Customer Reviews

Eva's Story

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They say it is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness and Eva's Story does just that. Out of the ashes of Auschwitz comes this remarkable testament to the healing power of love triumphing over hatred. Eva's family, like Anne Frank's, were German-speaking Jews who sought refuge in Amsterdam and went into hiding until they were betrayed and sent to Auschwitz in May, 1944. Eva and her mother, Fritzi, survived against incredible odds; her highly intelligent father, Erich, and talented brother, Heinz, did not, though their visual diaries -- the paintings they created while in hiding--did. Some of these are reproduced in the book and help the reader see the Holocaust from a different perspective than Anne Frank's writings. Eva and Fritzi's accessible and compelling narrative of their ordeal is rich with examples of how a mother's love for her daughter saved both their lives. For example, upon their arrival at the selection platform at Auschwitz, Fritzi told Eva to put on a heavy coat and hat which made her seem older than fifteen, saving her from the gas chamber. Eva's father had taught her never to succumb to fear, a principle that allowed her to find a way to save her mother when Fritzi, starving and sick, was selected for death. Today, Eva continues to fight against racial discrimination and persecution by touring Europe and America with the play, "And Then They Came For Me," based on her experiences and those of Ed Silverberg, Anne's first boyfriend. Highly recommended for teachers and students of literature of the Holocaust!

Eva Geiringer and Anne Frank experienced many similar events in almost parallel lives up to the end of the war in 1945. Whilst they were friends, they were also very different characters. Some people hold an interposal view that Eva, who became Anne Frank's posthumous step sister, continued with a life that Anne could have had. But I cannot agree with that as it is too simplistic.
This is Eva Schloss's (nee Geiringer) autobiography. It is the next best thing to a diary written in private, but is no less honest or powerful for that. In fact, I wonder what Anne Frank's diary would have been like had she been able to live those extra three weeks until the Allies' liberation. Would it have been significantly different to this?
In the next 20 years or so, this generation will pass on, leaving us with no more new first-hand accounts of the Concentration Camps that played a central part in the Holocaust. So it is important to read these living experiences before they are all consigned to `history', as they could well be read in a different light. Fortunately this is not a sensationalist book that makes great claims or uncorroborated accusations. All of the incidents are credible and come from the author's own experiences. It is also a down to earth account of what actually happened to many people, seen from a young person's perspective, but written by an adult.
I can recommend this book, unless of course, you are a racist, Nazi or a holocaust denier. Then it is best to give this autobiography a wide berth and move on as there is little, if anything in it for you. However, for those readers who wish to know more, there is a play based on Eva's Story entitled `And Then They Came for Me'.

I really enjoyed this book. I picked it up for a school project, and didn't set it down until I was reading the epilogue. It is fabulously written, and very easy to relate to.

This book by Eva Schloss is totally amazing. Not only have I read the book more than once I have actually met Eva Schloss herself!! We managed to meet her because my year six teacher knows her and managed to arrange a meeting for all of the year six's to meet her. She read bits of her book to us and we were shocked and dismayed by the state the Nazis treated these people. She showed us her tattoo, and said that you could only just see it because the person who marked her done it lightly because her mother had begged them to do it lightly. I also got her book and she signed. I was very pleased.
This book shows the horrors of World War II and what it was like it Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Eva's Story is another powerful tale coming to us from the Holocaust. Eva Schloss was the step sister of Anne Frank (her mother married Anne Franks father after the war). Her story parallels the story of Anne Frank in many ways: both were young girls in Amsterdam, both went into hidding, both were betrayed, and both were transported east to Auschwitz. The only difference is that Eva Schloss somehow survived. If one wonders what would have happened to Anne Frank if only she had lived, the answer is in Eva's Story. The book is powerful, well written, and easy to read. It includes 16 pages of photographs as well as comments marking the major events of the war. The last pages of the book carry her story up to 1984. The book is another powerful contribution to history and survival.

Eva Schloss's remarkable story of survival should be better publicized and used by teachers everywhere, especially since it allows young people to experience the Holocaust through the eyes of a teenager and her mother. Schloss's book is on a level with Gerda Klein's ALL BUT MY LIFE. The writing style is succinct and direct which adds to its appeal to young people.

As I read the book, I wondered for the thousandth time how such events could have occurred in "civilized" Europe in our lifetimes. The addition of a timeline of events related to WWII is especially helpful to students.

The remarkable relationship between this young woman and her mother is a testimony to the power of family relationships grounded in faith in a higher power. It stands in counterpoint to the somewhat strained relationship of Anne Frank and her mother while in hiding. Like Etty Hillesum's diaries and letters, it allows us to see the world through the eyes of a young girl who confronted evil "in the image and likeness of God," yet never lost her faith in humanity.

While I grieve for the author's loss of her father (Pappy) and her brother (Heinz), I rejoice that she lived to share her experiences with generations who may have a difficult time giving a human face to the Holocaust. Her mother's love for Otto Frank was certainly a factor in sustaining him as he dealt with the loss of his first wife and children.

I would love to meet Eva Schloss and her mother, if Mrs. Frank is still with us. The picture of mother and daughter on the back cover of the copy I received through our library really captures the spiritual strength and moral courage of these two incredible women. They have made the world a better place with their testimonies.

I've read the book and I think it was exellent. Exiting and very sad, sad because it was real everything, it was not just any story. What Eva told was real life experiences. But there nothing we can do about it now else than remember it and tell all about it to the kids when they grow up, it's really important to not forget what happend to the jews and other folk group during the 2 WW. I still pray for them.

All survivor testimonies must be very difficult for the survivor to write emotionally. Eva's account, like others, showed the importance of having another family member with her - in this case her mother, plus the support of a relation in the camp hospital. Every survivor's account underlines why this should never happen again. It needs to be reprinted so that it may be more widely read, I got it out of a library in the UK, where according to the Epilogue, the author lives.

This book is a very helpful book to use to get across the terrors of the Holocaust to middle school students. The Diary of Anne Frank tells only the first part of the story. Eva's Story gives you a real feel for what life must have been like there. I use this book to kickoff a very powerful unit about human intolerance to help my students see the same tendencies in themselves. I would love to correspond with the author.

I am a teacher who does an extensive unit on Anne Frank with 8th graders. I read Eva's Story and am disappointed that it's out of print because it continues the story of Anne Frank and her family virtually creating closure for many of us.