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Eva Schloss | Full Address and Q&A | Oxford Union — Transcript

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0:01[Music]
0:06[Music]
0:21all right thank you so much for joining
0:23us and I you've prepared some opening
0:26remarks to those you have already done
0:31with the introduction huh yeah well good
0:35good evening it's a honor for me to be
0:38have been invited to speak here in the
0:41Oxford Union I've read all the famous
0:45speakers who have been here so I feel
0:46really very privileged to be able to
0:48talk to you as well here well one
0:53question which I always get asked and in
0:56especially in America but in other
0:59places as well how was it possible that
1:01the men like Hitler was able to
1:04influence cults of people like America
1:07and yes is of course an explanation and
1:12I'll just going shortly going to tell
1:15you about this what happened really in
1:17Germany because you have to really go
1:19back to the first world war which
1:23Germany and Austria I come from Austria
1:25from Vienna and Austria was a very very
1:28the most powerful country in Europe
1:30before the First World War and they
1:34where they lost the war of course with
1:36Turkey and and Italy and Germany and
1:41unfortunately the Allied poor terrible
1:44terrible condition of the Treaty of
1:46Versailles a peace treaty and those
1:49countries Austria and Germany became
1:52very very very poor you can't imagine my
1:55grandparents and my parents lived
1:57through this and they told me you know
1:59there was really no food no work people
2:02were barefoot in the snow and people
2:05were desperate it was a king Empire
2:09Austria became a republic and in Germany
2:13as well they the surveyman Republic who
2:16tried all kind of governments to put
2:19Germany went back on its feet but she
2:22never succeeded and so a man came and
2:25said I've a solution I can help I will
2:28put things back again and will become a
2:30very powerful state again and people
2:33were sold
2:34I said well we don't lose anything let
2:37him try and funnily enough he had a few
2:40good ideas like say Autobahn
2:43the motorway and the Volkswagen he said
2:47everybody will have a cars a beetle for
2:50expanding car for the people and things
2:53started to get better he probably had a
2:55lot of debt but it seems to to work a
2:58bit but to get his people behind him
3:01even more was there were a lot of Jews
3:04in Germany and Austria quite you know
3:08they say is every Jewish race which is
3:10of course not true at all but a lot of
3:13Jews had good position there were
3:14lawyers and doctors and surgeon and and
3:17actors and writers same in Austria and
3:22so Hitler thought if I accuse it use of
3:28episode say guilty of everything going
3:30wrong then I will get more people
3:32following me and that really did happen
3:34because deep down in most people
3:38unfortunately is still a little bit of
3:40anti-semitism and the other point was
3:43and that was very important Russia
3:46big powerful country had become
3:48communist and when a country super like
3:52Germany and Austria a lot of people were
3:55communists and there were street fights
3:57with the Nazi Party but Hitler said he's
4:01going to fight communism and that was a
4:05very important point because the Western
4:07world was really more afraid of
4:09communism then of the National national
4:14Hitler party and so even England's
4:18royalty at the time supported him and
4:21the Vatican supported him and everybody
4:25really admired Hitler and so this was a
4:29reason why instead of fighting Hitler
4:32they said let him come to powers and he
4:37will fight communism so in 1935-36 they
4:41could still have really got rid of
4:43Hitler the world but they didn't want to
4:47so this was really how he was able to
4:49succeed and in Austria so as I said I
4:53come from Vienna we had them we were
4:56Jewish but we were not really religious
4:59we did go to the High Holy Day but you
5:02know and in Austria as well you had to
5:04have religious education it was
5:07compulsory in school so everybody knew
5:10the Jewish children were called out from
5:12the class and we had Jewish education in
5:16our class and then we went back to the
5:18general class they had at the times of
5:22our only Catholics and Jewish people and
5:25so everybody knew who was a Jew and the
5:29minutes and Nazis marched in in in
5:32nineteen sin March 1938 the Austrians
5:36became phonetic nazis who stood in the
5:39street with a Heil Hitler salute and
5:41suddenly they all had swastika flags and
5:44you know Hitler promised them that they
5:47will be powerful and as I said Austria
5:49had become a tiny tiny country and so
5:52they were quite keen to join in Germany
5:55and become as powerful as Hitler
5:58promised them so we were lucky we were
6:01able to get out said was really against
6:04a problem where Hitler was able to kill
6:08the Jews because the world didn't one
6:11especially in 1938 when already many
6:14German Jews had left Germany and were
6:17settling in England and America when the
6:20Austrian Jews wanted to flee people
6:23didn't want them anymore so we lost many
6:26many of our family members some of them
6:30did get waves up to England some to
6:33America but my father had business in
6:36Holland and we left sent to come stir
6:39damned because in the felt war the First
6:40World War
6:41Holland was not in the war they bypassed
6:44it and many Jewish people thought well
6:47that will happen again nobody had
6:49imagined that Hitler was if you look on
6:52a map you will see but by 1941 really
6:56had more or less conquered the whole of
6:58Europe quite amazing
7:00and but in this time of course Hitler
7:04did go to Holland so we came to Holland
7:07actually quite late in February sooo
7:11Belgium live F us living in Belgium then
7:14we went to Holland in nineteen in
7:18February 1940 during the war the war was
7:22already declared but there was not much
7:24fighting actually going on because the
7:27fighting was really in Poland and so I
7:32settled we settled sir we lived on the
7:34Mavi de plan which has a big open square
7:38and the small apartments and no gardens
7:42and after school all the children came
7:45out to play in the street and I was 11
7:48years old and one day a little girl came
7:51to me and said her name was Anna Frank
7:54and of course at that time she was just
7:58one of my playmates the Frank family had
8:02come from Frankfurt from Germany and
8:04Otto Frank her father told me when in
8:091933 the Nazis walked through the
8:12streets singing when Jewish blood drips
8:17from our daggers then things will get
8:21better he realized this is not a country
8:24where I want to bring up a family and
8:26they were able to leave early in 1933 so
8:31Anna had not experienced any prejudice
8:34any discrimination
8:35she was quite different from me I had
8:38already experienced for several months
8:40in Austria very very bad anti-semitism
8:44and as well first in Belgium I was
8:47treated as a refugee you know at that
8:51time that was not so popular refugees
8:54didn't really exist like now people
8:56beaks from all kind of country in London
8:59specially you know you have people from
9:02all over the world but that was not at
9:04the time in the thirties and forties
9:07people stayed in their country if at all
9:10if they were possibility for that so
9:13refugees
9:14as if you came from the moon especially
9:17if you couldn't understand the language
9:19so at experience already a lot of
9:22prejudice had become very shy and
9:24withdrawn and Anna was very outgoing she
9:28was very popular I had an older brother
9:31when I told her I'm a process of 15
9:35years old she said when can I come and
9:37meet him because she was already if you
9:40read her diary she was already very
9:43interested in boys and I had their
9:46brothers or boys was nothing special for
9:49me you know so but we came big became
9:52friends but not best friend because I
9:54said you know I was quite a different at
9:57said time quite a different type from
9:59her and but unfortunately the Germans
10:03started their conquering of Europe and
10:06in May 1940 so after we had been only a
10:10few months in Amsterdam at night we
10:13heard aeroplanes and guns and we put on
10:16the radio and the news was terrible the
10:21announcer said the German are trying to
10:24invade our country but don't worry we
10:27are going to protect it but of course
10:29they had no ideas and might of the
10:32German army at the time and as well you
10:35know the war had changed the landed with
10:37lots of parachutes behind Holland is
10:41under sea level the flooded part of the
10:43country that's how they got out in the
10:46First World War the flooded it and then
10:48that army just passed the country but
10:51this time they landed behind the water
10:53land and they occupied there was a
10:55five-day war and it was the first time
10:58said the civilian city in this war had
11:02been bombed Rotterdam 10,000 casualties
11:06and the news came if you are not going
11:10to capitulate we are going to bomb all
11:12your cities of course the Dutch
11:15government couldn't accept that so after
11:18five days aside the peace treaty and the
11:21German army marched in we still try to
11:24get the boat that's a harbour to escape
11:26to England but it was
11:27late so we thought well we'll see what
11:33happened nothing happened so he's very
11:36happy we thought well perhaps nothing
11:38will happen in an occupied country said
11:41that said don't worry we'll protect you
11:43but slowly the measures against the
11:46Jewish population started to come it was
11:49imposed as it was in the newspapers it
11:51came over the radio and it was not
11:55life-threatening
11:56there were no attacks on Jews you were
12:00not allowed to go out in the evening
12:02late or in the morning you were not
12:04allowed on public transport
12:06well everybody had the bicycle it didn't
12:08really matter then you were not allowed
12:15to go on to cinemas or swimming pools
12:19and things like say not in theatres but
12:22you know we lived was not too bad but
12:25then we had to leave our schools and go
12:27to Jewish schools and it became a lot a
12:30much more difficult we were not allowed
12:32really to mix with non-jewish people not
12:36allowed to visit them not to go in their
12:38shops to back only in Jewish shop and
12:40then in the Jewish schools that started
12:44to becomes a real danger the Nazis came
12:47with trucks to a studio a school said to
12:53the kids not to the whole school but to
12:55some classes we have a track go down and
12:58the kids went on and in the evenings a
13:01parent's weight that was a children to
13:03turn up didn't turn up
13:06so when to say Abdurrahman police tried
13:09to find out where as a children didn't
13:12get an answer so shieldon were never
13:15ever seen again only after the war we
13:19heard such ever sent to Mauthausen i
13:21don't know if you've heard of that camp
13:23that was a very very terrible Austrian
13:26death camp and they were just thrown
13:29down from the cliffs but luckily we
13:32didn't know that at the time but
13:34nevertheless the children disappeared
13:37and then in 1942
13:4010,000 young people got the call-up
13:43notice to be deported to work in German
13:47factories and that was a time when many
13:51specially refugee parents decided you
13:55know forsake kills a killed German Jews
13:58and sends him to ghettos and then
14:00suddenly they once and back in Germany
14:02and they didn't trust said so my father
14:05called us together and he said I have
14:08spoken with some wonderful Dutch people
14:11you know every occupied country had the
14:15resistance movement meaning the people
14:18didn't want to be occupied and the
14:20formed groups and they did particular
14:24dangerous things but as well of the
14:27printed ration cards but as well the
14:29shot particularly bad Germans they blew
14:32up trains or cars where German was
14:36sitting in and all kinds of things but
14:39as well many of those people from the
14:41resistance offered their homes to keep
14:45Jewish families safe so my father said
14:48his contact made made with people from
14:51the resistance and they are willing to
14:55keep us safe there as long as the war
14:57will last at that time you know America
15:01already come in the war and my father
15:03said it won't be long perhaps just till
15:05Christmas and so he said but nobody's
15:10there apartments are quite small norther
15:13what he can take a family of four so we
15:16have to split up he said I will go with
15:19my mother and my father will take hands
15:22and I started to cry over 13 years at
15:25the time and I said no I don't want to
15:27be separated because we had been
15:30separated before and my father explained
15:34if we are in two different places the
15:37chance said two of us will survive is
15:40bigger he bends and survived and with 13
15:45that was the first time that I realized
15:48it might be a matter of life and death
15:50and when you're 13 that was
15:53actually quite scary but this is what
15:57happened we moved to this safe house and
16:02we were for two years in hiding at the
16:05same time when the Frank family because
16:08unless older sister Margot got the same
16:11call of notice as my brother he was 16
16:14so already was 16 they wanted to kill
16:18those people
16:19young people and because they were never
16:23sent those people who did go were never
16:26sent to Germany to work in German
16:28factories but server-sent again to mount
16:31housing and just murdered Sarah they
16:34were never ever seen again said that
16:36chef actually if ever you go to this
16:38camp if a huge huge monument for all
16:42those 10,000 and many more young that's
16:46Jewish people who were executed Celso
16:50down from the cliffs actually so we were
16:54for hiding in two years same as the
16:57Frank family
16:57we changed about seven times hiding
17:01places because the Germans knew that not
17:04everybody had appeared when they were
17:06called up and they really wanted to
17:08catch every Jew so at nights and knocked
17:11on doors people had to open
17:14they made house searches and tried to
17:18find said Jewish in hiding so in every
17:20hiding house we had them hiding place
17:24within the house again the people from
17:27the resistance came and made the false
17:29partition or sometimes under a
17:31floorboard so when the knock came we
17:34quickly went in there and hoping they
17:37wouldn't find us but you know the people
17:39who hid us
17:41if this happens very often they were
17:43nervous he didn't dare to sleep they
17:46said you have to change hiding place we
17:48can takes attention any longer so we
17:51moved around perhaps seven times in
17:53those two years the Frank family if
17:56you've read the diary they stayed in the
17:58same hiding place in Otto Frank's office
18:01nevertheless they're betrayed
18:03and my father and brother were living in
18:07the country at that time and the woman
18:09where they were staying that was in 1944
18:12force blackmailing them for more money
18:15well if you can't earn any money we had
18:20some savings and it was running out
18:23after two years and so my father said
18:27for my massive even attached on
18:29telephone and he said you must find us a
18:33hiding place because we can't stay with
18:36this woman
18:36and it was very very difficult to find
18:39hiding places because many people have
18:41been arrested many didn't want to do it
18:44anymore even that's young people were
18:47picked up from the street and went into
18:49hiding and so it took my mother touch
18:52with the resistance about three weeks to
18:55find a safe place and it was at that
18:58nurse he came forward saying she has a
19:01safe high her house and it turned out
19:04she was actually a double agent and she
19:08got my father and brother to his house
19:10but two days later they were arrested
19:14the Nazis came in via own keys in this
19:17house his nurse betrayed 200 Jewish
19:20people and after the wars of us a court
19:23case against her and she only got four
19:26years but what happened was because we
19:31were betrayed at the same time I had
19:35been very very miserable in hiding and
19:38occasionally my mother and mean we
19:40looked very Dutch
19:41blond hair and blue eyes so the
19:44occasionally Witek such a chance to
19:46visit my father and brother and sister
19:49place where we're now in Amsterdam was
19:52very near where we were staying so on
19:55the Sunday we went to visit them said
19:57they went yet God Sarah and on Tuesday
20:01Elevens made lost my 15th birthday and
20:04we were sitting down at breakfast and
20:06there was a knock on the door in the
20:08morning morning was always safe and
20:11manatsu stormed in and went straight to
20:14us and took us away
20:16so it turned out of course when we had
20:19been with it knows it at the time but
20:22what had happened that followed us when
20:25we had visited my father and brother and
20:27so the new wave events it took us away
20:30so it was on a Wednesday we were in
20:34Eva's intergate that they were speeding
20:36up really very hearts I wanted to know
20:38for me who had helped us those two years
20:41but ever since shock and I didn't really
20:44say anything eventually they let me go
20:47then we were up the first few nights
20:49within a prison which was terrible and
20:53then we were take it to a holding camp
20:55and on Friday we were already put on a
20:59list to be deported eastward and that
21:02really meant really bad news because we
21:06knew about the camps in Germany and
21:09Poland the BBC had sent broadcast out
21:12you were not allowed to listen to
21:14foreign radio only to Dutch radio and
21:18German radio because they told lies
21:21about the war but the British radio the
21:24BBC of course told about what was really
21:27going on and I remember all the people
21:30were hiding had a little bakelite radio
21:33hidden in the cupboard so that nobody
21:35would hear and at nine o'clock said
21:38Dutch language broadcast came out and it
21:41started always we started that that said
21:45this is a BBC from London and we were
21:47glued on to so he is a news and one
21:53things they're always mentioned that 300
21:56des camps in Germany and Poland and our
22:00streets was always mentioned as the
22:02biggest where Jewish people were
22:04systematically began guests so we were
22:09taken in a cattle truck you might have
22:12seen pictures of sets it's really good
22:14trains we're not from human
22:16transportation at all but I'm about 80
22:20people were pushed in there and there's
22:23a tiny little arms opening for air two
22:28buckets one for
22:30toilets and one for clean water and so
22:34the train was set in motion and it was
22:38terrible but was the last time but we
22:41are together as a family and my father
22:44with tears in his eyes it was for him
22:50you know for a family men said he
22:53couldn't really protect us anymore he
22:55said you'll be on your own now he killed
22:58us how he should look after each other
23:00and hygiene and you know later had to
23:04laugh talking about hygiene you know was
23:06no possibility to keep anything clean or
23:09whatever and but he you know we didn't
23:13know where we were going and severe
23:15labor camps a chance that we would go
23:17peps to a labor camp was still a
23:19possibility and my brother tell you a
23:23little bit about him he was actually a
23:26wonderful musician already as a four
23:28year old he could play piano and he
23:31composed but in hiding yet to be very
23:34very quiet so he started to paint and he
23:37created some amazing paint work and he
23:41told me that was actually the last
23:43conversation that with him said before
23:46they escape from this womanhood
23:48blackmails them he hits the paintings
23:51under the floorboard with a notice on it
23:54that belongs to the Henson age Gallina
23:57and after the war is coming to pick it
24:00up again and he said to me you'll be
24:02amazed what I've done for oil paintings
24:05and then eventually the train stopped
24:10and the doors were thrown open and we
24:13saw we went out streets
24:15well we really thought this is the end
24:20of our lives you can imagine how you
24:22feel the next command was men and women
24:26anybody have you been in Auschwitz at
24:28all
24:28Mecca Nam it's a huge huge area perhaps
24:33ten square mile and about several camps
24:36our sweets versa that's a well-known
24:38name that was a big man camp but be a
24:42canal was a women camp said was with
24:45small wooden barracks our sweets was the
24:49Polish officers used to live here before
24:52the war but beer Canal was a women where
24:55was a new bit which they built actually
24:57for Russian prisoners at first and it
25:00was just wooden barracks nothing in it
25:03and they built some banks banks there
25:06but I'll tell you a bit later about that
25:10so um and the first so the men had to
25:14walk away to them through our streets
25:16and we've NB a-- canal and you can
25:20imagine the saying goodbye to people
25:22perhaps you will never ever see them on
25:25earth again so that was of course a very
25:28very emotional moment and my father I
25:31will never forget said he took me by the
25:33hands and looked at me and said God will
25:37protect you and it made an impression on
25:40me because you know it was not religious
25:42but I suppose at this moment that was
25:45the only thing he could hand me over to
25:47God to look after me and then they
25:50walked away and then there was big
25:54silent and then we heard whisper dr.
25:57mengele dr. Mengele he was a Kemp doctor
26:00a proper medical man but he wasn't there
26:03to help people but he was there to
26:06decide who was going to die and who was
26:09going to live and the next commanders
26:13rows of five so we had to everything was
26:16row so fast
26:17had to stand in a hall so fast and he
26:19came and just with a fraction of a
26:22second he looked at you and he decided
26:24society as they said life or death and
26:29that was the first miracle that happened
26:32my mother had a head and coat and she
26:35gave it to me and I didn't want to wear
26:37it was a very hot May Day and she said
26:40yeah perhaps it will come in handy come
26:43in handy you know when we're going to be
26:46killed because that's what we really saw
26:47still she
26:49to me and that had a big limb and when
26:52this Mengele looked at me he didn't
26:55really see how young I was
26:56and that's what saved my life at the
26:59trust election
27:00many many girls who were over 16 and 17
27:04were taken to the wrong side and then we
27:08were marched into a big big barrack and
27:11the next command unless completely naked
27:13and the Nazis a young SS Becerra guns
27:18pointing at us laughed about our
27:21embarrassment and then we had to of go
27:26in front of a table with the altitudes
27:30we were told you're not a human being
27:32you're just a kettle who gets a number
27:35and if ever we need you we want you
27:38you're going to be called out bad number
27:40forget you have a name then our our head
27:43was shaved and that there about six
27:46hundred people and well this happened
27:48that took all long and we were
27:50registered name and everything
27:52the documentary exactly everything was
27:56written down and actually ever a few
28:00years ago in Auschwitz I never shown
28:02those books because their names were
28:05when I came in but had said and as
28:08wellif found their names they showed me
28:10that of my father and brother his number
28:13which barracks aware but work so we're
28:17doing everything was really registered
28:19quite amazing of course all those
28:21records when the Russia invaded the
28:24Poland took them but most of its have
28:26given back and if you go there and you
28:29have contact you have family then you
28:32can go and look at all those the
28:35barracks I aren't use not administration
28:37and everything is there it's the records
28:41and then there are people who denies
28:43that it has happened where there's so
28:46much proof that it all has happened
28:49anyway and welts all this happened said
28:52told us and this is what they object
28:54most and that was extra loyalties it
28:58didn't have to do that
28:59she told us with much laughter that's a
29:02family who went to the other side
29:05we're told they were going to have a
29:06shower and some segue even given soap
29:10and a towel and the stood there and of
29:14course no water came but gas and within
29:1815 minutes of a dead so can you imagine
29:20a mother who had just been separated
29:23from a toddler or from her even teenage
29:28daughter or a daughter who had been
29:31separated from a mother how they felt
29:33when they knew what had happened to them
29:35and then when all this was then all our
29:39hair was shaved still make it they told
29:43us then and now it's your turn to go to
29:45the shower where we didn't want to go
29:47but they called reinforcements and if
29:49they're pushed it into a barrack but
29:51this was a shower block so we had our
29:54shower and then we were taken out to our
29:56barrack and as I says this was only
30:00built for temporary that was just low
30:03wooden barracks with bunks on each side
30:06three high just wooden structures about
30:10as big as his platform and ten people
30:14had to sleep in there you had now no
30:17procession oh yeah before when we came
30:21out of the shower we passed a big heap
30:24of clothes and we were sold one garment
30:26which never fitted you could have been a
30:29winter coat overnight dress and on the
30:32next hip you got two shoes that was all
30:34the possessions we ever had in the
30:37morning we were got our breakfast which
30:41was a little mark of liquid in the
30:44evening we got a chunk of bread that was
30:47all you ever got you got no lunch you
30:52had to make do and some people wanted to
30:54keep this bread for the morning so that
30:57they would have for the day but you had
30:59nowhere to keep anything so the only
31:02place
31:03fast asleep put your head or Nathan's a
31:05night but what happens not not the first
31:08week or so but afterwards people were so
31:11hungry
31:11said say under your head said just ate
31:15it away
31:16so that was no solution so you had only
31:19in the evening you had a piece of bread
31:21and that is what you had to keep going
31:25it is a miracle that my mother and me
31:28survived the many more little miracle
31:34happens I've saw my father at one
31:37occasion on the other side of the fence
31:40oh I knew that he hadn't been selected
31:42at Bourassa
31:43he told me my brother was safe but the
31:46worst time what happened to me was the
31:51worst worse expiry for get any even
31:55little detail about what has happened
31:57that we were full of lies and once a
32:02week with a deal oust having a shower
32:04and so we came out of the shower naked
32:08and there was Mengele and the selection
32:10was taking place it happened from time
32:13to time and that might have been we
32:16didn't know of course which months it
32:17was it no it was starting to be cold or
32:19it must have been back to October and so
32:23I walked naked in front of Mengele and
32:28he let me sue and then my mother she was
32:33a rather tall lady and like any mother
32:36would do she variate often give me a
32:39piece of obliteration and she had become
32:41quite Sidon and she really didn't look
32:46very well and so he looked at yet to
32:49turn around in front of him and his
32:52forties at vasila or Dutch transport but
32:5440 women from our dance dance but she
32:57was selected out to be guests and I
33:01still run to her to say goodbye and one
33:04of those copper sauce rather poorly
33:06supervisors beat me with a stick over
33:09the back you are not allowed to say
33:10goodbye
33:11and we were separated but so a miracle
33:16my mother was saved but I didn't know
33:19that
33:19and it became winter and I was very very
33:26desperate
33:26I had frostbite on my toes I was
33:30starving I was freezing and I was called
33:34out and I thought well this is now
33:38someone a couple wants me or you know a
33:40Nazi wants me for something and I went
33:43trembling outside and just took my
33:45father this is SS boss he told me his
33:50boss took him over
33:51can you imagine there were thousands and
33:54thousands and thousands of people many
33:56many camps ABCD with many barracks how
34:00he knew where I was I have no idea and
34:04the first question he asked me of course
34:07is where is mu T mother and I told them
34:11she had been selected you should have
34:14seen his face he crumbled in front of my
34:16face and we both cried and you know it
34:22was terrible to tell him that but he
34:24gave me then a little bit of hope he
34:26said bye brother was okay the war will
34:29soon finished will soon be together
34:31again
34:31and mummy mu T will protect us and you
34:35know it so and we cried and cried and
34:38then and so he came still twice and then
34:41I never saw him again and in the
34:44meantime of course the Russian way
34:45approaching and the Germans took
34:49everydays emptied barracks of people and
34:52they marched out on foot it was winter
34:56it was snowing there was peaks Lloyd was
34:58one of the coldest wind on records and
35:02people were marched into Germany or
35:05Austria and again by luck my mother and
35:09maybe very United again sort of a very
35:12miraculous stories we were together and
35:17we decided we wouldn't go on those
35:19marches because we were too weak we
35:22would never have made it
35:23and this is because we stayed in
35:26Auschwitz so to stay in Auschwitz really
35:28saved our lives one morning that must
35:32have been January we woke up in and it
35:37was very very quiet no dogs barking no
35:40shouting and we went outside and the
35:44Germans had left fled because the
35:47Russians were approaching actually they
35:51were not set near so we are about ten
35:53days away we've had 10 days on our own
35:56many many people still died from
35:59starvation and from the cold and I was
36:02one still of the strongest people you
36:05know we couldn't bury people we had to
36:07just carry them out from the barrack and
36:09heaps him up behind the back you can
36:12imagine everything was frozen the snow
36:14was set high there was a little pond
36:17outside we have event two hectares to
36:19get a bit of water we found bits of food
36:23bit of bread there was the barracks
36:26where a lot of things were stored so we
36:28were not starving but it was just
36:30uncooked cold bits of food and every day
36:35we lost many many of our people and then
36:39it was 27 I mean we didn't know it was
36:4127 of January which is Holocaust
36:44Memorial Day which is a day which to say
36:47liberation of Auschwitz by the Russians
36:50and indeed the Russians came and put up
36:55a field kitchen their state reserve
36:57troops with their horses and their
37:00gardens and everything and that was the
37:02first time we got the proper food and
37:05they gave us or metal containers and
37:09filled it up with very greasy cabbage
37:12soup but the smell nearly drove us met
37:15can you imagine we had no had no food
37:17just bits of bread for nine months and
37:21you know food was people ask me of what
37:25did you talk when you were talking only
37:27about food what we would eat if ever we
37:30get out again and there we ate that ate
37:33this greasy greasy cabbage soup
37:36and in the morning many people had died
37:39from eating because the body had just
37:41had not such things to digest the food
37:44and I spent a terrible night on a bucket
37:47because the food just ran so me and then
37:52the Russians left again and we're
37:54pursuing the Nazis and so I decided I
37:59would go to Auschwitz men came to try to
38:01find my father and brother and so events
38:04was a snow it was about three miles
38:06walking and I found it it was all very
38:09treacherous journey and then there's a
38:12rush air that sort of made the
38:14headquarters and looked all around in
38:17the barracks and I found two people who
38:20looked familiar
38:21and I went to the one and I look he
38:23looked very acid and kidney but there
38:27was something familiar and I said I
38:29think I know you and he said well I'm
38:32Otto Frank and his father and then you
38:35Eva gaving uh said yes have you seen my
38:38father or my brother he said yes but
38:40they've gone with the Germans because
38:43when the Germans fled they took most of
38:46the people with them still after the war
38:50Scioscia called said des marches because
38:53most people perished you can imagine
38:55under faith to walk perhaps days perhaps
38:59weak people couldn't make Seth but I
39:04didn't that knows that you know I said
39:06well the war will soon finish and my
39:08father and father will still be all
39:10right and then the Russians took us away
39:13from there and that we travelled for
39:16four months mr. Russian going eastward
39:19we couldn't go back yet the war wasn't
39:21finished and I must say the Russians
39:23treated us very very well with respect
39:26to fed us they gave us Koshien uniforms
39:29and looked after us very very well till
39:33we ended up in odessa eventually which
39:36is not the oak rain and there we waited
39:39for the end of the war and when that
39:41came of course
39:42service great you belay shion's that we
39:45had made it
39:46but we were still very anxious to get
39:48back home and eventually became a New
39:51Zealand tube transport ship and we
39:55travel through the Mediterranean to
39:57Marseilles then up so so the whole of
40:00France and back into Poland again and
40:03there we waited for news and when that
40:06came that was of course very very bad it
40:10said and we got set in July so we got
40:13back in June so we traveled from end of
40:16January till June we really travelled
40:19around all over Europe really and and
40:23Russia and the letter forms that had
40:27cause said very we're not very emotional
40:31we have to tell you that your husband is
40:33gay and your son hands getting perished
40:36in Mauthausen this terrible Austrian
40:39death scam several days before the
40:43American army came to liberate that camp
40:46well this was the last straw I had
40:50really hoped that we would be a family
40:53again and eventually life could go back
40:56to normality we're men that would never
40:59ever happen I became very very depressed
41:03and Otto Frank came as well to tell us
41:06about theater tow-ready ons he was with
41:09us on this transport all the time and he
41:11had heard that his wife had died but he
41:14had great hope for two girls and he got
41:17as well he met actually two people who
41:20had been there when his daughter's they
41:23were taken away from Auschwitz if they
41:25would have stayed in Auschwitz they
41:27would have been liberated in January
41:29where they were still okay and they
41:31would have survived but if they were
41:34taken outside were taken to back in
41:36Belgium and the diet said in April the
41:40sing in April are not sure of course
41:42exact date as well a few days before the
41:46British people with these soldiers
41:49liberate that set camp he was 57 years
41:53old at the time and after he left us
41:55telling us his news my mother and me
41:58said
41:59how can this man carry on with his life
42:01he has nothing nothing left and he
42:03always used to say the only thing I have
42:06is the clothes on my body have nothing
42:08else everything is lost and a few days
42:11later he came again with a little parcel
42:13on his arm and he said I must show you
42:17something
42:18and unless daddy had been safe that's
42:21another little story and and he said can
42:25I read you something and he opened it
42:28and he was very very emotional he
42:30started to read the sentence but he
42:32always burst into tears
42:34it took him three weeks to read it
42:36through and he said you know I didn't
42:39know my own daughter he was very
42:41surprised about what Anna's written
42:43about not about what happens a daily cig
42:47but about and that is as personally I
42:50think the interesting part of that she
42:53had an opinion of humanity of woman's
42:56right about religion you know she really
43:01was already a little philosopher but I'm
43:05running out of time I just want to tell
43:07you that Otto and my mother became great
43:11friends and when I finished school I was
43:15still very depressed and I didn't know
43:16what to do with my life and Otto and my
43:19mother decided I should become a
43:21photographer and I didn't really care
43:24and Otto knew somebody in London who at
43:26the photographic studio and they came
43:29here for a year become an apprentice and
43:34I met a young man who had come from
43:37Israel to study economics and we fell in
43:41love and after six months he said to me
43:44Eva will you marry me and we can start a
43:48new life and go to Israel and I said no
43:50thank you
43:54and I said I didn't tell him who I was I
43:58didn't tell him I'd be in a camp or
44:00anything and I told him ever stats which
44:03I wasn't ever actually still stateless
44:05he told me he was an Israeli he was a
44:08German refugee as well but so otto fake
44:14kept an eye on me and he came over one
44:17day and I told him this young man has
44:19asked me to marry him but I said no
44:22because I'm going back to my mother and
44:24he was a bit embarrassed and he said
44:27well your mother and me have fallen in
44:29love as well and once you get married we
44:32like to get married so I went back to
44:34this young man and I said you can marry
44:37me now
44:40and that's what we did we came to
44:44Amsterdam fear we went to Amsterdam and
44:46got married here in Amsterdam but my
44:50mother asked him not to take me to
44:52Israel because you know at that time you
44:55had to go by boat or you didn't fly and
45:00was expensive my mother said that I'll
45:02never be able to see of us the only
45:04member of the family so we decided we
45:08would stay in England so that's where we
45:11were still here and we have lost three
45:13daughters and five grandchildren who of
45:16course born in England and so this is
45:20part of my life but I never spoke about
45:23my experience till 40 years afterwards
45:28it was really too difficult and that is
45:31what most Holocaust survivors you know
45:33at first when we came back I wanted to
45:36tell people how terribly it was but
45:38people didn't want to know people said
45:41we all have suffered let's just move on
45:43but then later after 20-30 years people
45:46started to question but then we were not
45:48ready but I think I started to speak
45:53when I realized that the world hadn't
45:55really learned anything there's still a
45:57lot of wars and discrimination and we
46:02really have to change our ways and this
46:05is where I really started to speak and
46:08about three books in the meantime and
46:10speak a lot now spent most of my time
46:13actually talking all over but I'm
46:17getting on and most of the I was 15 I
46:19was ever sorry when from the youngest
46:21survivors really and every day I hear
46:24about somebody dying so we are not here
46:28forever and so it will be used a young
46:30people the students who are here to
46:32carries a story on to tell future
46:36generation of what has happened well
46:39thank you very very much for your
47:09thank you thank you for joining us and
47:11thank you for telling such a powerful
47:13story we'll move straight questions from
47:15the audience in interest of time I'm so
47:18the first question I'll recognize that
47:19lashes on was actually the president of
47:21the Oxford about Society
47:23thank you so much miss lot yeah thank
47:25you so much for presenting this is quite
47:29a amazing story and I wonder now when
47:34you would call it back and you analyze
47:36the future why do you think is the
47:38Jewish people relation to the non-jews
47:39gonna be the next 10 20 and 50 years
47:44well you know I hope that people would
47:47come to their senses and realize that
47:49we're all human beings we can all live
47:52very very well in harmony together and
47:55what our personal religion or personal
48:00opinion is it's nobody's business we can
48:02live our own life and still be a
48:04wonderful community and share our
48:06thoughts but obviously we are not ready
48:10till now to accept this but I think you
48:15know the young people have have great
48:19hope for the new generations that things
48:22will change so so but Beth experience
48:25I'm still an optimist settings is going
48:27to go better and everything's really
48:30improved relationship between different
48:33people thank you next question we'll go
48:37to the member just over there in the
48:39third row just a few sentences we are
48:46both I am here from I'm here with my
48:49husband and we are post four children
48:52but our parents went through Holocaust
48:56so we understand very well through what
49:00you went and the other sentence will be
49:02can I congratulate you
49:05is today your 90th birthday no not mine
49:08and just rest
49:09so very shortly well at an 89 18 and and
49:15but in 11th of May first my 18 and
49:18stress okay so next now
49:20okay congratulation anyway but tomorrow
49:23would be enough thanks 89th birthday and
49:27it's actually in London a little well I
49:32don't know if it's a party but they
49:34event for Annan thank you I'm even the
49:43past decade has seen the rise of
49:45populism characterized by nationalism in
49:48xenophobia in the West with the
49:50right-wing governments in Austria Italy
49:52being the latest examples political
49:55opponents regularly charge populist
49:56movements and their leaders are being
49:58fascist sometimes even drawing
50:00comparisons 12 doff Hitler in this party
50:03how do you view the rise of populism in
50:05the West well I think it it has become a
50:10danger but I still think they are not
50:14powerful enough yet to take over and you
50:18know as I say I'm an optimist and I
50:20think people really are less at sea I'm
50:22not really changing the world was a
50:25better and people will amines are in
50:28power but they're not all-powerful and
50:30this is important you know one sam adds
50:33a majority then there might be of danger
50:35but they are not and the thing people
50:38say also parties are still powerful
50:40enough to I mean there's no government
50:43who is no government is racist anywhere
50:46it's a moment and that is importance
50:50this is for the Hitler time it came from
50:53the top and the people followed and now
50:56it is the people but as long as the
50:59government will forbid like here where
51:00there is anything at all in America
51:02wherever is anything anti-semitism it is
51:06being punished thank you so one of your
51:09most recent efforts to ensure the
51:11Holocaust will not be forgotten by
51:13future generations constituted the
51:15recording of you for virtual reality
51:18answers to numerous questions using
51:20holographic technology
51:22a little bit about that before how did
51:24this initiative come about and how does
51:27holographic technology enhance the
51:28impact of yours and other people's
51:30stories well in California a part from
51:36the Spielberg organization realized that
51:41we won't be around much longer
51:43and people have wallets at them the
51:46story will be watered down or even
51:49eventually be forgotten and so they
51:51decided they would get as many as
51:55possible all of our victims from
51:59different camps from different ghettos
52:01from different kind of not not just
52:05Jewish people from all the genocides to
52:08take them to a hologram technically I
52:11don't quite know how it goes
52:13but I was in California sitting in a
52:15huge huge globe with hundred and sixteen
52:19cameras and Evers asked a whole week I
52:23was asked a thousand questions about my
52:26experience which have all been recorded
52:28and I'm sitting now at the moment in New
52:32York in a museum just sitting still like
52:36that and schools and people come in and
52:39can ask me a different question but it
52:42must be any of the solid questions which
52:45have answer so it must be questioned
52:47about my experience in the Holocaust and
52:50they have as I says they have many many
52:52people already interviewed so from
52:54different different places in the world
52:58and so those people will be able to
53:01repeat this answer like when you ask me
53:04questions now but I was just saying
53:07before of course they have to know first
53:10the story of the Holocaust so it has to
53:12be taught in schools and I hope it will
53:16happen in America friends have just
53:18heard only six states in America it's
53:21compulsory to teach the Holocaust so
53:24that's not really enough so I hope it
53:28will be a general world all of
53:31and I mean I just got from the uh no
53:33Frank house in Amsterdam said seventeen
53:36million people have sis year looked at
53:39their website so that is an enormous
53:44amount so now with all this website and
53:48with all that of course you can tell a
53:49lot of things but people have to be
53:51interested people have to look at it and
53:55you know it's not going to saver let's
53:57say you have to it's not as if to go to
54:00school and they're taught so they have
54:01to have the initiative to be interested
54:04in it so - technology of course as sings
54:07the story can be kept alive which is
54:10very very important thank you um we have
54:14time for one final question so we'll go
54:16to the lady all the way in the back you
54:22mentioned your brother's paintings that
54:24he left in the house did he ever have
54:26the opportunity to go back and have a
54:28look whether they're still there and in
54:30general to revisit those places that
54:32were influential for your life during
54:34the war well after Auto God said diary I
54:39realized the only thing we have from
54:42hands are his paintings and but we were
54:45reluctant to go to his house to this
54:47woman who will really sue her
54:49blackmailing all this has happened to us
54:51but luckily she had disappeared and
54:55other people moved and yes I did get the
54:5830 paintings and I had them for a long
55:00time but a few years ago I donated them
55:05to the resistance Museum in Amsterdam
55:07and they made a big exhibition and but I
55:12have copies made and in South Africa's I
55:16made an exhibition now about his life
55:18and his paintings and we have we have
55:21got a copy here in Britain now in the
55:25Jewish Museum and if you're a teacher so
55:28you can it's a traveling exhibition you
55:31can ask for it and you can get it and
55:34the university can get it as well and
55:37it's a not just his painting but his
55:40life and as well he wrote many poems
55:44very emotional and yes so that I keep
55:48his life that he hasn't lived for
55:52nothing and that is really a saying but
55:54we all want that when we die that we
55:57haven't lived for nothing's that we
55:59leave something behind
56:00and in yatris MZ Israel Holocaust Museum
56:04they really tried to find the six
56:07million names at least so that at least
56:10the name of everybody is recorded who
56:12perished at this terrible event thank
56:17you unfortunately that's all we have
56:19time for this evening please join me in
56:20thanking Eva schloss for joining us
56:22today
56:36you

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