Memories of an Auschwitz survivor

Eva Schloss, unlike her step-sister Anne Frank, survived Auschwitz

"Till you really are dead you still have hope that somehow you'll get round it, you'll escape, a miracle will happen."

These are the moving words of Eva Schloss. Eva and her family were in hiding in Amsterdam during the Second World War. As Jews they were hunted down by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps.

Six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, but many, like Eva survived. It's believed that in total 15 million people died, including disabled children, gypsies, homosexuals and other individuals who for whatever reason were viewed by the Nazis as racially inferior or seen as degenerates, They, and Jews, were sent to the gas chambers.

Till you really are dead you still have hope that somehow you'll get round it, you'll escape, a miracle will happen Eva Schloss

Eva describes what happened the day she was captured, which was her 15th birthday:

"We thought this will be the end of us, we really thought we are going to be killed immediately because if you have been hiding, you've got an 'S' on your papers. Those people had worse treatment, so we thought we would be taken wherever and shot."

With her parents, she was taken to Auschwitz and the worst part for her was the selection which took place when they arrived:

"One of the most horrendous experiences I went through was the selections, which meant that people, who, in the eyes of the Nazis were not supposed to live anymore, they are taken out and this is what happened to my mother. She was selected by Dr Mengele himself to be gassed, and for three months I thought I'd lost her, but she was saved through a miracle and we were re-united and liberated together."

It's impossible for Eva to give us an insight into what life was like in the camps, but she describes what happened day in and day out...

"We got up when it was still dark, four or five o'clock, of course we didn't know what day it was, what month it was, what week it was, every day was the same. There was a roll call for two hours. You had to stand in any weather outside and at first it wasn't too bad, but when you got very weak, to spend two hours without moving was already a terrible strain. Then you were picked out to different work commanders, it was always physical, very very hard work that went on the whole day without any breaks and no food."

Eva's mother married Anne Frank's father after the war

Eva and her mother survived the concentration camps, but her father and brother both died. After the war Eva's mother, Elfride 'Fritzi' Markovits-Geiringer married Anne Frank's father, Otto. They lived in Switzerland and Otto Frank devoted his life to spreading the message of his daughter and her diary, as well as defending it against neo-Nazi claims that it was a forgery or fake. He died in August 1980.

Holocaust Memorial Day

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is held on 27th January every year, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

The first HMD was held in 2001 and aims to commemorate all those killed in the second world war, as well as those in more recent atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur.