15 Mar Eva’s Story
Eva’s Story, WWII book by Eva Schloss
Concentration camp survivor Eva Schloss was our special guest at the Roswell Rotary Club this week. She was introduced by Robert Farley, Artistic Director of the renowned Georgia Ensemble Theatre & Conservatory at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center.
When Eva was a 14 year old young girl, her Jewish family was living in Amsterdam, the same neighborhood as Anne Frank. Her family was forced to go into hiding, and on the day of her 15th birthday they were discovered, arrested, and sent to Auschwitz. Eva and her mother survived. Her father and brother did not.
A few years after the end of the war Eva’s mother and Anne Frank’s father married. That surprised me. Eva explained that they were searching for family again, and normalcy.
On Saturday I attended the multi-media production “And Then They Came for Me; Remembering the World of Anne Frank.” It was powerful. Spellbinding. In addition to four excellent actors who performed multiple roles there were two large TV sets on either side of the stage that showed archival World War II footage that went along with the story. There were also televised interviews from Eva and from Ed Silverberg, another teenager also lived in the same neighborhood, knew Anne, and went into hiding at about the same time she and Eva did. The interviews corresponded with the live scenes recreated by the actors.
Ed Silverberg was able to escape being captured. Here is the link (there are two parts) to an interview which explains his amazing story. For decades after the war, Ed never spoke of his past.
Eva Schloss at the Rotary Club of Roswell, GA
Eva travels all over the world presenting this program to adults and teenagers. After all, it is the story of what happened to her world during her teenage years. She is in her eighties now and still keeps an intense travel schedule. Here is a link to a CNN interview of Eva.
Productions of “And Then They Came for Me; Remembering the World of Anne Frank” are performed regularly. Just do a google search. If you see it coming to your city you definitely need to see it.
We asked Eva why she continues to do this year after year. Her answer, of course … “So they will know.”
A Survivor’s Tale by the Stepsister of Anne Frank at amazon.com
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