Author and activist Eva Schloss shared her and her family's story of survival with members of the USC and South Carolina community for this year's President's Leadership Dialogue. Schloss, most famous as the stepsister of Anne Frank and herself a Holocaust survivor, sat down with USC President Harris Pastides to teach all that her story has to offer.
The wide-ranging conversation delved into the detail of Schloss' own journey as well as that of her stepfather Otto Frank and her message of Holocaust education and tolerance.
Schloss lived in hiding from the Nazi regime and survived the concentration camp in Auschwitz along with her mother. Her father and brother both died in the camps. Indeed, she credited her famous stepfather for helping her to build a new life and shared the joy the two families who had lost so much eventually found together.
"He was 91 years old when he died," she said, "and he was really occupied all the time with promoting [the diary]. He spoke. He had enormous correspondence with people."
The event, held at the Koger Center, was attended by USC students and faculty as well as students from local middle and high schools.
Attendees received free copies of Schloss' autobiography, and three students representing USC and local schools were presented with special editions. Fourth-year mathematics student Aden Mabruk accepted on behalf of USC. Mabruk, who is Somali, is himself one of the millions of refugees forced to flee his homeland referenced by Schloss.
"There are eight million refugees all around. There are many many wars...," she said.
Schloss is firm believer that sharing her story and those of other Holocaust survivors is critical to making sure nothing on that level ever happens again.
"If we see injustice being done we must have the courage to speak up," she said.
The need for Holocaust education as a means of preventing future humanitarian disasters was at the core of Tuesday's dialogue.
"We will keep the candle burning for education, for social justice, for human rights," Pastides said. "And this university will never forget Eva's story."