Remembering the Holocaust: Anne Frank’s step-sister Eva Schloss — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:13Hello.
- 0:14My name is Jonah Albert and I'm a
- 0:16cultural event producer at the British
- 0:18Library. And I would like to welcome you
- 0:20to this special event to mark Holocaust
- 0:22Memorial Day.
- 0:24It is our pleasure to have Eva Schloss
- 0:27in conversation with Tim Robertson this
- 0:30evening.
- 0:32We would like to extend a warm welcome
- 0:33to those of you joining us from the
- 0:35Living Knowledge Network, a network of
- 0:37libraries across the country. But before
- 0:40we start, some housekeeping. Above me,
- 0:43you will see three tabs. You can use one
- 0:45of them to buy Eva's book,
- 0:49the other to donate to the British
- 0:51Library. The British Library is a
- 0:53charity.
- 0:54And the third to send us feedback,
- 0:57particularly on our virtual events.
- 1:00Below the video,
- 1:02you can see a form that will enable you
- 1:04to send questions which Eva will answer
- 1:07towards the end of the event.
- 1:09The event is being speech-to-text
- 1:11captioned. You can turn this on by
- 1:14clicking on the tab below the video.
- 1:19Please welcome Tim Robertson, who has
- 1:21been the chief executive of the Anne
- 1:23Frank Trust UK since 2018.
- 1:27His previous roles included director of
- 1:29the Royal Society of Literature and
- 1:31chief executive of Koestler Trust for
- 1:34arts in prison. He's also been a
- 1:36children's social worker in the London
- 1:38Borough of Camden. Ladies and gentlemen,
- 1:41please welcome Tim Robertson.
- 1:44Jonah, thank you very much indeed for
- 1:46that welcome. Um everybody watching,
- 1:49it's going to be my great honor this
- 1:51evening to introduce you to Eva Schloss.
- 1:54Um as Jonah said, I uh I'm the chief
- 1:56executive at the Anne Frank Trust UK. Uh
- 2:00and it's a real personal pleasure for me
- 2:02to be at the British Library again. I
- 2:03live just across the street on Judd
- 2:05Street, and I've had a long connection
- 2:06with the with the library in my previous
- 2:08role at the Royal Society of Literature,
- 2:11uh we set up an event partnership with
- 2:13the library, which is still flourishing.
- 2:14It's a great pleasure to be here.
- 2:17Um uh
- 2:18and the library also has some connection
- 2:20with Anne Frank. You may know that in
- 2:22the forecourt there is a tree planted in
- 2:25Anne Frank's memory, and there are no
- 2:27fewer than two statues of Anne Frank
- 2:30inside the library. Pray God for the day
- 2:32when we can all actually get into the
- 2:34building again. Uh both of them uh one
- 2:36in near the education center, one
- 2:38downstairs, both of them bronze statues
- 2:40of Anne Frank.
- 2:42Uh now, Anne Frank was
- 2:44uh and her family were Jewish refugees
- 2:48from Nazi Germany. And they fled in the
- 2:51mid-1930s to Holland, uh and only to
- 2:55find that Holland was invaded by the
- 2:58Nazis in 1940. And a couple of years
- 3:01after that, when anti-Semitism had
- 3:03completely taken over the society around
- 3:07them, they were forced into hiding. And
- 3:10they hid for with four other Jewish
- 3:13people, so uh um Anne and her parents
- 3:16and her sister. Uh for nearly two uh for
- 3:19over two years,
- 3:21uh the time in when Anne Frank was aged
- 3:2313 to 15, during which time she wrote a
- 3:26diary about her experiences.
- 3:30But the Franks were betrayed and
- 3:33deported by the Nazis to concentration
- 3:36camps, and all of them died apart from
- 3:40uh Anne's father, Otto.
- 3:43And they were among the 6 million Jewish
- 3:46people who were murdered by the Nazis in
- 3:49the Holocaust,
- 3:51uh along with millions of people others
- 3:54whom Nazis deemed to be unacceptable
- 3:58human beings.
- 4:00And the worst of those death camps where
- 4:04the the Nazis sent people was Auschwitz
- 4:07which was liberated by the Soviet Army
- 4:09on the 27th of January 1945
- 4:14and the 27th of January is the date that
- 4:16we mark as Holocaust Memorial Day
- 4:19which is actually in a couple of days
- 4:21time and in fact this year
- 4:23the the the the national event Holocaust
- 4:26Memorial Day run by the Holocaust
- 4:27Memorial Day Trust is open to all of us.
- 4:29You can go online to see that event if
- 4:32you want to and Holocaust Memorial Day
- 4:34Trust have asked for all of us to light
- 4:38a candle in our windows at 8:00 on
- 4:41Thursday evening to remember those who
- 4:43perished in the Holocaust and subsequent
- 4:46genocides.
- 4:48Anne Frank though after the war her
- 4:51diary was discovered and published and
- 4:53it's begun on in three ways to become
- 4:55quite astonishing culturally,
- 4:57politically and educationally.
- 4:59Culturally the most astonishing world
- 5:01phenomenon 36 million copies sold one of
- 5:04the most beloved books in the world
- 5:06radio programs, TV programs, films and
- 5:08astonishing array of different cultural
- 5:11manifestations. Politically an
- 5:13inspiration to JF Kennedy to Barack
- 5:15Obama to Nelson Mandela to Vaclav Havel
- 5:18to all kinds of liberal and liberating
- 5:22thinkers and leaders.
- 5:24And educationally and there are Anne
- 5:28Frank educational organizations all
- 5:30around the world and at the Anne Frank
- 5:31Trust UK we are the one that's the
- 5:33British branch and we take Anne Frank's
- 5:37story into schools across Britain and
- 5:40use that as a means to educate about all
- 5:45forms of prejudice and discrimination.
- 5:47We have workshops on anti-Semitism,
- 5:49homophobia, Islamophobia, sexism and and
- 5:52so on and now Anne Frank Young
- 5:54Ambassadors become amazing spokespeople
- 5:56for a fairer and more equal world.
- 5:59But they're always grounded in that
- 6:03knowledge of the Holocaust. Uh and we
- 6:07were founded by a survivor of the
- 6:10Holocaust, by Eva Schloss.
- 6:13And Eva's story, as you will hear this
- 6:16evening, intersects in various ways with
- 6:18Anne Frank's and is different in some
- 6:21other ways. Uh and um
- 6:24you uh Eva will is going to talk for
- 6:27about 40 minutes to tell her story.
- 6:30And uh she will then answer some
- 6:33questions, which you have on your
- 6:35screen, the details of how to submit
- 6:37your questions to us. Uh and if you want
- 6:40to know more about Eva, you'll see also
- 6:43that you can buy her book. She's written
- 6:44three books, actually, but uh the the
- 6:47the latest and uh and the the fullest of
- 6:49telling her story is called After
- 6:51Auschwitz.
- 6:53Uh and so it's my very great pleasure,
- 6:56as always, to welcome the co-founder and
- 6:59honorary president of the Anne Frank
- 7:01Trust UK, Eva Schloss. Eva.
- 7:05Where will you begin your story? I would
- 7:08imagine in your childhood
- 7:11in Vienna in the 1930s.
- 7:15Um well, good evening, everybody. Um
- 7:18it's an honor for me to be speaking in
- 7:20the British Library.
- 7:22And um yes, I have a big story,
- 7:25unfortunately rather sad. Um I actually
- 7:30usually start, like you say, in in
- 7:33Vienna, but as this is a different kind
- 7:36of talk because we remember the
- 7:39liberation of Auschwitz. And I am one of
- 7:43the very very few if at all anymore
- 7:46people who were there and have survived
- 7:50till this day. Um and so I really would
- 7:54like to start with sort of the end of
- 7:57this terrible part of my life.
- 8:01But it was the quite the end because you
- 8:02will hear in my story.
- 8:05Um it was February um um
- 8:10It was Sorry, it was January 1945.
- 8:14The camp Auschwitz had been partly
- 8:17evacuated already. Many many days Nazis
- 8:22took uh empty barracks in the men camp
- 8:25and the women's camp. I was actually in
- 8:27Birkenau. If you have ever been to those
- 8:30complexes of camps, so there were many
- 8:33many camp. So there Auschwitz main camp
- 8:36the big one, then was Birkenau which was
- 8:41um
- 8:42very very big but it was different. It
- 8:44was constructed just 1940 for more
- 8:49prisoners and it was very basic just
- 8:52wooden barracks with um
- 8:55barracks no furniture and no toilets and
- 8:58no water in it and um very very
- 9:01primitive quite different from Auschwitz
- 9:04which was proper brick buildings with um
- 9:08single bunks and as well washrooms and
- 9:12uh tables and cupboards where people
- 9:15could be their belongings.
- 9:17So um
- 9:19we realized it was winter. It was very
- 9:22very cold. The snow was perhaps a meter
- 9:26high
- 9:27and uh very often we walked without
- 9:29shoes. I had terrible frostbite on my
- 9:32feet I could hardly walk. I was at at
- 9:35time in a barrack together with my
- 9:37mother.
- 9:39Later I will tell you that wasn't always
- 9:41the case.
- 9:43And um
- 9:44we didn't know what was going on.
- 9:46Sometimes we were called to work,
- 9:48sometimes we were stayed in the
- 9:50barracks. It was chaos.
- 9:52And then one night the Nazis called out
- 9:55again. We were in the barrack trying to
- 9:57sleep and said, "Everybody out. We are
- 10:00going to leave the camp. We are going to
- 10:04march."
- 10:06And um
- 10:07so everybody got out of the barrack. My
- 10:09mother was very very weak. We stood in
- 10:12the cold, shivering, hardly with any
- 10:15clothes on. And then there was an air
- 10:18raid.
- 10:19The Russians obviously were near and
- 10:21were investigating this area.
- 10:24So um
- 10:26they said, "We are not marching. We
- 10:28can't walk marching in air raid." Back.
- 10:31And this was the whole night in and out,
- 10:33in and out.
- 10:35Um after about five, six attempt like
- 10:38this, my mother said, "I just can't get
- 10:41out anymore. We'll just stay. We take a
- 10:44chance on it."
- 10:46And I said, "Okay." I was as well
- 10:47exhausted. And we fell asleep, deep
- 10:51sleep.
- 10:52And in the morning we woke up
- 10:55and it was very very quiet.
- 10:58We went to look at outside. The camp was
- 11:01practically empty.
- 11:03There were about three, four barracks
- 11:05where there was still some people. And
- 11:08that was it.
- 11:10So the gates were open. We could have
- 11:13gone, but where are we going?
- 11:16The
- 11:17the population outside was not welcoming
- 11:20to us. We knew that.
- 11:22So there were some Polish
- 11:24prisoners who did go, but most people
- 11:27stayed.
- 11:29We were 10 days still on our own.
- 11:32And many, many people died.
- 11:35I was one of the few people with a
- 11:38Polish woman who had still the strength
- 11:41to take those dead bodies out and we
- 11:44just had to heap them up outside in the
- 11:47snow. We couldn't do anything else with
- 11:49them.
- 11:51And then one day again we were looking
- 11:53around see if we can find some bits of
- 11:55food on the ground and there stood a
- 11:58enormous creature
- 12:01um at the gate
- 12:02and it was the first Russian soldier
- 12:05coming to investigate. He came into the
- 12:09camp. He had no idea what he was going
- 12:11to find. Um again some Polish people
- 12:14could speak to him. He explained he was
- 12:17just a scout but the army will follow.
- 12:20He's going back to tell the army that
- 12:22there are no Nazis here anymore so that
- 12:24it is safe for them to advance. And this
- 12:27is what happened. Within the next day
- 12:30suddenly the Russians came with their
- 12:33field kitchen, with tanks, with horses
- 12:37and um stayed the night, put the field
- 12:40kitchen up and fed us.
- 12:42You can't imagine what this meant for
- 12:44us. We haven't had food um for many
- 12:48months even, just bits of peas, a bit of
- 12:51bread um but now hot, wonderful cabbage
- 12:54soup.
- 12:56And we And they gave us as much as we
- 12:58wanted and we ate and ate and ate. Um
- 13:02the soldiers were singing. It was you
- 13:05know, it was wonderful. We said, "Well,
- 13:06now it's the end. We will go probably
- 13:09home soon and everything will be good."
- 13:12But of course it wasn't at all like
- 13:13that.
- 13:14Um in the morning the Russians were
- 13:17gone.
- 13:19Um I sat the whole night on a bucket. My
- 13:22stomach food went just straight through
- 13:24me because I just couldn't digest it.
- 13:27And in the morning again, many people
- 13:30had died from overeating.
- 13:33So, we stayed again for a few days, and
- 13:36then I said to my mother, "Well, we
- 13:38can't stay like this. We'll all die.
- 13:41And I'm going to go to Auschwitz to the
- 13:43main camp to try to find my father and
- 13:46brother."
- 13:48So, there was a French girl. He said,
- 13:50"I'll come with you." So, we did.
- 13:53And it was about 3 mi. We went in the in
- 13:57the dark because there was still
- 13:59fighting around. We heard
- 14:01bullets flying around and shooting and
- 14:03all that.
- 14:04So, we went eventually we arrived in
- 14:07Auschwitz, and the Russians had made a
- 14:09headquarters there. So, it was more
- 14:11civilized with proper barracks like I
- 14:14told you.
- 14:15And um
- 14:16I asked permission if I can look in the
- 14:18barrack to try to find my father and
- 14:21brother. So, we were again um many
- 14:25barracks where we saw a few people
- 14:26sitting outside, standing, walking. They
- 14:30didn't know what to do, where to go.
- 14:32And um I looked all over the place, and
- 14:35then I saw a man standing there
- 14:38um very pale, very old, looking lost.
- 14:43And I went to him, and I said,
- 14:47"You look familiar to me."
- 14:49He said, "Yes, I'm Otto Frank, Anne's
- 14:52father. And you, I think you're Eva
- 14:54Geiringer, Anne's friend." I said, "Yes,
- 14:57yes."
- 14:58"Have you seen my girls? Have you seen
- 15:01my wife?"
- 15:02"No, I never saw them. Have you seen
- 15:04Heinz and my father?" because we knew
- 15:07them. He said, "Yes, they were here, but
- 15:10a few weeks ago they left with the Nazis
- 15:14when they were evacuating the camp."
- 15:17So, good news.
- 15:20Um
- 15:21the war can't last
- 15:23They'll be all right. So, I went back
- 15:25and fetched my mother and so we had to
- 15:28stay a few weeks in Auschwitz and then
- 15:31the Russians decided they wouldn't leave
- 15:33us there. They would take us eastward
- 15:36safe.
- 15:38And that is what happened. We traveled
- 15:41for 4 months with the Russians till May.
- 15:45Can you imagine? Still in cattle trucks
- 15:48the same. As it there the doors were
- 15:51left open a little bit. There was a
- 15:53stove there.
- 15:54Um, they gave us food. There were no
- 15:57toilets. So, when the train stopped we
- 16:00could go out and relieve ourselves.
- 16:05We went through different villages. We
- 16:08saw unbelievable devastation wherever we
- 16:11went. Um, the Germans had ruined
- 16:14everything. We went partly through
- 16:16Russia, sent to Romania and eventually
- 16:20in May
- 16:21So, from February till May we traveled
- 16:24this way
- 16:26and um, we ended up in Odessa.
- 16:29Um, we still had all these clothes which
- 16:32we had left Auschwitz with and the
- 16:34Russians gave us they gave us Russian
- 16:38uniforms. Um, I was very proud of this.
- 16:41Um, this was actually photographed after
- 16:45when we got back. But, um, this is what
- 16:49that is what it was. Very solid, very
- 16:51well made because a woman's uniform
- 16:54because there were a lot of women in the
- 16:56Russian army at the time.
- 16:59So, anyway, um,
- 17:01this is 27th of January that's how it
- 17:04started and it was not the end of the
- 17:07world and it was not the end of the war
- 17:10either.
- 17:12So, and then of course a long journey
- 17:14till eventually we got back to Amsterdam
- 17:17in June.
- 17:20And there we were very lucky. We were
- 17:22able to get into our apartment.
- 17:25But I just want to tell you something.
- 17:28Otto Frank was one of the survivors.
- 17:31And if he wouldn't have been survived
- 17:34like me at the time,
- 17:36the diary would never have been
- 17:38published.
- 17:40So, you know, this was really a
- 17:43wonderful for Otto to be surviving and
- 17:46be able to get the diary. And what he
- 17:49did with it was really another miracle.
- 17:52Well, I hope we'll have time to come to
- 17:54this
- 17:55towards the end of my story. So, I go
- 17:58back now to the beginning, Vienna,
- 18:01where um I was born in 1929
- 18:05in a very young, wonderful family. I had
- 18:09an older brother. We had grandparents,
- 18:12aunt, uncle, cousins. Um our family has
- 18:15been in Austria
- 18:17for generations.
- 18:19Um it was a beautiful country. And as
- 18:22well, um
- 18:24it used to be the one of the I think it
- 18:27was the most powerful empire in Europe
- 18:30for many, many, many years.
- 18:33The Austrian empire. But after the First
- 18:35World War, they lost most of those
- 18:39power, and Austria became a very, very
- 18:41small,
- 18:43simple country, quite poor.
- 18:46But nevertheless, the Kaiser invited
- 18:49from at invited from all this big
- 18:51empire, um artists, doctors, musicians,
- 18:55poets, painters. So, it was a very, very
- 18:59cultured, wonderful country. And
- 19:02beautiful with mountains and lakes.
- 19:04So, my father and me, we were the
- 19:06daredevils. We were always going in the
- 19:09mountain, doing dangerous excursions. My
- 19:12brother and my mother were anxiously
- 19:15waiting for that
- 19:17little restaurant in the neighborhood.
- 19:19Um, this is one of the pictures that we
- 19:23have few pictures of my father because
- 19:25my father usually took the pictures.
- 19:28But in this case, probably my brother
- 19:30took it.
- 19:31Um,
- 19:33so we were very, very happy. But all
- 19:36this changed in um March 1938.
- 19:41I just turned um
- 19:439 years old.
- 19:45Hans was 12 years old when without
- 19:48permission, without announcing, the
- 19:51Nazis marched into Austria and occupied
- 19:53the country.
- 19:55And we were amazed and shocked because
- 19:59even our friends stood in the street
- 20:02waving flag sticking up swastika flags
- 20:05and with a heil Hitler's salute.
- 20:07My first experience of anti-Semitism
- 20:11after school, I went um to my best
- 20:15friend who was a Catholic girl.
- 20:17And um when the mother saw me, she said,
- 20:21"We never want to see you here again."
- 20:23And she slammed the door in my face.
- 20:26I went home crying. I said to my mother,
- 20:30"We didn't have a quarrel. What is the
- 20:32matter?" My mother said, "Well, for
- 20:34Jewish people, life is going to be very
- 20:37hard and very difficult."
- 20:40My brother came home from school, 12
- 20:42years old. His clothes were torn. His
- 20:46face was covered in blood.
- 20:48And when my parents asked, "Hans, what
- 20:51happened to you?"
- 20:52He said, "My friends did that. And the
- 20:55teachers
- 20:57watched it happening." Can you imagine?
- 21:01So my father, who had inherited a shoe
- 21:05factory from his father,
- 21:07and had connections with Holland because
- 21:10there was a big shoe industry in the
- 21:11south of Holland.
- 21:14Immediately left. That was still
- 21:17possible.
- 21:18But of course, to our whole family
- 21:21couldn't really leave. He said, "I will
- 21:23try to find accommodation and then
- 21:25hopefully you can all follow."
- 21:28But by that time, that was 1938,
- 21:31already many countries had taken in
- 21:34refugees from Germany.
- 21:36But so in '38, it was very difficult,
- 21:40practically impossible, unless you were
- 21:43a very famous person. England, America
- 21:46accepted famous people, but ordinary
- 21:49people they just didn't give any visas
- 21:52to those people.
- 21:54So, we couldn't go.
- 21:57So, um eventually we heard we could go
- 22:00illegally to Belgium.
- 22:02So, that's what we did and we ended up
- 22:05in Brussels in 1939.
- 22:08My father still lived in South Holland
- 22:11and so he came to visit us weekends.
- 22:15And um
- 22:16but in the meantime Hitler went into
- 22:19Czechoslovakia and Poland and the war
- 22:22started, 1940.
- 22:24And my father tried desperate to get a
- 22:27visa for us to come to the Netherlands.
- 22:30Eventually, in February 1940, during the
- 22:35war, we got a visa for 3 months to visit
- 22:39my father in Holland.
- 22:42And we moved to a big square um
- 22:45I have no idea if I have a photo of
- 22:47this, but it is well known because other
- 22:50refugees lived there and one of them was
- 22:53a Frank family.
- 22:55And we were both 11 years old at the
- 22:57time and if you live in apartment, there
- 23:00were no gardens to play, so all the
- 23:03children played in the street.
- 23:06So one day a little girl came to me,
- 23:09introduced herself.
- 23:11Her name was Anne Frank.
- 23:14And she took me right away up to her
- 23:17apartment because she couldn't speak
- 23:18German anymore as she was 4 years old
- 23:21when she came to Holland and she
- 23:23introduced me to her dad
- 23:26who could speak German to me. And I
- 23:29right away
- 23:31liked him. He was a a man
- 23:34mind that's the time an elderly
- 23:36gentleman because my father was
- 23:39just 40 and Otto was already in the 50s.
- 23:43But very very kind. He spoke German Mimi
- 23:46said anytime you want to come and have a
- 23:49conversation with me, just tell Anne and
- 23:52we'll be friends.
- 23:53So that was all very nice. We settled
- 23:57down. When I told Anne I had an older
- 23:59brother
- 24:00she said, "Oh, where can I come and meet
- 24:02him?" Because already was 11, she really
- 24:06liked boys.
- 24:08So nothing came of this actually.
- 24:11But anyway, we were very happy in
- 24:13Amsterdam. My brother, he got had a
- 24:15guitar in this furnished apartment was a
- 24:19piano. He right away started to
- 24:22play again and life seemed good again
- 24:26and the Dutch were very welcoming. We
- 24:29enjoyed life. That is on the steps where
- 24:32we went into the apartment in the
- 24:34Merwedeplein.
- 24:35And
- 24:36yeah, we we were happy but very short
- 24:40because in May the Germans invaded
- 24:43Holland as well.
- 24:45I won't go too much into that. It was a
- 24:47short war, 5 days and the Dutch
- 24:50capitulated
- 24:52and we tried still to escape but there
- 24:54was no chance and we were occupied.
- 24:57Occupation, the first year was not too
- 25:00bad, but the second year in 1941,
- 25:03it became already very, very bad for
- 25:06Jewish people.
- 25:08We had to wear the yellow star. We had
- 25:11many restrictions.
- 25:13Um
- 25:14we had to give in the bicycle. We were
- 25:16not allowed to have a radio. We had to
- 25:18be in at 8:00, and people started to
- 25:22disappear.
- 25:23So, it was very scary.
- 25:25Then we had to leave our school and go
- 25:28into Jewish schools, which by itself,
- 25:31nothing wrong with that.
- 25:33But again, the Nazis wanted to kill the
- 25:35young people first, so they went into
- 25:38the schools with trucks
- 25:40and told the children to go on the
- 25:42truck,
- 25:44and the parents waited in the afternoon
- 25:47for the children to come home, and they
- 25:49didn't turn up.
- 25:51So, they went to the police.
- 25:54No answer.
- 25:55And
- 25:56the children were never, ever seen
- 25:58again.
- 26:00Only after the war, we heard that they
- 26:03were sent to Mauthausen, a terrible
- 26:05Austrian death camp,
- 26:07and just thrown down from the cliffs.
- 26:11The Dutch have a big, beautiful monument
- 26:13there for all those hundreds of
- 26:17young Dutch people and also well refugee
- 26:20children who perished there.
- 26:23Quite early in the war, really.
- 26:27And um so, life went on, and then um in
- 26:311942,
- 26:33about 10,000 youngsters between the age
- 26:36of 16 and 20 and 20, 25, 26 got the
- 26:42call-up notice to be deported to
- 26:44Germany.
- 26:45That was for Hans Schott said and Margot
- 26:48Annes' older sister.
- 26:51And that was the time when both parents
- 26:54and many, many other parents decided we
- 26:57would go into hiding.
- 26:59So, my father called us together and
- 27:02said, "Hans, you're not going.
- 27:05I found some wonderful Dutch people who
- 27:08are willing to keep us staying with them
- 27:11as long as the war lasts and to keep us
- 27:14safe.
- 27:15But, you know, the apartments are quite
- 27:17small.
- 27:19I I couldn't I would find uh
- 27:22people who were going to take in four
- 27:24people. So, we have to split up.
- 27:27And um I will go with mother and um
- 27:31um Hans will go with my baby, my father
- 27:34said. And I started to cry. I didn't
- 27:37want to be separated.
- 27:39And my father explained,
- 27:42"If we are in two different places,
- 27:45the chance that two of us will survive
- 27:49is bigger."
- 27:51survive.
- 27:54That was the first time that I realized
- 27:57it might be a matter of life and death.
- 28:00And that is pretty scary.
- 28:03Well, Hans, being so
- 28:06gentle and so sensitive,
- 28:09he was
- 28:10very afraid of dying and he asked Poppy,
- 28:15"Um
- 28:16I'm afraid of dying. What will happen
- 28:18when we die?"
- 28:20And my father said, "Well, this is what
- 28:22happens. We all have to die.
- 28:25But um
- 28:27you know,
- 28:28if you have children, you will live on
- 28:30in your children."
- 28:32And then Hans said, "But what if I die
- 28:35before I have any children?"
- 28:37And my father thought for a moment
- 28:40and he said,
- 28:41"Well, whatever you've done in your
- 28:44life, even a short life,
- 28:47somebody will remember because we all in
- 28:50a um
- 28:51link in a big chain which goes from
- 28:54generation to generation and nothing get
- 28:57lost. So, you won't be forgotten.
- 29:01Well, that is what we had to accept.
- 29:04And me, too, of course.
- 29:07And um so, then we went into hiding. We
- 29:10were 2 years in hiding with different
- 29:12people. I won't tell you too much about
- 29:15it because time is running out. There's
- 29:17so much to tell. And um after 2 years,
- 29:21we were betrayed
- 29:23by a Dutch nurse who was a double agent.
- 29:26She pretended she worked for the
- 29:28resistance, but she was really working
- 29:30for the Nazis.
- 29:32It was in um
- 29:3411th of May, 1944,
- 29:37my 11th my 15th birthday.
- 29:40And um we were taken away.
- 29:43Um so, we were to different places. It's
- 29:46a complicated story. They can't go into
- 29:48details, but anyway, we were both
- 29:51betrayed and sent to Westerbork and put
- 29:54on transport. So, of course, they never
- 29:57told you what is going to happen to you.
- 29:59So, we had no idea where we were going.
- 30:02It could have been a work camp, could
- 30:05have been a death camp, could have been
- 30:07in Poland, in Germany. We had no idea.
- 30:11Um you know, of course, it were cattle
- 30:13trucks, terrible transportation, about
- 30:1680 people, um two buckets, one for
- 30:20toilets, one for clean water.
- 30:22Um once a day, we got chunks of bread
- 30:25thrown in like you would feed wild
- 30:28animals.
- 30:29So, terrible.
- 30:31But, it was probably the last
- 30:33conversation I had with Heinz. He told
- 30:36me, because in hiding, he started to
- 30:39paint
- 30:41and write poetry. He said before the
- 30:44escaped from this woman who black was
- 30:47that's a long story black made him um he
- 30:50hid the
- 30:51paintings under the floorboard with a
- 30:53note on it this belongs to Hans Kalinger
- 30:56and after the war I'm going to pick it
- 30:58up again.
- 31:00And then he said, "Eva, if I don't make
- 31:03it, please
- 31:05go and pick the paintings up because
- 31:07they are really very very nice. You will
- 31:09be amazed what I've created."
- 31:13So and then we arrived in Auschwitz
- 31:16first selection
- 31:18men and women to different sides so this
- 31:21is when we had to say goodbye.
- 31:24Which you can imagine was a very very
- 31:26emotional thing.
- 31:28And then the women um
- 31:30standing rows of five and Mengele came
- 31:34looked you over in a fraction of a
- 31:36second he decided life or death right or
- 31:40left.
- 31:41Eva, could you just explain Mengele?
- 31:43Just explain who he was, would you?
- 31:46Mengele was officially uh
- 31:50medical doctor
- 31:52and um
- 31:53he was supposed to look after the ill
- 31:56people because was he wasn't so was in
- 31:59Birkenau a big barrack which was the
- 32:02hospital
- 32:03and he people if they were ill because
- 32:06within days people got typhus dysentery
- 32:11because the water which we got was
- 32:13unclean.
- 32:15So you can imagine in the fields and as
- 32:18I said in our barracks
- 32:20um there was no washing facilities so
- 32:22forget about washing. We were full of
- 32:25lice but first of course the people who
- 32:28were
- 32:29still not going to be killed went into a
- 32:32huge huge barracks. The next thing was
- 32:35undressed completely naked. We were
- 32:38shaved, we were tattooed.
- 32:40Um we had to register what job we had,
- 32:43what
- 32:44old we were, from which country we came,
- 32:47all kind of thing. They took many, many,
- 32:49many hours and we stood there naked,
- 32:53shivering so it was hot.
- 32:55And um
- 32:57not knowing what's going to happen to
- 32:59us. And while this happened, they told
- 33:02us with lots of pleasure the people who
- 33:05had been selected, all the people and of
- 33:08course all the children, they were about
- 33:11I think 46 children in our transport and
- 33:16that was researched later and only six
- 33:19of those survived.
- 33:21And I was one of the six.
- 33:24So um they told us the family that
- 33:28you've been separated from went for a
- 33:31shower and then they started to laugh
- 33:33and pushing it so hard.
- 33:35Um
- 33:36but of course it wasn't a shower.
- 33:39They were gassed.
- 33:41Can you imagine a mother who had been
- 33:44just separated from her child how she
- 33:46felt?
- 33:48So people started to cry and to scream
- 33:50and it was awful. And then eventually we
- 33:53were let out still naked and we marched
- 33:57to a heap of a mountain of clothes and
- 34:00we got one garment. Could have been a
- 34:02winter coat or a dress or no underwear,
- 34:06nothing. And the next heap were shoes,
- 34:08two shoes,
- 34:09a boot and a slipper, whatever.
- 34:12And that was all our belonging.
- 34:15We worked from morning to night. We got
- 34:18only in the morning a little bit of
- 34:21liquid, in the evening a chunk of bread.
- 34:25We were full of lice.
- 34:27Um
- 34:29we worked very, very hard. People
- 34:32collapsed. Where we were, 10 sleeping in
- 34:35a bunk on the on wood. There was
- 34:38nothing, no blanket, no straw, no
- 34:40pillow, nothing.
- 34:42And um
- 34:44very often um
- 34:46you wanted to keep your bread for the
- 34:48next day, so you put it under your head
- 34:50to sleep on.
- 34:52And very often in the morning the people
- 34:54slept next to you had eaten it away from
- 34:57under you.
- 34:59So, very often we woke up and the person
- 35:03next to you
- 35:04was had died in the night.
- 35:08So, the condition were unbearable. Many,
- 35:11many, many people died all the time. And
- 35:14then it became kind of autumn, very,
- 35:17very cold. And um once a week we had a
- 35:21shower and we were deloused because we
- 35:24were full of lice.
- 35:25And um
- 35:27when we came out
- 35:29um Mengele stood there, still naked, and
- 35:33we had to parade in front of him. And he
- 35:37decided who was still able to work or
- 35:40who wasn't. And I passed, my mother
- 35:43followed.
- 35:44And he she was like any mother, she had
- 35:48very often shared her little bit of
- 35:50bread with me.
- 35:52And she was very thin, didn't look too
- 35:55good. And he with 40 other Dutch women
- 35:59from our transport
- 36:01was selected to be killed.
- 36:04So, these women marched out naked and
- 36:09I thought I will never ever see my
- 36:11mother again.
- 36:14So, this was for me the worst moment in
- 36:16the camp.
- 36:18Um it became winter. I had um snow was
- 36:22high. I had very often lost my shoes. I
- 36:26had frostbite my feet, could hardly walk
- 36:29anymore.
- 36:30And then I must admit I was on the point
- 36:33of giving up. I said, "My mother is not
- 36:36alive, I have no idea if my father and
- 36:38Hans is alive. What on earth should I do
- 36:41alone if I should survive?" I was
- 36:43desperate. And I was starving and ill
- 36:47and and many people from the Dutch
- 36:49transport had already That was already
- 36:52the time when the Germans had started to
- 36:54evacuate the camp.
- 36:57So, and I sat at my work and I was
- 37:00called out by a couple.
- 37:03And I thought, "Well, now they want to
- 37:04kill me." And I go out and there stood
- 37:08my father.
- 37:09Unbelievable.
- 37:11Never happened to anybody that a man
- 37:13came in to ask for a family member. He
- 37:17came with his SS boss.
- 37:19My father was a big charmer, you know,
- 37:22he was
- 37:23um he obviously he told me he works in a
- 37:26timber factory and he's done very well,
- 37:30so he was respected by the Nazis. So,
- 37:33obviously he got this privilege to
- 37:36to but how they could find me where they
- 37:38were they had actually a amazing
- 37:41administration. But still, but of course
- 37:45it was wonderful. But the next question
- 37:48of my father was, "Where is Mutti?"
- 37:52And I burst into tears and I told him
- 37:55she had been selected to his guest.
- 37:59Well, this strong man who never gave in
- 38:02to anything
- 38:03started tears were rolling down his down
- 38:06his eyes.
- 38:07And he said,
- 38:10Well, first he was speechless but then
- 38:12he said,
- 38:13"The war will soon be over. Oh, what
- 38:15Hans is okay. Please, please hold on.
- 38:18We'll be together still."
- 38:21And then I never saw him anymore.
- 38:25And then another miracle happened
- 38:28because this is what I have to point
- 38:30out. There were many, many miracles.
- 38:32Otherwise I wouldn't sit here.
- 38:35Um
- 38:37So obviously I told you the Germans
- 38:39started to leave already. There was not
- 38:41no organization very often. There was no
- 38:43work.
- 38:45And um so I walked around not knowing
- 38:47see if I find a bit of food perhaps on
- 38:49the ground.
- 38:51And um I saw some Dutch people from our
- 38:54transport coming from another part of
- 38:56the camp.
- 38:57And they said to me they've seen my
- 38:59mother.
- 39:00Of course I didn't believe it.
- 39:02But it was true.
- 39:04And that is of course a long story. My
- 39:06mother actually write it herself in my
- 39:09first book Eva's story.
- 39:12She was saved
- 39:13and brought back to the living. And um
- 39:17she was still alive.
- 39:19And so eventually I was able to
- 39:22go to the same barrack where she was
- 39:25because I said there was not much
- 39:27supervision anymore. And so that is I go
- 39:30back now to the beginning of
- 39:32um
- 39:3327th of January. That's what happened
- 39:35then when the Russians came.
- 39:38And um as I say Otto was with us. And
- 39:41then we were in Odessa. Then eventually
- 39:45we
- 39:46celebrated the end of the war
- 39:498th of May.
- 39:50And then what now? We're in the middle
- 39:52of Russia in Odessa.
- 39:55How do we get back?
- 39:56But it was all organized. Um there was a
- 40:00New Zealand troop transport ship came
- 40:03and it brought us back to Marseille and
- 40:06then up to Holland and eventually in
- 40:08June we got back to Amsterdam again.
- 40:14And
- 40:15what now?
- 40:16We didn't know where to go.
- 40:18And they didn't look after us. It just
- 40:21dropped us there and that was it. The
- 40:23first time after so long, we had to look
- 40:25after ourselves. So, my mother said,
- 40:28"Well, let's just go in the tram and
- 40:30let's go to um friends who was a mixed
- 40:34marriage. Perhaps they're still there."
- 40:37The husband was a Jew and his wife was
- 40:40Christian. Perhaps they're still there.
- 40:42So, we took a tram, nobody bothered, we
- 40:45didn't pay there, nothing of course, and
- 40:48went to this address. And yes, they were
- 40:51still there, the Rosenbaums.
- 40:54And he let us in
- 40:56and um welcomed us and said, "Where is
- 40:58Hans and Eric?" Um they were best
- 41:01friends of us. And they said, "Well,
- 41:03we're waiting for their return."
- 41:05But eventually, we decided we will look
- 41:08if perhaps we can go back into our
- 41:10apartment because it was not our
- 41:13apartment, it was furnished, belonging
- 41:15to a person.
- 41:17And this woman let us back in again.
- 41:19That was very exceptional because Otto,
- 41:22when he came back, other people had
- 41:24lived in his apartment. All the
- 41:26furniture was sent to Germany, all the
- 41:29things which was there to help the
- 41:31cities who had been bombed. And um
- 41:35and then Otto came to us one day and he
- 41:39told us the terrible news that his whole
- 41:42family had perished.
- 41:45After he left, I lay sat on my mother's
- 41:48lap and we cried and I said to my
- 41:51mother, "How can this poor man carry on
- 41:53with his life? He has nothing to live
- 41:56for."
- 41:57And a few days later, he came again with
- 42:00a little brown parcel under his arm.
- 42:03And you can guess what it was. It was
- 42:06Anna's diary.
- 42:08And he opened it very carefully and he
- 42:10said,
- 42:12"Can I read a few sentences in Yiddish?"
- 42:15But he always burst into tears. It was
- 42:17too emotional.
- 42:19Well, you know what happens then. He
- 42:21published it and it became eventually,
- 42:24not immediately, when it was published
- 42:26in America in 1952,
- 42:29it became a best seller and from then on
- 42:32it just grew and grew and grew.
- 42:35And we got as well the notice that
- 42:39Heinz and my father on the death march
- 42:42perished. Um my father in March and
- 42:47Heinz on the 16th of No, 26th of April.
- 42:52Just 10 days before the Americans came
- 42:55to liberate that camp.
- 42:57That was something I just couldn't cope
- 43:00with.
- 43:01I became full of hatred. I became
- 43:03depressed and I wanted to I won't listen
- 43:07to that. I wanted to commit suicide.
- 43:11I was so desperate. So, I had survived
- 43:15because I thought life will go
- 43:16eventually back to ordinary life. But I
- 43:19realized that will never ever happen. I
- 43:22found it very, very difficult to make a
- 43:25life again.
- 43:26And Otto came to us very often
- 43:29and he who had lost everything had no
- 43:32hatred. He had long discussion together.
- 43:36I told him how I hate everybody and he
- 43:39spoke to me. He didn't hate, not even
- 43:41the Germans. He expressed everything to
- 43:43me.
- 43:44Um and he became very helpful for my
- 43:48mother. My mother became very helpful to
- 43:50him. They became friends. He looked
- 43:53after me. He was a good sort of
- 43:57replacement father for the time being.
- 44:00Um he always told me stories about Anne
- 44:03and um
- 44:05eventually when I finished school, um
- 44:07Otto and my mother decided I should
- 44:09become a photographer.
- 44:12And um Otto got me a job in London.
- 44:16And um
- 44:17I went to London for 1 year
- 44:20to become an apprentice.
- 44:22And in London I met a young man and in
- 44:25the boarding house who had come to
- 44:27London to study economic from Israel.
- 44:31And you know we were very poor, we
- 44:33didn't have money and didn't know
- 44:35England, we didn't know anybody in
- 44:37England. And so we went for long walks
- 44:40and after 6 months he said to me, "Eva,
- 44:43I've fallen in love with you. Will you
- 44:45marry me? And when I finish my studies
- 44:49we can go to Israel and start a new
- 44:51life."
- 44:53And I said to him, "No, thank you."
- 44:56He was a little bit shocked, but um I
- 44:58said, "Well, I have a widowed mother in
- 45:00Amsterdam and you know we were very
- 45:03close. I could not imagine I would just
- 45:06go off and leave her." And then Otto,
- 45:09who kept an eye on me, came to visit me
- 45:12one day and I told him I met this young
- 45:16man, I quite like him, and he asked me
- 45:18to marry him, but of course I'm not
- 45:20because I go back to Amsterdam to Mutti.
- 45:24And then he got a bit embarrassed and he
- 45:26said, "You know,
- 45:28we have fallen in love as well and once
- 45:31you get settled we'd like to get
- 45:33married."
- 45:34So I went back to this young man and
- 45:37said, "You can marry me now." Which we
- 45:40did. We went then we went to Amsterdam
- 45:43in 19, uh
- 45:4452 and got married. And Otto and my
- 45:48mother got married a year later in 1953.
- 45:53And I must say I've never seen a happier
- 45:56couple than those two.
- 45:58They really loved each other and helped
- 46:01each other to get through this difficult
- 46:05period of their life. But then when we
- 46:07got three little girls, they became the
- 46:10best grandparents you can imagine. So we
- 46:14had together family.
- 46:16So um this is my story in a very very
- 46:19small nutshell.
- 46:21Um I wrote three books. The promise is a
- 46:24book which um I don't think you will see
- 46:27it, but I think you probably all the
- 46:29books are in the in the British Library.
- 46:32The promise is a story about Heinz.
- 46:35And recently I have decided um you know
- 46:39Anne everybody knows about Anne, but to
- 46:42make Heinz as well a known person that
- 46:45people remembered who he was because
- 46:48that was my father promised him. I'm
- 46:51making with an American filmmaker and
- 46:53animation film.
- 46:55Which we're working on now and I hope it
- 46:58will be finished at the end of this
- 47:00year.
- 47:01So thank you very much. Um
- 47:05please read the books if you want to
- 47:07know more about it because there's a lot
- 47:09lot more.
- 47:10And um
- 47:12I'm now 91 years old and I spent from
- 47:15from 19
- 47:16end of 1980 I spent my life going around
- 47:20many many countries to talk about the
- 47:23atrocities that happened and that people
- 47:27learn from it that it will not happen
- 47:29again.
- 47:31So there's a lot more to be done for
- 47:33everybody and the Anne Frank Trust is
- 47:35one of those organization who try to
- 47:38change the world for a better world.
- 47:41Thank you very very much. I can't see
- 47:43you, but I'm sure you have listened to
- 47:46my story and hopefully you're seeing
- 47:49seeing some of the paintings of my
- 47:51brother.
- 47:54Eva, I've listened to your story I don't
- 47:56know how many times now and every time
- 47:59I'm
- 48:00moved and hear new things and
- 48:03I really the thanks are from all of us
- 48:07to to you.
- 48:09Eva, we do have some questions coming
- 48:11through from the audience. If that's
- 48:13right, we have about 10 or 15 minutes
- 48:15for those questions. The first one I'm
- 48:17going to take is from Sarah and she says
- 48:21thank you for sharing your story and
- 48:24have you ever returned to the camp?
- 48:28Um yes and had the intention never ever
- 48:32to go near anything like that.
- 48:35But in 1995
- 48:37when
- 48:38Auschwitz was for the first first time
- 48:41open to the Western power, there was a
- 48:43big memorial service there and the Dutch
- 48:47television asked me to go there
- 48:50with my husband. I could go and
- 48:53make a program and they first said no
- 48:56way and they said well, we thought so
- 48:58but um think about it before again and I
- 49:01was discussing it with my father and my
- 49:04mother and I said perhaps I can let go
- 49:08once I go and see it and there was one
- 49:10attraction. They said there some of the
- 49:14soldiers who had liberated your camp are
- 49:17going to be there.
- 49:18So and you could go and say a thank you
- 49:21to them and this is really what I wanted
- 49:24to do and so I did go. But it was
- 49:27horrible. My husband as soon as he set
- 49:30foot there burst into tears and the
- 49:33whole film made sure that he was crying.
- 49:36And
- 49:37it was for me it was hard but I thought
- 49:41at least I could
- 49:43try to forget about it from now on. I've
- 49:45seen it and
- 49:48that's it. I had to have to let go.
- 49:53Thank you, Eva.
- 49:55Eva, the next question is from Leon,
- 49:58who's aged six, and Leon asks, "Do you
- 50:03remember the song that the soldier sang
- 50:06to you in that field kitchen?"
- 50:11I
- 50:12I saw
- 50:12Was there Is there a Was there a song?
- 50:14Is that right? When they
- 50:17Was there a song in the field kitchen
- 50:19when you were at Auschwitz?
- 50:22I don't remember you mentioning it, but
- 50:24I thought that's why I asked you in case
- 50:25I missed it.
- 50:25there might have been, no, I don't
- 50:27remember anything like that, I'm afraid.
- 50:30No.
- 50:32Do you remember perhaps that you you
- 50:34described the food. Do you remember
- 50:36other, as it were, moments of hope, joy
- 50:40just after that liberation?
- 50:43Um well, there was no music at that
- 50:46time. Food. Oh, food.
- 50:50If I remember food.
- 50:52Or or other things. What What started to
- 50:54bring you some joy after
- 50:56a song a song.
- 50:57Well, the Russians gave us cabbage soup,
- 50:59so that I do remember very very clearly.
- 51:03Yeah. And in Auschwitz, no, there wasn't
- 51:06there wasn't really much anything which
- 51:11No, I don't remember really any food
- 51:14besides the cabbage soup.
- 51:17And I know I found once when we went
- 51:19Auschwitz, I found on the ground a liver
- 51:22sausage,
- 51:23a whole liver sausage, which probably
- 51:25the Russians had lost or I don't know,
- 51:28and I took it, and I wanted to eat
- 51:30nearly the whole, and my mother said,
- 51:32"Don't don't don't. You'll get You'll
- 51:34get ill of it." But I ate too much, and
- 51:37I was pretty ill.
- 51:41Thank you, Eva. Um Eva, I have a
- 51:43question from Jane, also thanks you for
- 51:46sharing your story. Did you go to find
- 51:49your brother Heinz's paintings and how
- 51:52did it feel when you found them? What
- 51:54made you go and look for them?
- 51:56Yes. Yes, of course. Of course we did go
- 51:59there and it was a very very emotional
- 52:02moment to go in this house
- 52:06and where they'd been betrayed and um
- 52:09but we knew exactly where they were um
- 52:12and people didn't want There was a
- 52:14different people living there and they
- 52:16didn't want to let us in first and they
- 52:18said just us again our house but
- 52:21eventually they let us in.
- 52:23And um I knew exactly where it was in
- 52:26the loft. There was a the planks and I
- 52:30could see a little space and I opened
- 52:33this and we found 30 paintings and a
- 52:36whole heap of poe- poems as well. And I
- 52:40looked at everyone and the favorite of
- 52:43it was um Heinz sitting at his desk with
- 52:46his back facing the the audience.
- 52:49Well done.
- 52:50He's a lot of paintings on the screen
- 52:52now, Eva.
- 52:53Yes, a lot of books around him um
- 52:57a globe on top and on the side is a
- 53:00calendar with 11 on it which is the day
- 53:04of my birthday. So when he painted this
- 53:06lovely painting he was thinking of me.
- 53:09That made me of course and my mother
- 53:12burst into tears.
- 53:14Yes, the paintings are safe and a few
- 53:17years ago I I donated them to the
- 53:20Resistance Museum in Amsterdam where
- 53:24they made a big exhibition and a display
- 53:27of them and so many many people go and
- 53:31see it so
- 53:33to see what Heinz has created.
- 53:35And here's the on the screen now is the
- 53:37painting of the belfry and the bell and
- 53:39looking out over a beautiful flat Dutch
- 53:41countryside it looks like.
- 53:43And what is so nice, you might not see
- 53:45it if it's so small. There's a little
- 53:48bird sitting on the windowsill, and he
- 53:51wrote a beautiful poem,
- 53:53um,
- 53:54"Little bird, where are you going? I
- 53:56wish I could follow you." And it goes
- 53:59on, you know, how he's wishing to be out
- 54:02in freedom. And, um, yeah, so beautiful
- 54:05poems as well.
- 54:09And then the painting of a woman, um,
- 54:12Eva, who is the who's the woman in the
- 54:13painting?
- 54:14That is my mother.
- 54:15And the hands was of course not a
- 54:18painter. Never had never had done
- 54:20anything with oil oil painting. So, my
- 54:23father, to encourage him, started to
- 54:25paint as well.
- 54:27He had never painted either. And this is
- 54:29a portrait of his wife, my mother.
- 54:32And it is really a very very good
- 54:34likeness, beautiful.
- 54:37And I have a copy. The original is of
- 54:39course in the resisted museum, and I
- 54:42have a copy in my living room.
- 54:46And then there's one of the final
- 54:48pictures of our
- 54:49Yes, this is a beautiful picture, and it
- 54:52is very amazing. That is, um,
- 54:56the uncle, um, my mother's sister and
- 54:59her husband and her little son, um,
- 55:02were able to come to England to
- 55:04Lancashire, to Darwen, tiny little town.
- 55:08And
- 55:09they lived there with my grandparents.
- 55:12And when my grandmother was still alive,
- 55:15of course, when she saw the paintings,
- 55:17and she said, "But this is the room
- 55:19where I slept with my grandson."
- 55:23And I I had never been there, never knew
- 55:25anything about this, and it was exactly
- 55:28the room.
- 55:29Amazing.
- 55:31Completely.
- 55:34Eva, I have
- 55:35There were 30 30 artworks, like 30
- 55:38paintings.
- 55:42Um Eva, I have uh
- 55:45a question
- 55:47from Susanna.
- 55:50Uh she says, "I cannot imagine how
- 55:53anyone could live in such terrible
- 55:55surroundings and be able to deal with it
- 55:58in Auschwitz.
- 56:00How do you think it has defined your
- 56:03life?"
- 56:06Um well, that's a difficult question.
- 56:08Like I said, when I came back, I was
- 56:12very depressed.
- 56:14And um
- 56:15afterwards, when I got married, what I
- 56:18wanted was a big, big, big urge to start
- 56:23a family.
- 56:24And unfortunately,
- 56:27it didn't work.
- 56:29And that is, I must tell you, um in the
- 56:32camp, nobody had a period.
- 56:35Um because in the liquid, we got
- 56:37bromide, which means that our female
- 56:41functions didn't work. So, I couldn't
- 56:44conceive.
- 56:45So, I was desperate, but eventually, I
- 56:48had treatment and I got pregnant, and my
- 56:52first daughter was born.
- 56:54And that was for me a big change in my
- 56:57attitude. It was in 1956.
- 57:00In my attitude, in my
- 57:03um hope, and um and yeah, this helped me
- 57:08a lot to get over this terrible
- 57:10experience.
- 57:12And 2 years later, I got my second
- 57:14daughter, and 4 years later, our third
- 57:16daughter.
- 57:17And like I said, we were a family again,
- 57:20and this really helped me to get over
- 57:23this terrible experience.
- 57:27We got Yes, we have a question from
- 57:29Neve, who says, um
- 57:31uh how incredible it is that Otto did
- 57:33not express hate and
- 57:36how did you deal with the anger towards
- 57:39the evil of what happened? And it seems
- 57:41that ultimately that's your question, is
- 57:42it? It was about your family.
- 57:45What?
- 57:46How did you deal with the the hatred?
- 57:49How did you
- 57:49Which hatred?
- 57:51Um
- 57:52How did you get through it?
- 57:53you know,
- 57:54after I had for 40 years I had
- 57:57nightmares till I started in 19 86. So,
- 58:01after 40 years was the first time I
- 58:04spoke openly about what has happened.
- 58:06Actually, in an Anne Frank exhibition,
- 58:09which is the first one who came to
- 58:11England and I was allowed to speak
- 58:14there.
- 58:15And it was difficult for me. I must say
- 58:17very, very difficult, but it helped me.
- 58:21I could let go.
- 58:23So, I lived it all
- 58:2640 years after this, but you know, so 40
- 58:29years were were really difficult. I
- 58:32tried to live a normal life, but I was
- 58:34very shy. I had all kind of nervous
- 58:37illnesses.
- 58:38Um
- 58:39It It's you know, if you go through
- 58:42something like this as a young person,
- 58:44um you can't just get over it. But
- 58:48as I say, the last 40 years of my life,
- 58:52I
- 58:52I
- 58:53when I did good work, I realized um
- 58:56after I came back, people said never
- 58:58again Auschwitz, but of course, in the
- 59:01'80s it started again. The wars,
- 59:04persecutions,
- 59:06prejudice, and so I decided after I
- 59:09spoke up, I am going to try to teach
- 59:12people
- 59:13um
- 59:14that we have to change our attitudes.
- 59:17And this is what I've done for as well
- 59:19for 40 years now. I know I'm stuck at
- 59:22the moment, but I hope that eventually I
- 59:24can carry on.
- 59:26And it is unfortunately still necessary,
- 59:29like Selena Frank's work. Personally, I
- 59:32do as well very much individual work to
- 59:36try to change people's attitudes.
- 59:39And Eva, you've been you've been locked
- 59:42down in your your flat in North London,
- 59:44haven't you? But you've had both your
- 59:45vaccinations now, aren't you? So, we're
- 59:47very glad to know that you're you're
- 59:49safe.
- 59:50But I have the vaccination, but there
- 59:52are also people have not yet, so we feel
- 59:55still
- 59:56We're still a bit stuck with this.
- 59:57We've We've got a way to go. And we've
- 1:00:00had
- 1:00:00And I have hope. You know, you must
- 1:00:02never give up hope in any situation.
- 1:00:05There's always an end to every
- 1:00:07situation.
- 1:00:10Thank you, Eva. Can I say to everybody
- 1:00:13watching? We've got lots of questions,
- 1:00:14and I'm so sorry we haven't managed to
- 1:00:16get to all of them. I do have one last
- 1:00:18question, if I may, Eva, from the
- 1:00:20audience, which is from Benedikte.
- 1:00:23Uh and they ask,
- 1:00:25"What would you advise us to do to
- 1:00:28prevent hatred, bullying, and
- 1:00:31discrimination? What would you advise
- 1:00:34the world to do to stop hatred and
- 1:00:36bullying and discrimination?"
- 1:00:39Well,
- 1:00:40the advice is not to feel this way. You
- 1:00:42know, I mean, we are all human beings.
- 1:00:45My husband always used to say, and I
- 1:00:47think that he's so right, we are just
- 1:00:49one race, the human race. It doesn't
- 1:00:52matter if you are um yellow or pink or
- 1:00:56black. Um we are all people. We all have
- 1:01:00the same mechanicals. Our bodies are all
- 1:01:03the same. We do the same work. We have
- 1:01:06the same birth. We have everything the
- 1:01:08same. And um and the same with religion.
- 1:01:11Religion is there to help people make a
- 1:01:15better life, to become better people.
- 1:01:17And people hate different religions. And
- 1:01:20we all want the same. All people,
- 1:01:23the Jewish people, the Muslims, the
- 1:01:25Christians,
- 1:01:27the Hindus, the Buddhists, there are so
- 1:01:29many kind of ways you can
- 1:01:32have a God, but it's all for the the
- 1:01:35better of people. It's
- 1:01:37People hate each other if they're
- 1:01:39different. This we have to learn. We
- 1:01:41have to learn to accept each other for
- 1:01:44human beings, which we are.
- 1:01:49Eva, I can't think of more wonderful
- 1:01:50words to end on than that we're all
- 1:01:52human beings. Um friends, visitors,
- 1:01:55guests at home, can I just say to you
- 1:01:58that some of Eva's story, some of the
- 1:02:03facts about the Holocaust are deeply
- 1:02:05disturbing. You may find yourself
- 1:02:08dwelling on this in the next day or two.
- 1:02:10If you do, just talk. Talk to somebody.
- 1:02:13Do be in touch with a friend, a member
- 1:02:15of your family. Um just make sure that
- 1:02:18you tell somebody else. I heard Eva
- 1:02:21Schloss speaking the other night, and
- 1:02:22this is what I heard. Just so you you
- 1:02:25share it. Uh don't don't let those
- 1:02:27things dwell
- 1:02:28uh in in you too
- 1:02:30grimly. We need to both remember the
- 1:02:33seriousness of this and remember that
- 1:02:36extraordinary
- 1:02:39uh humanity that you embody, Eva,
- 1:02:42um so remarkably. Thank you as ever for
- 1:02:45telling your story so beautifully, so
- 1:02:50frankly to all of us.
- 1:02:52Uh really, you are quite remarkable
- 1:02:54human being. Thank you very, very much
- 1:02:57indeed.
- 1:02:59As as soon as I can, I come to your
- 1:03:01schools. Just ask me. I'll be there.
- 1:03:06Or do get in touch with us at the Anne
- 1:03:08Frank Trust. We will We will always make
- 1:03:10that introduction if if if we can.
- 1:03:13Thank you very much for joining us this
- 1:03:15evening, and a special thank you to our
- 1:03:17guest Ava and also to Tim. Do remember
- 1:03:22to click on the tabs above in order to
- 1:03:25provide us with some feedback and also
- 1:03:27to buy Ava's Ava's book.
- 1:03:31To find out more about the events that
- 1:03:34we're running, do have a look on our
- 1:03:36what's on pages. Thank you very much
- 1:03:38those of you who joined us from the
- 1:03:40Living Knowledge Network. Thank you and
- 1:03:42good night.
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