, one bucket for
38:26toilets for a day, and the other one for
38:29clean water. There was practically no
38:32air, people fainted. The only good thing
38:35was that we were still together as a
38:38family.
38:39My father, with tears in his eyes,
38:43apologized to us that from now on he
38:46won't be able to protect us anymore.
38:50And um my brother, tell you a little bit
38:52about him, he was um
38:55actually a musician. Already when he was
38:584 years old, he could play piano. He had
39:01got a guitar and accordion. And he could
39:04play any instrument. In this rented
39:07apartment, there was a piano. He could
39:10play the Rhapsody in Blue by heart,
39:13George Gershwin, a very difficult piece.
39:15But in hiding, like me, like all the
39:18other people, he had to sit quiet and
39:21not make any noise.
39:23So he started to paint.
39:26And he created some amazing artwork.
39:29And in the cattle truck, one of the last
39:31conversation I had with him, he told me
39:35when they escaped from this um house
39:38where the woman was blackmailing them,
39:40he hid the painting under the
39:41floorboards with a note on it, "This
39:45belongs to Heinz and Erich Geringer."
39:48And after the war, he's going to pick it
39:50up again.
39:53Yeah, so and of course you can imagine
39:55it was a horrible, horrible journey.
39:57Eventually the train stopped and um was
40:01a beautiful May day. We heard dogs
40:04barking and shouting and the doors were
40:07slid open and uh raus, raus, lots of
40:11Nazis. And there were lots of people in
40:15the striped um um, we used to call it
40:18pajamas.
40:19Um,
40:20you might have seen pictures of said,
40:22um, caps and, um, suits.
40:26And, um, they were all milling around,
40:28all very nervous and so on. And so, we
40:31stood there looking around and we
40:34realized we were in Auschwitz.
40:37Now, the world did know what Auschwitz
40:40was.
40:41Because the BBC, British Broadcast
40:44Corporation, sent a broadcast out to all
40:48the occupied countries,
40:51all of Europe, and telling the news what
40:54was happening with the war, but as well,
40:56what was happening in Germany and
40:58Poland.
41:00And they always mentioned Auschwitz as
41:03the worst, um,
41:05concentration death camp where Jewish
41:08people were systematically being gassed.
41:12So, there was no secret whatsoever.
41:15And were you aware of that while you
41:17were there? Yeah, we we knew. So, the
41:20next command was men and women to
41:23different side. If ever you have been
41:25there visiting those horrible camps, it
41:28was a huge, huge area. There was
41:31Birkenau, which was the women camp.
41:32Auschwitz was the men camp. Then there
41:35was Canada, which was another part where
41:37all the belong, everything was
41:39confiscated, where it was sorted out.
41:41There was Monowitz, another work camp.
41:44So, a huge, huge area. And all really
41:48where people were all slowly quickly or
41:52slowly killed.
41:54And so, the you can imagine the goodbye
41:57between
41:58men and women families.
42:01Um,
42:01and I will never forget my father was
42:04not a religious man, took me by the
42:06hands with tears in his eyes. He said,
42:10"God will protect you."
42:12You know, he knew he couldn't do
42:14anything for me, but he hoped perhaps if
42:17there is a God, he will look after me.
42:19And we were still in the clothes we had
42:22been arrested in. And in Westerbork, the
42:25holding camp, some nice person had given
42:29my mother a hat and coat that said,
42:31"Well, perhaps it comes in handy." And
42:33my mother gave me that to wear.
42:36And um
42:37so the hat had a big brim, bit like a
42:40rabbi's hat. And um
42:42so suddenly Mengele came, the camp's
42:45doctor. I'm sure you've heard of him. He
42:47was a normal, ordinary doctor, German
42:51doctor, about 40 years old. And but he
42:54wasn't there to cure people, but he
42:57decided who was going to die and who was
43:00going to live.
43:02So he looked you over just for a
43:04fraction of a second and decided which
43:07side to go.
43:08Life or death.
43:11And this hat
43:12definitely saved my life at this time
43:16because he didn't see how young I was.
43:20We lost about half our Dutch transport.
43:24All the children, all the toddlers, all
43:27young people, even
43:29older girls than me, if they looked
43:31perhaps pale or they were not very tall,
43:33went to the wrong side. Of course, they
43:36didn't say what the wrong side was, but
43:39we realized those were the people who
43:41probably couldn't work anymore.
43:44So and then eventually
43:46we were herded into the camp. Um huge,
43:50huge um barrack.
43:52Um the next command undress completely
43:55naked.
43:57And the Nazis were walking around um
44:00laughing at our embarrassment.
44:03Then we had to go in front of a table.
44:06We had to give all our information about
44:08from which country we came, but from all
44:11of Europe people were transported to
44:13those terrible, terrible camps.
44:16And um
44:18as our information, what what job you
44:21had, how old you are, all kind of things
44:23that I was all written down. And then
44:25they told us, "Well, forget you're a
44:28you're human being. You're going to be
44:30tattooed with a number. If ever we want
44:33you, we are going to be called you out
44:35by your number." So, we all got a number
44:37on our arm. The next step was that all
44:41of our hair was shaved. Still naked, we
44:43stood there.
44:45And um
44:46while this was going on, that took many,
44:48many hours, they told us, those young
44:52Nazis,
44:53with laughing, with
44:56pleasure, said the family you have been
44:59separated from were told to go into a
45:02shower. And then they started to laugh
45:05again and push each other.
45:07And um
45:08said, "But of course it wasn't a shower,
45:10but they were gassed."
45:14So, you can imagine how a mother who'd
45:16just been separated from her child, how
45:19she started to cry hysterically, and and
45:22people held her, and many, many people
45:25were completely desperate.
45:28And then we were um
45:30um released um still naked.
45:34And uh we passed a huge heap of a
45:37mountain of clothes, and we were shown
45:40one garment. Could have been a winter
45:43coat or even a night dress.
45:46The next um
45:47heap were shoes. We were given two
45:50shoes, again of course never a pair, and
45:53that was all our belongings.
45:56Um then we all everything had to go
45:58quick, quick, quick. We run um into our
46:01barracks. Again, you might have seen
46:03pictures of that. Um three high big
46:06bunks, wood, nothing in it. Um
46:10just the the boards.
46:13Um not a bit of straw or a pillow or a
46:15blanket.
46:16And they told us this is where you're
46:18going to live as long as you're still
46:21alive, and that won't be very long.
46:24So, you know, we we were in shock. You
46:27know, we thought, well,
46:29how how are we going to exist like this?
46:32And um
46:35the only thing what was in those
46:37barracks, in those in this wood that is
46:40bunk, were bed bugs and lice. So, within
46:43a week we were already covered in lice.
46:46Um not just head lice, but body lice.
46:49Um washing, you can forget about.
46:52Um
46:53toilets.
46:55Um at the end, you know, there were A B
46:58C D camp. Um barracks both sides. The
47:02middle was the Lagerstrasse. And at the
47:04end of that, there were two barracks.
47:07One with kind of cement um holes, which
47:10were the toilets.
47:12And the other some with um taps, which
47:16sometimes dribbled a little bit of
47:18water. So, washing, forget about it. We
47:22never washed.
47:24We had to do from morning till evening
47:26very, very heavy physical work.
47:29Um we had to start 5:00, 4:00, when it
47:33was still dark. We stood 2 hours in
47:36front of the barracks to wait for our
47:39breakfast,
47:40which was a little mug of liquid.
47:43And then we were taken to work.
47:46In the evening,
47:48um we came back. Again, 2 hours
47:50standing. If you moved, you were beaten.
47:53Rows like this. The camp was counted.
47:57And then we got our supper, which was a
47:59big chunk of bread.
48:01In daytime, we didn't get any food at
48:04all.
48:05So, a lot of people tried to
48:08keep half of this bread for the next
48:10day.
48:11But, you had nowhere to keep anything.
48:14So, the only place where you could keep
48:16a piece of bread was um under your head
48:20when you slept.
48:21But, it happened very often that the
48:24person who slept next to you while
48:27you slept, it fell from under your head,
48:30they ate it up.
48:31So, we realized that if you want your
48:34portion of bread, you have to eat it in
48:36the evening.
48:37Um very often, it happened in the
48:40morning, you woke up, and the person who
48:43slept next to you didn't make it
48:44anymore.
48:46There were all kinds of illnesses,
48:48typhus, cholera,
48:50dysentery, and many, many, many people
48:53perished.
48:56We've Many of us here have read about
48:58this, but hearing it from your voice and
49:02your story is
49:04What I was going to say is many of us
49:05have read about what happened, but
49:07hearing it from your voice and hearing
49:10your story,
49:12how did you, with everything that they
49:14were doing to try and strip away your
49:18humanity,
49:19how did you keep your heart
49:22whole? How did you keep your faith?
49:25Um well, you know,
49:27as as I said before, I had a wonderful
49:29family life. I was 15 years old. I just
49:33wasn't ready to die. So, I never ever
49:36give up hope give up hope. I really
49:39wanted to
49:41um get a boyfriend. I wanted to get
49:43married. I wanted to have a family.
49:46And, you know, I held on. And, of
49:48course, being together with my mother
49:52was a big, big help, but
49:55that was not the end of everything.
49:58Um
49:58about
50:00once a once a month, you were going into
50:03a shower.
50:04As I say, we were never washed, so we
50:06were getting imagine how we were when we
50:08were having a shower, it was wonderful.
50:10We were deloused as well.
50:12And um so one day, it might have been of
50:15course every day was the same, but it
50:18started to be colder. I think it might
50:20have been perhaps end of September,
50:22October, something like that. And we
50:25came out of the shower and there stood
50:27Mengele and the selection was taking
50:30place.
50:31Meaning we had to naked turn around in
50:35front of him and he was going to decide
50:38if you were still able to work or not.
50:41So I was that passed. My mother, she was
50:45as a tall and as well you can imagine
50:47that any mother would do very awful. She
50:50had given me part of her bread ration
50:53and she had become really very thin.
50:56And so Mengele looked at her, let her
50:58turn around once more
51:01and then he decided that she wasn't able
51:04to work anymore and so he selected her
51:08to be gassed.
51:10Um
51:11about 40 of our transport, it was still
51:15the Dutch transport we were together, um
51:18women were selected to
51:21be gassed. And those naked women walked
51:24out and I saw that lost my mother.
51:28Um
51:29so
51:30I was as you can imagine, I was
51:33desperate. Became really very, very
51:35difficult to carry on and um
51:39I I got more depressed. It was winter. I
51:41had a frostbite on my toes. I sometimes
51:45lost my shoes when I was walking through
51:47the snow.
51:49And um I was sitting
51:51um working we were in a it was called
51:54weaving. We had a very very tough job to
51:56do.
51:57And um
51:59I thought I don't think I can hold on
52:01much longer.
52:02And um a couple so so as the people run
52:05the camp really under the supervision of
52:08the Nazis. Usually they were Polish
52:10criminals.
52:12Um women um
52:14called me out. She said somebody wants
52:16you outside and I thought well that's it
52:18now. And I go outside.
52:21And there was an SS man with my father.
52:25This was just amazing.
52:28And of course I fell into his arms and
52:31um I asked him how is Hans. He said he's
52:35he's okay. And then he asked how is
52:38Mutti, my mom.
52:40And I burst into tears and I said she
52:43had been selected.
52:45I saw this man he was a strong man. I
52:49saw him
52:50go even paler as he was already and
52:53started to cry.
52:54And um
52:56I was I was so sad to see him in this to
52:59know to realize that he had lost his
53:01wife. But then he got back his courage
53:04and he said you have to hold on the war
53:07will soon be finished. We'll be together
53:09again and Mutti will look after us.
53:12We'll protect us from above.
53:15And I still saw him twice more. He came
53:18and then I didn't see him anymore.
53:21In the meantime the Russians seemed to
53:24be approaching but as of course we
53:27didn't really know but we realized the
53:29Nazis became very very nervous. There
53:32was not so much control anymore.
53:34Sometimes we were not even called out to
53:36work. And you know I said ABC camp many
53:40many camps all cut off by electrified
53:43barbed wire, but sometimes the gates
53:45were open and many of the Nazis had run
53:49away as well.
53:51And
53:52some people, Dutch people from our
53:54transport came from another part of the
53:56camp and they told me that they'd seen
53:59my mother.
54:00And I thought they were just encouraging
54:03me.
54:04And you know, I could I didn't believe
54:06it. I said, "Well, that can't be." You
54:08know, they I said, "Yeah, yes,
54:10definitely we have seen her in this and
54:12this part of the camp. See if perhaps
54:15one day you can get there."
54:17And I did. I was able after a few days I
54:20was able to get there.
54:22And and my mother was really there.
54:26It was a barrack where people were
54:29actually not working anymore. They were
54:30very, very weak, but she was there.
54:34So, that was of course an amazing,
54:36amazing
54:38miracle.
54:39And um
54:45Um it's not yet time.
54:50And um
54:51So, but that
54:53terrible thing and this is what I still
54:57feel guilty about that I had told my
54:59father that my mother hadn't made it.
55:03So, um
55:05And then as I say, the Russian obviously
55:07really were coming and the Nazis emptied
55:10the camp every day.
55:12Many barracks were emptied and the
55:14people disappeared. And again by luck my
55:18mother and me didn't go on those
55:20transports. After the war, they were
55:23called the death marches. You might have
55:25heard of them because many, many
55:28thousands of people had to march from
55:31Poland
55:32partly to Germany or to Austria and
55:36um with no clothes practically and in
55:39the snow with very little food
55:42sometimes they went by train but
55:44hundreds of people pushed out in trains
55:47open wagons and six legs and so many
55:50many many people perished on those death
55:53marches. Of course we didn't know about
55:55this.
55:56And
55:57and one day we woke up so there perhaps
56:00five six hundred women left in this
56:02whole huge Birkenau camp.
56:05And it was very very quiet no shouting
56:07no dogs barking and we went outside and
56:11the camp was deserted.
56:13And
56:15so we were left on our own the gates
56:17were open we could have gone out but of
56:19course where to go
56:21the middle of snow we had no money we
56:23had no clothes so we stayed there.
56:26And then after another few days
56:29we were looking around we were looking
56:31for food we had to hack the ice to get
56:33some water or melt the snow somehow.
56:37And
56:38at the gates took a huge creature all in
56:41fur and icicles on on his beard and his
56:44head and things and it was first it
56:47looked like a bear but when we looked
56:49closer it was a Russian soldier.
56:52You know there were those big fur hats
56:54and things.
56:56And
56:57he came in and he looked at those women
57:01lying in the bunks and in the beds and
57:04bunks and it was really you know he was
57:07speechless he had no idea what he would
57:09find but he explained Polish people
57:11could speak with him he explained that
57:15he was a scout to find out if the
57:17Germans were still here.
57:19And he's going to report back so that
57:22their army can march forward.
57:25And we see the few days the Russian army
57:27came that is now 27th of January the
57:31liberation of Auschwitz.
57:34Um
57:35it was
57:36yes, liberation, but not really
57:38liberation. The Russians were fighting,
57:41so they were pursuing the Nazis. They
57:43stayed the night. They cooked uh for
57:46themselves, but as well for us.
57:48They gave us those metal bowls with
57:51cabbage soup. Um very greasy cabbage
57:54soup. But the smell of it, you know,
57:57drove us nearly mad. We were really
57:59starving. starving. And there we got
58:01this wonderful, wonderful soup. And we
58:04ate and ate and ate. But I've never had
58:07a worse
58:08painful night on a bucket because the
58:11food went straight through me. You know
58:14things are bad when you're looking up at
58:16cabbage soup.
58:18But you know, when you can't digest it,
58:21and in the morning people had died
58:24because they were too weak to digest it.
58:27Um and the Russians left again.
58:29And then I decided I would go to
58:31Auschwitz with somebody else to see if I
58:34would find my father and brother.
58:36Yes, tell us And we went there. And the
58:39Russian had made their headquarters
58:40there because Auschwitz, if you've ever
58:42been, they're a brick building. It was
58:44much more solid than in Birkenau.
58:47And um
58:48so uh I asked permission if but they
58:50didn't care. They were administrated and
58:53they were busy doing things. And I
58:55looked everywhere. And I saw a man who
58:58looked vaguely familiar. But he looked
59:01very thin and gray. And I went to him
59:03and I said, "I think I've seen you
59:05before somewhere." And he said, "Yes,
59:08I'm Otto Frank, Anne's father."
59:11And and you were Eva Geiringer. I said,
59:14"Yes." And of course he asked me, "Have
59:16you seen my girls or my wife?" But I
59:18hadn't seen him. seen them. But he'd
59:21seen my
59:22uh father and brother. So I didn't know
59:25about this much. So I was sure the war
59:28will end soon that we will be together
59:30again.
59:31And
59:32then the Russians and this I will really
59:35point out to you, the Russians were
59:37really really very good to us. They
59:40realized it was dangerous for us to stay
59:43there. So they organized transport for
59:46us, food for us. They gave us Russian
59:49uniforms
59:50and they transported us for 4 months
59:54until we ended up in Odessa. That's a
59:57very very interesting story what
59:59happened in this big long journey
1:00:02through war
1:00:04country. Everything was destroyed in
1:00:07Poland, in Russia, in Romania.
1:00:10And eventually we ended up in Odessa.
1:00:13And which is Ukraine now, but still was
1:00:16Russia. And there we waited for the end
1:00:19of the war. And when that came in May,
1:00:22we realized we had survived.
1:00:25But of course we still wanted to go back
1:00:28to
1:00:29Amsterdam to see if our family had
1:00:32returned. And Otto Frank was with us on
1:00:34this journey.
1:00:36And um
1:00:38so they took again they came a New
1:00:40Zealand troop transport ship and we had
1:00:43a journey through the Mediterranean
1:00:45until we went into Marseille and then
1:00:48long journey up
1:00:51back into the Netherlands. So we got
1:00:54there in June. So from end of January
1:00:57until June we were traveling.
1:01:00And then we were deposited there and
1:01:03that was it.
1:01:05You know, and we had expected there will
1:01:07be a welcoming committee, people will
1:01:09look after us. Nothing.
1:01:11And then we realized
1:01:13you know, all the other countries had
1:01:16been liberated already by the Americans
1:01:18and the British. Um,
1:01:22France,
1:01:23Italy of course was the favorite.
1:01:25Greece, oh and and Denmark, Norway had
1:01:29all been freed, but Holland was occupied
1:01:32by the Nazis till the end of the war,
1:01:35till May. And the Germans took
1:01:37everything the Dutch produced to feed
1:01:40their own people.
1:01:42And in Holland it was called the hunger
1:01:44winter.
1:01:45There were no cats and dogs. Can you
1:01:48imagine they'd all been eaten?
1:01:50Um, people went to the farm to come back
1:01:54with one potato to feed a family of
1:01:57five.
1:01:58There were in apartments were found
1:02:00families,
1:02:02father, mother, three children
1:02:04dead
1:02:05for for starvation. And then more
1:02:08refugees came, people returning.
1:02:12Um, they just didn't have any means of
1:02:14looking after us.
1:02:16So, um, it was really very very
1:02:19difficult, but we were very lucky. We
1:02:21were able to get into our apartment
1:02:24because it was furnished and it belonged
1:02:27to a Christian.
1:02:28So, Otto Frank when he came back he was
1:02:31with us on this long long journey,
1:02:33had nowhere to go because his apartment
1:02:36somebody else moved in and all the
1:02:39furniture was always confiscated and
1:02:42shipped to Germany to the bomb cities.
1:02:44And I read once that the Germans could
1:02:47never have carried on their war so long
1:02:49if they wouldn't have used all this
1:02:51looted
1:02:53material from all the people went in the
1:02:55camp. All this was shipped back to
1:02:58Germany.
1:02:59And as well, their apartments where
1:03:01Jewish people had lived, the furniture,
1:03:03everything was shipped to Germany.
1:03:07And so we waited for news.
1:03:10And then we got the news from the Red
1:03:12Cross,
1:03:13very casual, we have to tell you
1:03:17um, to my mother that your husband, with
1:03:19name, with even his birth date, and your
1:03:22son perished in Mauthausen
1:03:25several days before the American army
1:03:29came to liberate that camp.
1:03:32Well, that was
1:03:33our last straw. I had really, really
1:03:36thought they would come back.
1:03:39Otto Frank as well came to tell us about
1:03:42the terrible news that his whole family
1:03:45they had perished, his wife and his two
1:03:47girls.
1:03:49After he left, um, my mother said, "How
1:03:52can this man carry on with his life?" He
1:03:54was 57 years old. Uh, he had nothing
1:03:58really to live for.
1:04:00And then a few days later he came again
1:04:03with a little parcel under his arm,
1:04:05and he said, "I must show you
1:04:07something." And he opened it very
1:04:09carefully, and you can guess what it
1:04:11was. It was Anne's diary.
1:04:15And he said, "Can I read something to
1:04:17you?" And he opened it, and he started
1:04:21to read, but he always burst into tears.
1:04:23It took him 3 weeks to read this book.
1:04:27And he was amazed what she had written.
1:04:30And he showed it to everybody, they
1:04:32showed it to a history professor, and
1:04:35they said, "It is your duty to publish
1:04:37it."
1:04:38But you know, a diary is something very
1:04:40private, and he wasn't quite sure that
1:04:43Anne really wanted to have it known to
1:04:46the world what she had written. And as
1:04:48well, unfortunately,
1:04:50they had a very bad relationship with
1:04:53their mother at that time,
1:04:55and his wife was dead, so how could he
1:04:58publish this, you know?
1:05:00Um, so actually he edited it. He left
1:05:03out quite a lot, but if you buy now the
1:05:06diary, after Otto died, the Dutch
1:05:09government, he left the diary to the
1:05:11Dutch
1:05:12government and they decided they would
1:05:15publish the whole diary how how she
1:05:18really wrote it.
1:05:20And then um
1:05:22after we realized Otto was
1:05:25well, he was still of course very very
1:05:27very sad, but it helped him to still act
1:05:30to do something. I said to my mother,
1:05:33"We have to go and find my brother's
1:05:35paintings." Which we did and indeed we
1:05:39found over 30 paintings and many many
1:05:42poems. And this is what I inherited from
1:05:46what was left from Hans.
1:05:49But you know, I just always felt so
1:05:51guilty that I had told my father that my
1:05:54mother wasn't alive anymore. And I
1:05:57always was speculating
1:05:59he probably probably my brother died
1:06:01first. He thought his wife was dead.
1:06:05Probably I couldn't have survived. So I
1:06:07think he gave up.
1:06:09If you would only have known, perhaps he
1:06:12would still be alive.
1:06:14So this was basically what happened. And
1:06:19I after I realized we will never ever be
1:06:22a family again, became very very
1:06:25depressed and I was full and full of
1:06:28hatred and it was Otto Frank. He came
1:06:30very often to our house
1:06:33and he had no hatred. And I couldn't
1:06:35understand that. And he said, "Well, you
1:06:38know, if you hate people they are not
1:06:40suffering. They don't even know.
1:06:43But you you will become a miserable
1:06:45person." And I said, "Yeah, I am
1:06:47miserable." But I just couldn't help
1:06:50couldn't help this hatred. But he kept
1:06:52on telling me, "You know, you are young.
1:06:55You have a whole life in front of you.
1:06:57Things will get better." And and he
1:06:59encouraged me. But I I must say I was
1:07:03really very very depressed. I found when
1:07:06after my mother died I found that she
1:07:09had collected all things what I had
1:07:11written and I found a little note which
1:07:14I wrote dated 1st of January 1946.
1:07:18I wrote life without my family is
1:07:21useless.
1:07:23I really don't want to live. I would
1:07:25like to commit suicide.
1:07:27I was so miserable after Auschwitz, not
1:07:30in Auschwitz but after Auschwitz.
1:07:33So you can imagine I must have had had
1:07:36nightmares. I saw everything always in
1:07:38front of me.
1:07:40And I didn't want to go to school but
1:07:42Otto said that good education is the
1:07:45only thing nobody can take away from
1:07:47you. And so I went to school but I
1:07:50didn't enjoy it. When the pupils had
1:07:53pranks on teachers they thought it was
1:07:55hilarious and I felt sorry for the
1:07:58teacher and so I was miserable.
1:08:01And when I finished I didn't know what
1:08:04to do. And Otto and my mother decided I
1:08:07should become a photographer.
1:08:09And Otto who had taken many many
1:08:13pictures of his children, he said
1:08:16I have
1:08:17no family anymore and never going to
1:08:20take photos so he gave me his Leica
1:08:23which is one of the best cameras.
1:08:25And um
1:08:27So I said okay and Otto knew somebody in
1:08:31London with a photographic studio and he
1:08:34got me a job there. So I went to London
1:08:36for 1 year and I lived in a little
1:08:39boarding house where Israeli young man
1:08:42had come to study economics and he
1:08:46worked as well. And we became friends
1:08:50and but we didn't tell who we were. I
1:08:52did I told him I was Dutch which I
1:08:54wasn't. He told me he was an Israeli
1:08:57which he wasn't. He was a German
1:08:58refugee.
1:09:00And
1:09:01you know we didn't tell who we were,
1:09:03nothing at all, just about how our day
1:09:06went, about
1:09:07what we were going to try to eat.
1:09:09England was still on rations. It was
1:09:11very, very difficult to
1:09:14you know, it was foggy and it was not
1:09:17not a nice time to be in England at the
1:09:19time.
1:09:20And we went for long walks and so on.
1:09:23And then after 6 months he said to me,
1:09:26"Eva, I fall in love with you.
1:09:29Will you marry me? And when I finished
1:09:31my studies, we can start a new life and
1:09:34go to Israel."
1:09:35And I said, "No, thank you."
1:09:42Because I have a widowed mother in
1:09:45Amsterdam and of course, you know, I was
1:09:47very, very close to my mother. I would
1:09:50never have just gone off.
1:09:52And
1:09:53so he thought, "Well, perhaps I'll
1:09:55change my mind one day." And then Otto
1:09:57Frank, who
1:09:59visited me quite often, he had business
1:10:01as well in London and I told him, "You
1:10:05know, this young man has asked me to
1:10:07marry him, but of course I said no."
1:10:09And then he got a bit embarrassed and he
1:10:11said, "Well, you know, your mother and
1:10:13me have fallen in love as well.
1:10:16And once you get settled,
1:10:19we'd like to get married." So I went
1:10:21back to this young man and said, "Well,
1:10:23you can marry me now."
1:10:28You know, which he was really very, very
1:10:30pleased and we went to to Amsterdam
1:10:34because we didn't know anybody in London
1:10:37and got married there in 1952.
1:10:40And Otto and my mother got married a
1:10:43year later in 1953.
1:10:46And they were married for 27 years,
1:10:49longer than they were married with their
1:10:51first spouses.
1:10:53And I was married 63 years.
1:10:56And
1:10:57unfortunately, I lost my husband a few
1:11:00years ago.
1:11:01But, you know, we didn't really know
1:11:03each other. We took a big gamble, but it
1:11:06turned out It turned out to be It turned
1:11:09out to be It was a good choice.
1:11:12And, you know, when I tell that in
1:11:13schools,
1:11:15I was married 63 years, they said, "With
1:11:17how many husbands?"
1:11:21Eva.
1:11:22And I said, "Just one." I think that
1:11:24we're all inspired by your story, but
1:11:28it It's not an easy one to tell. And and
1:11:31quite frankly, I can still hear some of
1:11:33that survivor's guilt when you talk
1:11:35about your father and your mother.
1:11:38For decades,
1:11:40this wasn't a story that you shared. Why
1:11:43are you sharing it now with us and
1:11:46across the country?
1:11:47I didn't talk for 40 years. I didn't. Um
1:11:51you know, when we came back, and not
1:11:53just me, all the survivors, I was We
1:11:55were desperate to talk what has happened
1:11:57to us, but the world didn't want to
1:12:00hear.
1:12:01Everybody had suffered. The war was
1:12:03really, really terrible. Millions of
1:12:05people have perished. And people wanted
1:12:09to get on. And the motto, "Never again
1:12:11Auschwitz," was what people thought. And
1:12:16at first, it was like that. You know,
1:12:18people really helped each other, looked
1:12:20after each other, trying to rebuild the
1:12:22world again. But, you know, then started
1:12:25Cambodia, Korea, Vietnam,
1:12:29um Bosnia.
1:12:31All the time, there were wars again and
1:12:33persec- persecution, Muslims, Jews,
1:12:36Christians. It just didn't end.
1:12:39And um
1:12:41when I started to speak in 1986, I
1:12:43realized the world has to know what has
1:12:47happened, and we have to create a
1:12:49better, safer the
1:12:51And um
1:12:52people were starting to be really
1:12:54interested, wanting to learn their
1:12:56Holocaust stories. Um, their uh
1:12:59universities have us have um
1:13:02lectures about it. There's a lot of
1:13:05books have um
1:13:06in the in the '80s and '90s have come
1:13:09out um have become very very popular.
1:13:12The films have come out and the world
1:13:15really wants to know. And I think we
1:13:18have have great hope for the young
1:13:20people here especially in the university
1:13:23where I speak mainly in the universities
1:13:26and not only for Jewish people but for
1:13:28everybody. Absolutely. That we have to
1:13:31work together to create a safer, better
1:13:33world. We don't want to
1:13:36give our children a future which is so
1:13:39full of hatred and prejudice.
1:13:42And I think
1:13:43we have to realize now much more than
1:13:46ever that this hatred has to stop.
1:13:50And it is still there unfortunately
1:13:54and well, like the rabbi said,
1:13:56anti-Semitism is on the rise. But
1:14:00if you look at the history,
1:14:02anti-Semitism has always been. I don't
1:14:05think it will ever disappear.
1:14:07But we we are here to last. And um I
1:14:11work a lot with Chabad and I must say um
1:14:16as I say, I'm not uh
1:14:18I do believe I think, you know, the
1:14:21birth of my first daughter was really a
1:14:23miracle.
1:14:25And um so I'm still searching and this
1:14:28is I think we all search. But what I
1:14:31still can't understand that most hatred
1:14:34is through different religions.
1:14:37Um
1:14:38uh Muslims kill other Muslims and um
1:14:42uh Christian killed Jews and Jews yeah,
1:14:45they're only people really who don't
1:14:48attack other people.
1:14:50And um we are
1:14:52an example for the world, I think. I'm
1:14:56very, very proud to be a Jew.
1:14:58And um
1:14:59I'm still searching. I still don't know.
1:15:03Did God protect me or was it just by
1:15:05chance?
1:15:07And but this is a mystery of life. We
1:15:09will never know.
1:15:11And um
1:15:13As I say, I'm so I was not always an
1:15:16optimist, but I have seen now I've got
1:15:18five grandchildren who are all really
1:15:20wonderful people, help people out, um
1:15:24help in the soup kitchens and give us
1:15:27clothes and you know, there's a lot of
1:15:29wonderful charities who are trying to
1:15:32improve things for people, but I think
1:15:34we have to work together to
1:15:37leave to not leave the refugees stranded
1:15:40somewhere in the middle of the sea and
1:15:43drown. This is I mean in Europe we hear
1:15:45this daily. The ships are trying to um
1:15:49leave from um
1:15:50uh Asia or from Africa and the world
1:15:53just doesn't care and the people drown.
1:15:56This is not acceptable anymore in the
1:15:5921st century. We are unquestionably
1:16:02living in
1:16:11We are unquestionably living in
1:16:13difficult times. That's why it is so
1:16:16important that we gather here
1:16:19and listen to your story and find our
1:16:23common humanity and inspiration
1:16:26in what you have lived in the story and
1:16:30where you have come from because your
1:16:33caring Your caring is so incredibly
1:16:37Your
1:16:38Sorry.
1:16:40What I was going to say is that we are
1:16:41living in difficult times. I don't think
1:16:43there's any question about that. That's
1:16:46why we are all so grateful that at this
1:16:49moment you are willing to through your
1:16:52pain reach out to all of us in our
1:16:56common humanity.
1:16:58I know that I speak for all of us in
1:17:01thanking you from the bottom of my
1:17:03heart, the bottom of our hearts for
1:17:06being brave and speaking out because it
1:17:09is something that we all need to hear.
1:17:12The proof that so many people have come
1:17:15to hear it is a proof that people want
1:17:19to know and want to change. Thank you
1:17:21very much for
1:17:23coming to listen to me and I'm sure
1:17:27you're going to do your bit to change
1:17:30the attitude of people and to
1:17:33block out all this discrimination
1:17:35against people who are different from
1:17:37yourself. Yes, we we love This is really
1:17:40what you have to take back.
1:17:52Thank you.
1:17:56I want to ask
1:18:03I would very much like to welcome Chabad
1:18:06co-director Miriam Weingarten to say a
1:18:09few closing words. Miriam ensures that
1:18:13Chabad is a home away from home for our
1:18:16Jewish students and we're so grateful
1:18:18for the sense of community and belonging
1:18:21that you create. Please welcome.
1:18:35That was special. Thank you.
1:18:38Thank you, Eva and President Kausel for
1:18:41such a meaningful and informative
1:18:43evening.
1:18:44I now understand more about the horrors
1:18:47that my grandfather, Avram David
1:18:49Wilhelm, the namesake of our son of
1:18:52Remel, experienced in Auschwitz.
1:18:55Can all of us take a moment and imagine?
1:18:58Imagine Eva and President Kausel
1:19:02sitting on stage, having this
1:19:04conversation in an empty room.
1:19:08You are the true heroes for coming out
1:19:11tonight and ensuring that Eva's message
1:19:14and the memory of the Holocaust is not
1:19:17forgotten.
1:19:19Eva and President Kausel,
1:19:22this is our little way of saying thank
1:19:24you for giving your time, heart, soul,
1:19:28and energy to make tonight the
1:19:30spectacular evening it was. Thank you.
1:20:34That's right.
1:20:35There are a limited amount of
1:20:37autographed books called Eva's Story
1:20:39outside.
1:20:40They are very limited. There will be a
1:20:42line in the
1:20:44uh lounge right outside the ballroom.

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