Lest we forget: story of a Holocaust survivor
Written by Ema Poposka
Eva Schloss and Ema Poposka (Photo by Ema Poposka)
On January 27 this year we commemorate 75 years from the liberation of the most notorious Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau. To mark the occasion and keep the memory of this deeply troubling historical period alive, the Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre invited one of the remaining Auschwitz survivors, Ms Eva Schloss, to visit Hong Kong. She shared her remarkable story at a specially designed student-centred learning event held at the Asia Society Hong Kong Centre on 14 January 2020.
Eva Schloss was born and spent her early childhood in Austria. In 1940, at the age of eleven, Eva and her family moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, trying to escape the Nazis’ persecution of the Jewish population in Europe. In Amsterdam, she met Anne Frank who was her neighbour for two years before the war reached the city and they both had to go into hiding, never to see each other again. Eva was just one month older that Anne Frank.
Eva was a tomboy and did a lot of sports, whereas Anne was a “girly girl who always wanted to be in the centre of attention.” Eva remembers Anne as a “big chatterbox and already a great storyteller as she gathered all the neighbouring children on the stairs of her building to tell them stories.” Eva also remembers the diary notebook that Anne Frank received from her father as a thirteenth birthday present, just a few weeks before going into hiding. This was a lucky coincidence that allowed us to have Anne Frank’s diary even today, as a memory of her life before she was taken to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died of typhus at the age of fifteen.
“She hated the Nazis but also everyone in the world for allowing [the war] to happen.”
In 1942, after moving through seven different hiding places, Eva’s family was betrayed and sent to Auschwitz. Separated by her father and older brother, it was luck that saved Eva and her mother from being exterminated immediately. Instead, they were taken to the labour camp. Living conditions in the camp were dreadful. Their day started before dawn with a roll call that lasted for more than two hours, followed by a liquid breakfast. After that, the prisoners were taken to do physical work that lasted all day without a break or food. It was burning hot in summer and freezing in winter, but they had no shelter from the weather. The working day lasted until 9 o’clock when there was another roll call. Dinner was a chunk of bread. They were not allowed to talk during work, but even when they could people were just too tired and hungry to talk. “People started not caring about each other, everyone just tried to stay alive,” Eva pointed out.
Answering my question about what helped her survive Auschwitz, Ms Schloss said it was probably her stubbornness. She insisted, “I just refused to give up.” She did admit that you also need luck. “It’s half luck, half brains, but when there is life there is hope,” she added. Eva stressed that more women survived although the conditions in the female camps were much worse than the men. “Women are much stronger,” she observed.
In 1945, Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet soldiers. Eva’s first thought was food. “After such a long time of starvation, the only thing I wanted was food. The first thing I had was the meat of a dead horse the soldiers shot near the camp. That’s how hungry we were.”
Eva and her mother returned to their former house in Amsterdam. It was only then that they found out that Eva’s father and three years older brother, Heinz Felix, perished in the concentration camp. Eva’s mother reconnected with Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank, and they married. Eva now lives in the United Kingdom, has three daughters and five grandchildren.
One of the things that Ms Schloss repeated several times during her talk was the fact that life after the war was even more difficult than during the years in Auschwitz. The fact that she lost her father and brother was devastating to her. She had lost all hope in humanity. She hated the Nazis but also everyone in the world for allowing this to happen. If the other countries had taken on more Jewish refugees, the Holocaust would have never happened, said Eva. Probably the same thing will never happen again, but we should learn that with hatred we all make mistakes. “I can never forgive the Nazis, but I have forgiven the German people, the grandchildren, who are innocent and have changed after the war.”
After 39 years of silence because “no-one wanted to know what happened” Eva started giving her talks and writing her books. That is when the nightmares stopped, and she could finally let go. “The memories are still vivid, but it does not hurt as much,” adds Eva. She also finds it important to tell her brother’s story, trying to keep the memory of his short life. Heinz was not very famous, but Eva wrote her second book The Promise about him and his many achievements. “Heinz was very gentle and talented. At the age of six he was a very good piano player. He also spoke several different languages. After hiding he took to painting and artistic expression.” Her brothers’ paintings and poems were in an exhibition that was presented in several countries in the world, including the United States and South Africa.
About six million Jewish people perished during the Holocaust, together with eleven million other victims of Nazi prosecution, including Soviet, Polish and Serb civilians, Roma, homosexuals, disabled people, and clergymen. One and a half million Jews died in Auschwitz alone, and only about 500 survived to see the liberation. At the moment there are about 200 survivors that can tell their stories. Eva Schloss is a very engaging and inspirational speaker despite being ninety years young. It was lovely to hear her talk with such passion about her life and the importance to remember it. However, in a decade or so there will be no living survivors of this dark part of human history, and people will start forgetting. It is important to have their diaries in order to know what happened and understand it. That is why it is important to read books. Eva herself wrote three books. At RCHK, Year 7 English class has focused on the Holocaust through several different books.
I would like to end with a very strong message from Eva, who said “life is more interesting if we mix. I cannot understand why people hate and kill each other because of their differences. This is how the world should be – one big family.”
This was Eva Schloss’ first visit to Hong Kong. She was amazed by the futuristic look of Hong Kong. “It is beautiful,” said Eva.
If you missed the event at Asia Society Hong Kong Centre, Ms Schloss will speak again at Bookazine on 19 January and at the Hong Kong City Hall on Monday on 20 January. And you can read any of her three autobiographical books.