Anne Frank stepsister to speak
Tickets are on sale to hear Anne Frank’s stepsister, a Holocaust survivor, speak in Cape Coral.
The Chabad Jewish Center of Cape Coral is hosting A Historic Event, featuring Eva Schloss, on Feb. 25 at The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village. The lecture will be held from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., preceded by a VIP cocktail reception at 6 p.m. A question-and-answer session will follow the lecture.
Learning from the Past. Living the Present. Looking to the Future is the theme of the event.
“It is the first time that she will be coming to this area to speak,” Rivky Labkowski, program director for the Cape center, said. “It’s a chance for people to hear her story and the story of Anne Frank.”
She added that the event is a great opportunity for the public.
“She doesn’t speak all the time,” Labkowski said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Schloss was childhood friends with Anne and the two families knew each other. Like Anne, Schloss went into hiding in Holland. She also was betrayed, captured and sent to a concentration camp.
“She will talk about Anne Frank,” Labkowski said, adding that Schloss will share her own experience, as well. “She will talk about her own story, and she talk about the general horrors of the Holocaust.”
She noted that many people, not just Jews, suffered at the hands of the Nazis.
“I think every survivor’s story is unique,” Labkowski said. “The fact that they went through hell on earth and survived.”
Schloss and her mother survived imprisonment, but her father and brother did not. After the war, her mother married Otto Frank, Anne’s widowed father. Schloss later became a trustee for the trust.
“Every year there are fewer survivors alive, so we have to hear their stories while they’re with us,” Labkowski said. “It’s very important to educate and teach the next generation.”
“This is something that we’ll never forget,” she said.
A total of 500 tickets will be sold.
“We believe that the event will sell out,” Labkowski said.
Tickets for just the lecture cost $25 per person.
Tickets to attend the lecture and reception cost $90 per person.
“It’s open to the whole community, not just the Jewish people,” Labkowski said.
Schloss will be on hand at the reception to meet and talk to attendees. Copies of one of her books, “Eva’s Story,” will be available for sale during the event and she will autograph copies.
“It’s a survivor’s tale. It’s her story or survival,” Labkowski said.
Schloss co-authored “The Promise: A Moving Story of a Family in the Holocaust” and is the subject of the James Still play titled “And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank.”
Heavy hors d’oeuvres and an open bar will be available at the reception.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Chabad Jewish Center of Cape Coral.
“It is a fundraiser for the center,” Labkowski said.
The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village is at 5951 Silver King Blvd.
For more information or to purchase tickets for A Historic Event, visit online at: www.chabadcape.com/historicevent or contact (239) 541-1777 or info@chabadcape.com